IGO BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



and is still tender. An iiidividual plant, however, may iinquea- 

 tionably be brou2;lit by judicious protection to endure a climate 

 very different from its own. I have seen two beautiful silver 

 firs flourishinc^ near Savannah, which for some years were regu- 

 larly screened by close boarding from the summer's sun, till at 

 length protection became unnecessary. This paper of Lind- 

 ley's is one, which, for the precision and fullness of its state- 

 ments, as well as the fairness of its reasoning, may serve as a 

 model for records of Horticultural Observations. From many 

 obvious causes, meteorological investigations can serve only to 

 mislead, unless made extensively, repeatedly, and accurately. 

 Thermometers, in this country at least, are seldom insulated 

 with any care from surrounding objects, or protected from the 

 direct or reflected rays of the sun ; and it is only by comparing 

 the statements of many careful observers, that we can arrive 

 even at an approximation to an accurate idea of the temperature 

 of a large district at any given time. Moreover, the observa- 

 tions of the meteorologist must, like those of the astronomer, 

 be continued for ages, before we can hope to discover, to any 

 considerable degree, the mysterious laws which regulate the 

 distribution of heat and cold. To the practical farmer or 

 gardener, indeed, it is of much less moment to discover the 

 causes of the leading peculiarities of our climate than to obviate 

 their effects. One or two suggestions to that effect will close 

 this Essay. So far as respects heat and cold, a farmer has but 

 little power over the fierce and sudden extremes of our season, 

 beyond the limits of his frames and greenhouses. He can 

 only protect a few favorite shrubs by covering, and choose a 

 proper exposure for his fruit trees. 



But there is one striking feature in our climate, the long 

 spells of dry weather, to which allusion has already been made, 

 and the effects of which, no exertions should be spared to al- 

 leviate. One of the most obvious remedies would be irrigation. 

 But very few of our farmers have the means at hand for water- 

 ing their land upon any regular system, to say nothing of the 

 high cost of the labor , ccessary to apply those means. 



Another expedient, which has been little practised hitherto, 

 but which seems fast coming into general use, is the breaking 

 up of the soil to a great depth, more especially by subsoil 



