The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1890-09-03
What Causes our Cool Summers.


this time of the year without seeing in it that old
worn statement, that it is hotter in the North in
| summer than in Florida, which, like most "Flori-
| da facts is, to say the least, misleading
| Everyone who has lived in the State through
| the summer knows that the temperature runs to
800 and in the shade nearly every day except,
| perhaps, on the coast, and the "cool breeze
rarely ever puts in an appearance till the after
noon, whereas in the North there are seldom more
| than three weeks of extreme hot weather whenthe
| temperature exceeds 900, while the Florida sum-
mer lasts four month more.
There is an article in your issue of August 26th
| entitled the "Extravagent Habit which .depri-
| Gates the custom of leaving Florida in the
| mer, and attempts to convey the idea that it is
| pleasanter here than anywhere else in the United
| States; if such be the why do many go
North? 1t is not the actual heat which makes
| the Florida summer dsagreeable, but the many
Inconvenience hch it entails, such for instance,
as the difficulty to obtain fresh provision espec-
tally in the country districts, the annoyanc from
gnats and other insects and the impossibility of
obtaining house servants.
In both the East and West Indies, which are
hotter all the year round than the Florida sum-
| mer, Europeans live in comfort and luxury,
| there they have plenty of native servants, and
| white women are not compelled to cook and do
| house work with the temperature at 800 in the
| shade as in Florida. Hit were possible to obtain
| some of the much abused Chinamef or East In
| dams for house servants instead of the ''hgh
| toned, incompetent colored lady, life in Florida
| during the hot season would be more bearable,
| and there would be fewer empty houses, but be-
| leve imported foreig labor is against the laws
| of the United States.
We are inclined to think our CORE
| spondent has never spent summer
north of, say the $50 parallel of north lat
itude, or if he has, he has not been very
| close observer.
Unquestionably..th the therm ometer aver
ages a higher temperature in Florida
| during the summer than in the North,
but for all that it is cooler in Florida. In
evidence of this fact we have several pig
con holes filled with letters from those
who left Florida this summer and went
North in search of cool weather, and who
write back that Florida is by far the
coolest place.
Corroborative of this testimony we
have the reports of hundreds Of cases of
sunstroke this summer in the North, and
we defy our correspondent or any other
man to point to a case in Florida. Still
the thermometer was higher in Florida
than in the North.
| The matter is easily accounted for. The
atmospheric pressure in Florida is less in
the summer than it is in the North, and
the aspiration of the body is consequent
| ly greater. The moisture on the person,
| the normal temperature ofwhich is about
| 9S.40, coming in contact with air or "sea
breeze (the temperature of which our
| correspondent puts at 9O0) cooler than
| itself causes evaporation. This evapora-
ton rapidly reduces the temperature. Or,
as it is scientifically explained, the con-
version of a fluid (sweat) into q vapor,
causes a quantity of heat to disappear,
| hence reduces the temperature Of the
| body. In other words when the perspira-
ton evaporates the vapor carries off the
| heat from the fluid; this evaporation
produces cold. Operating on this princi-
pie ice is produced in India by exposing
water in shallow pans to the combined
effects of evaporation and radiation at
night.
For these reasonsit is apparently cooler