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CUMBERLAND.
The Lake District, and the margin of comparatively level
land extending to the Cumberland shore, affords such a scope
for the natural production of plants as few of the English
counties possess.
The great diversity of altitude,[1] and consequent variety
of climate; the numerous and extreme changes of mineral and
vegetable soils; the complete circult of aspect occasioned
by the multiplicity and varied character of its hills and
dales; the perfect exposure to the sea-breezes in some
parts, and the exclusion from them in others; and the very
different degrees of moisture to which the district is
subject, varying from nearly 160 inches[2] of rain-fall per
annum in one or two of the mountain vales, to only about 24
inches[3] in some of the lowland levels, accommodate the
growth of a great variety of the British flora - the product
of almost every locality between extreme anglo-alpine and
the verge of the sea.
It is true that agricultural enterprise is quietly and
gradualy, but surely, diminishing the numbers of the
species; and perhaps the monopolising avarice of pro-
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