The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1893-06-03
THE WEATHER In ICELAND.
No Colder thar it is in Some Parts
the United States.

No Colder than it is in Some Parts of
the United States.
1t is quite a mistake to imagine that the
a cold equal to that of many parts of In
land Canada and the United States dur
ing almost any winter. During Febru-
airy, for instance, the thermometer at
Assiniboin registered fifty degrees below
zero, and at Edmonton, In the Northwest
territory, a minus of sixty degrees was
reported. Nothing like this is known in
Iceland. The very name or the island is
a misnomer, just as much as that of
Greenland is. Snow and glaciers there
are, no doubt, just as thera are vast fields
OF lava, and volcanoes the fires of which
are not yet extinct. But, except on rare
occasions, when the S~pitzbergen and
| East Greenland ice is driven by the wind
against the northern coast-brtnging cold
and fogs in summer, and polar bears
which play havoc with the focks-sea ice
is practically unknown in Iceland.
Thanks to the Gulf Stream. the climate
of the southern parts OF the island. with
the exception that it is rather colder.
closely resembles ina of the north of
Scotland, and the northerly districts,
though the temperature is naturally low
er, are not so wet. Thunder storms are
rare, and. strangely enough. usually oc-
/ cur In winter, when the the temperature
is mild for the latitude. The mean is
about three degrees above the freezing
point, but there are, of course, exceD.
tional frosts. and variations that in a
single month will range through twenty
| seven degrees. AS q whole. however. If
| the climate of Iceland is neither SO hot
nor cold as that OF n part Of the set
tied area Of North America, its aver age
is lower. 1t ma not know the mean ing
of so deg. below zero. but, on the other
| hand, 100 deg. in the shade is a record
which does not appear among the Reyk-
javik meteorological returns. Nor can
the lcelanders grow maize, grapes, toma-
toes or pumpkins during their brief sum-
mer, as che Manitobans do with ease.
They cannot even grow grain. A kind
Of wild oats is the only cereal viii oh is
seen in Iceland. But cabbage, pota toes,
turnips aud carrots come TO perfection.
As the birch alone attains to even
twelve or thirteen feet, fruit trees are not
among the inmate of q Reykjavik gar
den. Grass. however. hourishes, aud it is
to grass that the IcelanGer CT cfrer (who
Is what the Scottish crofter was intend
ed to be. but sgeneraliy is not. a fisher
mai aiso) looks Tor hts profits. Where
ever a little pasture is to be found,
there the hcnored sheep may be seen
grazing against the time when the Leith
steamers arrive to carry the surplus
south, Dwarfish lows are also among
the Northern Islenlen's stock, aud little
shaggy overwhelmingly in such de.
mand thar, like the Shetland ones, they
are becoming ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS the
list of four-iegged AM mails which the
farmer has to sell.
Most of the Icelandic trade is now
done with Scotland. English sportsmen
rent its best rivers for q few weeks
sport in sum mer, and English tourists
are the most numerous and the most
welcome of visitors to the homely farms,
where the quantity attired girls seem TO
be forever weaving the ''vathmal" on
old fashionad looms for the clothing OF
their men folk. TO these august sight
seers, the island, which can be reached
IN less than a weeks pleasant steaming,
is a land of old romance. aud the exodus
of its people would be heard OF with
more than regret.