THE WEATHER FOR AUGUST. 
139 
season extends from May to October inclusive ; so that the beauty 
of these plants may be quite naturally extended over six months 
in the year, by having the species well selected ; and this is an 
advantage which comparatively few flowers possess. During the 
growing season, the heat of the moist stove should range from 
70° to 100° of the common thermometer, and the supply of 
humidity should be copious. The best way of admitting air is 
through the loppings of the glass all over the house ; because 
when this is done, it comes regularly, and none of the plants are 
chilled, which would be the case were the air to enter in volume 
at any part of the house. D. 
ItOLISSON AND SONS’ NURSERY, TOOTING, 
August 1840. 
THE WEATHER FOR AUGUST. 
During this month the general temperature, at least during the day, has 
been comparatively high ; but still the month has partaken a good deal of 
that anomalous character which marked the previous part of this season. The 
last days of July, and the first two weeks of August were very hot, the heat 
having been ushered in by some light showers of more kindly description than 
any which occurred in the early part of the season. Still, however*, the heat 
and drought acting upon those sprinklings of rain, formed a sort of pellicle 
upon the surface of the ground, calculated to retard the passage both of heat 
and humidity. Ihe consequence was, that all plants with very fibrous roots 
languished; and the fleshy and bulbous rooted ones did not wear the same 
kindly appearance as in ordinary seasons. Even when the water produced by 
tnose light showers was stagnant upon the surface, and tending to blight every 
thing around it by the rapidity of its evaporation, the soil at the depth of only 
a few inches remained in a state of dry powder, while further down the mois¬ 
ture with which it had been soaked by the long-continued rains of the prece¬ 
ding year remained unaffected by the solar action. The consequence of this 
was, chilness in the evenings, arising from the strong evaporation during the 
da> > snd as this chilness was generally accompanied by wind, there was no 
nocturnal precipitation of water to refresh the leaves. 
In the second week of August, there were strong winds, approaching to 
tempests, and accompanied by heavy falls of rain, or of hail, partial in their 
extent, and rather brief in their duration, but still calculated to injure not only 
the blooms and more delicate parts of vegetation, but even the leaves of the 
foiest trees. The morning of the 11th and the 15th and 17th days of the 
month were those in which these storms were most conspicuous in the vicinity 
of London; but the times, and also the effects produced, were, of course, 
different in different places. It generally happens that if there is violent weather 
in any part of the South of England, Kent comes in for a full share ; because the 
chalky soil on the downs there is soon heated, and as soon cooled ; or rather, 
