"The knowledge of the climates is of the highest importance for the agriculturist. It is his guide in the experiments for acclimatizing exotic plants which he seeks to introduce into his properties. "The climate of a locality varies through the background of the mountains, through its sloping direction, its nearness to the sea, to the lakes, and to the selvas; through the direction and the forces of the periodical winds. "Setting out from the low coastlands and ascending to the regions of the Altos or highlands, the naturalist admires successively the exuberant vegetation of the tropics and that of the cold countries. "On account of the topography of the territory we have in the different zones of the Republic different climates characterized by our two seasons--that of the rains, our winter, and that of the dryness, our summer; characterized too by the intensity of the heat in the low zones of the coasts and by the crisp cold in the high plateaus of our mountains; by the force and duration of the periodic winds of the Northwest which in certain regions of the Republic blow with a violence harmful to agriculture. "The temperature in the low zones fluctuates between 26° and 35° centigrade, averaging 28°. In the zones ranging from 3,000 to 5,000 feet above sea level the temperature fluctuates between 16° and 24°, the average being 20° to 22° centigrade. In the high zones or cold lands the temperature varies from 8° to 15°, the medium being 12° or 13°. In these zones from December to the end of March the temperature drops during the night to 1° centigrade and other times to 3° or 4°. "The rains commence in May or June and continue until the middle of November. They are most violent from July to October. In the months of September and October there are sometimes storms and copious rains which last almost continuously from one to two weeks. "Heavy dews are numerous and at times very copious in the summer in the low zones close to the sea, the lakes and the big marshes and also in the higher zones through the condensation of the vapors which absorb the sun's rays and become more condensed on reaching the colder regions of the atmosphere. "The northeast winds are periodical and blow almost without interruption throughout the summer and with great violence on the coasts of the north and in the eastern sections of the country. The winds on the south coast are much milder and those in the western sections are insignificant. "Under this drouthlike action the vegetation withers in the hot and dry zones. It flourishes most in the districts which possess perennial springs of running water for fertilizing.