The soil of Norfolk is particularly adapted to barley; and the fens of Lincolnshire and the adjacent coun ties for oats. Leicestershire has long been accounted the first of our grazing counties; Herefordshire takes a lead in orchards ; while Surrey and Worcestershire, but above all Kent, are celebrated for hops.
The following table given by Mr Comber, in his treatise on National Subsistence, exhibits the results of a computation of the extent of land under culti vation in England and Wales : andstanding in most parts of the country to the northward of York. In winter this difference in the temperature of the North and South of England is less perceptible. As to the spring months, March is, proverbialy, raw and cold, from the prevalence of easterly winds, particularly in the part of the king dom adjacent to the German Ocean : April is, in general, wet and favourable to vegetation ; but May, though a pleasant month, can hardly be said with us to bring more " indulgent skies." It is in June, July, and August, that our climate takes a more set tled aspect; while, at the same time, the power of taking exercise on almost any day is indicative of a very gratifying advantage over the sultry atmosphere of our southern neighbours on the Continent. No vember, though frequently wet and foggy, is only a prelude to winter; even December does not often bring intense frost, which is commonly reserved to January; and during the last twenty years we have been repeatedly without any frost of consequence, or heavy falls of snow, until a considerable time after the days have lengthened.
During the six winter months, from October to March, the mean temperature of the central part of England is commonly between 42° and•43° of Fah renheit. In December, January, and February, it is generally below In July and August, 62° to 65°. The variations of temperature within the space of 24 hours are felt most strongly in the equinoctial months, March and September. In these there is often adifference of 18° or 20° between the day and night, while, in the summer months, this difference seldom exceeds 120 or 15°, and inDecember or Ja nuary, is only from 6° to 8°. The them annual tem perature, noon and night, of the central part of Eng land, is about The greatest summer heat sel dom exceeds 80° and the cold of December or Ja nuary is rarely Lelow 20° or 25°. In mild situa
tions in Devonshire and Cornwall, the winter tem perature is 2°, 3°, 4°, and even 5° higher than in Lon don. Penzance is the spot in England least visited by severe cold; and it is consequently much recom mended in pulmonic cases.
Of rain, the largest proportion falls in the N.W. of England, particularly in Westmoreland and Lanca shire, owing to the neighbourhood of the sea and the height of the mountains. There, the average quan tity is found to be 45, 50, and, in some situations, 60 inches, while the average of the kingdom at large is from 30 to 40.
No period has been marked with a more sensible va riation of seasons than the last five or six years : the winter of 1813-14 was long and severe; the summer of 1816 cold and wet; the summer of 1818 uncommonly dry and warm. This will at once appear from the state of the thermometer. During the summer of 1815, which may be termed one of medium warmth, the thermometer was at or above 70° during 27 days; in 1816 it rose to 70° in five days only: in 1817, which was also deficient in warmth, it reached or exceeded that limit on 17 days only; but, in 1818, it was at or above 70 during no less than 70 days, and in the three days of greatest heat it was between 83 and 87. In all these instances the case was the same throughout the Continent of Europe; the crop of 1816, for some time verysing, became, in a great degree, lost for want ; that of 1818 proved on the Continent as in England, abundant in wheat and scanty in most other grain; while last winter was equally mild, and the summer of this year (1819) was still more forward on the Continent than in Britain.
The prevalent winds in England are west and south-west. Our outward-bound merchantmen are often detained from the want of a Northerly or Eas. terly wind, but it rarely happens that our honeward bound are kept beating in the Channel by the want of a westerly breeze. In these respects, also, the case is the same on the opposite shores of the Con tinent; the Dutch and French outward-bound ves eels often experiencing detention from the continu ance of westerly winds.