CLIMATE AND HEALTH. 185

 not sultry, close, or humid; mornings and evenings always
 cool and bracing. Natives and old residents, if asked,
 would say they preferred the summer to the winter months
 for climate. This climate is peculiarly adapted for vegeta-
 tion. There are years when in some localities there is a
 drought, and years when portions of the State have had
 excessive rains, but they do not extend far. In the early
 spring, when post of the planting season occurs, there are
 frequent showers; from the first to the middle of July, the
 rainy season commences, continuing till the middle of Sep-
 tember; the rain falls almost every day, commencing in
 the early afternoon, lasting from a few minutes to a few
 hours, rarely as long as the last period, often heavy with
 thunder and sharp lightning, then ceasing, leaving the air
 cool and sweet, the sky clear and bright; the porous soil
 quickly absorbs the water and leaves the footway dry.
 These rains fill up the low, flat lands and ponds, and are in-
 jurious to crops when planted on such lands, underlaid by
 hard-pan. But on the high pine-lands and high hammocks
 the rains are of advantage, making crops grow rank and
 heavy. The 'rainy season' is not of regular annual oc-
 currence.
 "We take from Dr. A. S. Baldwin's tables, kept for
the Smithsonian Institute, as follows:
 "'Jacksonville, latitude 30 15', longitude 820-mean of
three daily observations for twenty years, 1844-'67. Ther-
mometer:

 January................. 55 July...... ...... .. 82
 February... ............ .58 August...................82.
 March ................... 64" September. ...............78"
 April. ..................... 70 October .................. 70
 May ................... ..76 November..............620
 June........... ....... 80 December ................52*
 "'The army records show for twenty years, variation at
St. Augustine, Florida, 230.
 "Rainfall at Jacksonville, average for ten years, 54*5
inches; the largest quantity in August and September, and
the least in November.'"

 From my personal experience, I can indorse the above
opinions. The winter of 1879-'80, in all portions of Florida,