SECRETARY'S REPORT. 55 



tion, circulation, respiration and reproduction ; the systematic 

 arrangement of animals in classes, families, &c., their habits, the 

 Natural History of domestic animals, including the characteristics 

 and peculiarities of different breeds and their value for particular 

 purposes ; the history and habits of the Insects injurious to vege- 

 tation, and the means of obviating and lessening their ravages, 

 with the birds, reptiles and parasites which destroy them. He 

 will study the economy of domestic animals, including the princi- 

 ples of breeding, rearing, and management ; the diseases of animals, 

 their nature and treatment, and the mode of administering medicines. 



Geology, Mineralogy, and Meteorology. By recitations prop- 

 erly illustrated, and by familiar lectures on the relation of these 

 sciences to agriculture, the student learns how all soils were orig- 

 inally rock, and have been gradually produced by its abrasion, 

 disintegration and decomposition to form the great seed-beds of the 

 world ; how some seven or eight of the four hundred and thirty- 

 four kinds of minerals constitute nineteen-twentieths of the whole 

 crust of the earth, of which quartz, which gives strength to the 

 stems of all grains and grasses, constitutes alone, nearly one-half. 

 By studying the geological strata, those broad leaves of the book 

 of nature, he learns where to find valuable quarries, minerals and 

 manures ; and discerns at a glance the agricultural capacities of 

 any particular section for valuable plants and trees. 



As all plants derive a great part of their sustenance from the 

 atmosphere, a knowledge of those forces of nature which affect 

 their growth comprehended under the term of Meteorology is of 

 great utility. By it the student ascertains that the agricultural 

 capacities of a country depend upon its climate and moisture as 

 well as upon its soils ; that soils differ greatly in their power to 

 absorb and radiate heat from the sun, as also in their ability to 

 absorb and retain rain and dew, according to their geological struc- 

 ture and state of cultivation, and thus affect the climate ; also that 

 distance from the equator, elevation and distance from the ocean, 

 the currents of the Gulf stream, the prevailing direction of the 

 winds greatly influence the temperature and the amount of moisture. 

 Having learned those lessons and the mean temperature of any 

 region by long observations, the farmer is taught to adapt his crops 

 to it. Even if the season is too short to bring any plant to perfec- 

 tion, he may overcome the difficulty by preparing the soil by drain- 

 age for the earlier reception of the'seed, and forcing its growth by 



