OUK HOMES. 83 



as a plan oifering larger surety for its stability and usefulness, 

 than any other course of procedure which the history of like 

 associations has hitherto presented. 



One of our countrymen,* whose thoughts often drop like spark- 

 ling gems, has put in my way the words that so beautifully supjjly 

 and fill my remaining space, that I am most happy to give him 

 the credit, and thank him for them as cordially as my auditory 

 will thank me for stopping here. "If I have no coaches and 

 horses, I can, at least, hang a tracery of vine-leaves along my 

 porch, so exquisitely delicate, that no sculpture can match it ; if I 

 have no conservatories with their wonders, yet the sun and I to- 

 gether can build up a little tangled coppice of blooming things in 

 my door-yard, of which every tiny floral leaflet shall be a miracle. 

 Nay, I may make my home, however small it be, so complete in 

 iti simplicity, so fitted to its offices, so governed by neatness, so 

 embowered by wealth of leaf and flowers, that no riches in the 

 world could add to it, without damaging its rural grace ; and my 

 gardeners — sunshine, frost and showers, are their names — shall 

 work for me with no crusty reluctance, but with an abandon and 

 a zeal that ask only gratitude for pay." 



Mr. Williams of Kennebec. I would like to ask one question. 

 In alluding to the grove of -evergreens, and to the temperature of 

 the atmosphere on both sides of the grove, and in the vicinity, I 

 understood him to say that the average temperature of the atmos- 

 phere in the vicinity of the grove, and beyond its influence, was 

 eleven degrees, and that to the leeward or eastward it was elevated 

 fifteen degrees, while on the west side it was reduced below 

 the average. My inquiry is, why the temperature on the west side 

 should be reduced below the average temperature. 



Mr. Chamberlain. The gentleman misapprehends. The tem- 

 perature was noted on the west side of the ledge as nine degrees, 

 and on the east side 15 degrees. The observer walked eastward, 

 as the land ascended on the lee of the hedge, and noted the tem- 

 perature at different distances, and at the distance of ninety feet 

 from the hedge it was eleven degrees, still two degrees warmer 

 than it was on the w^est side ; showing that the influence of the 

 hedge extended ninety feet beyond it. That is in accordance with . 

 observations made in Europe, that a barrier against the wind 

 affects the climate a distance of some eleven or twelve times the 

 height. 



* Donald Ot. Mitchell. 



