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THE WEATHER FOR OCTOBER. 
[From one of those accidents that will sometimes occur, our notice of the weather for 
October did not reach the printer: we therefore give a sentence or two this month.] 
Though the weather in the early part of this month was not unusually severe, 
yet every thing wore a much more wintry appearance than is usual at this time 
of the year. The progress of the season had stripped the trees of their leaves 
much sooner than ordinary; but still the leaves were fully matured, and came 
off with the same kindly cicatrix as if it had been later in the season. The 
buds, too, were plump and promising, and well enwrapped in their hyberna- 
cula; and there was no excess of underground heat to stimulate them to an 
untimely development. Indeed, in so far as arboraceous vegetation, whether 
deciduous or evergreen, was concerned, matters looked very promising for the 
ensuing season of growth. 
The cutting winds and cold nights of September had spoiled the beauty of 
the flower borders ; and the autumnal annuals, many of which had come up and 
flowered very imperfectly, ceased to be ornamental more early than in the ave¬ 
rage of years. The perennial-rooted flowers also died down sooner than usual 
in their annual stems; but even this had fully more the character of natural 
decay from maturity than of casualty; and, indeed, though the bloom was 
gone sooner than could have been wished, there was no cold severe enough to 
injure the hardy border plants. There is a pretty close relation between ligne¬ 
ous vegetation and their roots ; and if we find that the wood is well ripened, 
and the buds promisingly set, we shall not err in concluding that perennial 
roots are in healthy condition. 
It is better, too, for the whole,—trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants, in all 
their varieties,—that they should subside gradually from their summer activity 
to their winter repose ; because the constricting of the vessels, and the con¬ 
densing of their contents, proceed by slow degrees, and consequently without 
rupture or laceration of the more delicate ones. This tells with great advan¬ 
tage when the season of action begins ; as the buds have more resistance to 
overcome, and thus are more gradual in their development, more firm in their 
texture, and less liable to be injured by the cold winds of spring, than if winter 
had come suddenly upon the plant, and forced it to a premature state of rest. 
Thus the weather in October, as in the preceding month, tended to prepare 
the exposed vegetables for an early winter ; but still, in a climate like that of 
Europe, and especially that of Britain, there are too many disturbing causes 
for allowing any lengthened prediction of the weather. 
THE WEATHER FOR NOVEMBER. 
The weather for November for this year has been, as the college porter said 
of Euclid’s elements, “ most puzzleanimous,” whether we consider the latter 
half of the term as denoting the wind of Heaven, or the wits of the progno¬ 
sticator. 
