Minnesota; Its Character and Climate - Likewise Sketches of Other Resorts Favorable to Invalids; Together - With Copious Notes on Health; Also Hints to Tourists and Emigrants. by Ledyard Bill
page 48 of 166 (28%)
page 48 of 166 (28%)
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one hand, with a low winter temperature on the other, but traversing
neither range so far as to prove directly destructive in its effects. All over this eastern area are scattered lakes and rivers, with an ocean boundary line, and uniform forest ranges with a great variety of deciduous trees known to the temperate and sub-tropical latitudes; and it is quite remarkable to note that some of the latter forms extend in their acclimation to near the northern boundary lines of the Union, while the pine, walnut, and chestnut may be found at or near the extreme southern limits. In all of these three grand divisions of climate, however, exceptional localities exist where there is a marked nonconformity to the prevailing characteristics. The peninsula of Florida is such an exception, owing to its peculiar location, and the great humidity of its atmosphere during a considerable fraction of the year. Here we have a fully developed season of periodical rains, beginning usually in June and ending in the latter part of September. The winter is the dry season, being contrary to the general rule applying to tropical and sub-tropical areas, and forms, with the mild temperature, the principal ground for the reputation which that State has as a resort for special classes of invalids.[B] The sudden and extreme variations of temperature in this eastern climatic tract, whether from local disturbing causes, as is not unfrequently the case, or otherwise, are usually accompanied by cold draughts of air, chilling and generating all manner of ills, of which rheumatism and consumption are the separate and highest types. While it is generally understood that the prevailing winds of the whole continent embraced within the limits of the United States are uniformly from the west, still, over this eastern division, counter-winds of a |
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