The seasons of the year differ in different parts of the world. In countries in the temperate zone, like England, the year is divided into four seasons Winter (December, January and February), Spring (March, April and May), Summer (June, July and August) and Autumn (September, October and November).
The winter is the cold season. The land is often covered with snow; lakes and ponds and streams are frozen; the sky is dull and cloudy, and there are frequent storms of wind and rain. All vegetation seems to be dead; the trees are bare, the grass is brown, and all the flowers have disappeared.
In March, the climate changes, often suddenly. The warm, moisture-laden west wind prevails, and the air becomes warm and mild. The flowers come out, the trees put forth their new leaves, and the grass becomes green. The birds begin nesting, and the woods are full of their singing; and the farmers are busy ploughing and sowing.
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With June comes the summer warm but not hot like the Indian summer and flowers and trees are at their finest. In June and July the farmers are busy making hay, and in August they begin to reap the wheat.
September and October are beautiful autumn months; the harvesting is completed, the orchards are laden with fruit, and the leaves of the trees turn yellow and red. and begin to fall; while November is stormy and cold, and the days shorten and the nights lengthen, till winter comes round again.
In a hot country, like India, the seasons are different, and are marked not so much by differences of heat and cold, as by rain and dryness. In South India and Bengal, it is more or less hot throughout the year; but from October to June it is dry, while from June, when the monsoon breaks, there is more or less continual rain until the end of September.
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In North India, there are violent extremes of heat and cold. From November to February is the cold season, the cold being sometimes comparatively severe. In March it begins to get hot, and the dry heat increases steadily until in June it is blazing hot, and the temperature often rises to Fahrenheit, when the monsoon breaks, and the
temperature is reduced; but it still remains hot, and the humidity in the air makes it steamy and very uncomfortable until the rain ceases. This division of seasons gives Indian farmers two harvests in the year.
They begin ploughing as soon as the monsoon rains soften the soil in July, and sow cotton and maize, which they reap in October the Kharif harvest. Then they plough again and sow wheat and other crops, which they reap about March the Rabi harvest.
The seasons are caused, of course, by the changes in the position of the earth to the sun, as it rolls round it in its yearly course.