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0XWOMIC f^TUReS.
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CLIMATE.
?§gj|fHE GULF OF MEXICO has been called —and not inaptly —the American Mediterranean; the sea in the midst of the earth. But * for the Mediterranean Sea a great portion of Europe—and the ■j& most fertile—would be barren and desolate. What that vast and
♦	providential body of water is to Europe, the Gulf of Mexico is to an immense and at the same time the most productive region of the United States. It supplies the moisture which waters and fructifies the Valley of the .Mississippi and many of its tributaries, to reward the husbandman and cause all vegetation to grow. It goes without sayifigthat along its northern shore the rainfall is copious. The census tables give the precipitation of the Coast at 58 inches per annum, and also show that it is very evenly distributed during the year. The abundant and luxuriant vegetation seen on every hand at all seasons showsthe presence of sufficient moisture to induce and promote plant growth. Timely and copious rains being the most important feature in the growth of crops, it follows that that region over which it is ample aud seasonable is, other things being equal, the most fortunate. The warm, moist currents of air which travel with the Gulf Stream from the Caribbean Sea are notdefiected eastward as the great oceanic river is, but move north and east over the land in a broad belt extending from the coast of Texas to Florida. The central portion of these currents passes directly over Mississippi charged with moisture taken up in their passage until they meet, sooner or later, other atmospheric conditions which cause precipitation. The rainfall on the Coast is not generally excessive, and the character of the soil and undulating surface of the country are .such as to cause any surplus that may fall-to pass off in a short time.	,	.
The latitude is thirty degrees and twenty minutes. The transition of the seasons is almost imperceptible; so gradual are the changes, so gently do they come and go, that before one is aware of it the Spring-time has given place to Summer, and Autumn comes on unannounced, followed by W inter with none of its northern concomitants of ice, and snow, and fierce