410 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



The second equally important condition, Moisture, must be sup- 

 plied from springs, rivulets and brooks ; and by frequent showers 

 of rain, which reinforce the springs, and are indispensable to veg- 

 etation. Now it is a well known fact that in the long continued 

 absence of rainfalls, the springs and brooks 'often dry up, and the 

 amount of water in rivers and ponds, and even lakes, is very 

 sensibly diminished. That being true, we are led by it to the un- 

 avoidable conclusion that the rainfalls are the sole and original 

 source of that greatest of human blessings — water. 



Now, then, our attention must be turned directly upon the rain- 

 falls themselves, in order to discover if possible the conditions 

 under which they are produced, and by what causes they are pre- 

 vented. And here several queries arise. Are the rainfalls acci- 

 dental, or are they governed by if not definite, at least partially 

 explainable laws ? Does the Maker of all things send the showers 

 in accordance with variable purposes, and through a special will ; 

 or, has he established certain immutable laws of cause and effect, 

 governed by which the showers fall when the causes exist, and 

 cease to fall when they are absent ? 



If we accept the theory of accident, or of special will, then we 

 have nothing further to do with the matter, except to endeavor to 

 deserve, and to wait patiently for His exhibitions of beneficent 

 power. On the contrary, if we accept the idea of definite and 

 fixed laws of cause and eflect, and can discover why rain falls in 

 one locality and not in another, cannot man by supplying the 

 causes at least assist in the production of showers ; or by remov- 

 ing the causes can he not do much to prevent the desirable amount 

 of rainfalls ? The only method by which we can arrive at the cor- 

 rect answer to these queries, must be by consulting the results of 

 long experience, and judging of the facts thus gatliered according- 

 to well known philosophical truthsand scientific principles. 



What then is rain, and how are the showers made to fall upon 

 the earth ? Something more than three quarters of the surface of 

 the globe is covered with water, seen in the oceans and seas. The 

 land, raised above the water, is interlaced in every direction, with 

 rivers, and covered with innumerable lakes and ponds. It is also 

 reasonable to presume that to an unknown depth under the surface 

 the crust of the earth is perforated by a net-work of lunning 

 streams, and filled with immense fountains of water. All the water 

 upon the surface of the globe is to a certain extent subjected to 

 the force of the sun's rays, which force takes it up, in infinitely 



