THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



141 



other. During winter the broccoli, celery, and tender 

 vegetables are also either destroyed, or nearly so, in one 

 situation, and but little hurt in the other ; the difTereuce 

 as regards altitude being somewhat above 60 feet. Upon 

 the marshes, befoi-e alluded to, the wheat is ready to 

 harvest a week earlier than upon the uplands adjoining, 

 and at least ten days earlier than in the districts situated 

 from twenty to thirty miles further inland. 



We, of course, are not treating upon this subject 

 upon general principles of isometric science, by which 

 it has been long established that the mean temperature 

 of a country does not depend upon its latitude, but 

 rather upon its altitudes and the proximity that it has 

 to the sea. This has been fully expounded in the 

 Journal of the Royal AgricuUiiral Society, and in 

 some of the discussions of the London Farmers' Club. 

 We shall so only advert to the fact so far as it may 

 illustrate our present observations. Thus : From New 

 York, through Sligo and Dundrum Bay, Ireland, 

 through the middle of Yorkshire in a line from Preston 

 to Hull, Amsterdam, and Dresden, to the northern 

 shore of the Black Sea, are all represented to be equal 

 as regards temperature, although the latitudes differ 

 17 degrees. Again, the altitude of mountains also 

 affects the temperature. As we ascend, it decreases, 

 until we approach the snow line, where vegetation 

 entirely ceases. Applicable to our present subject, how- 

 ever, we shall only direct attention to the circumstance 

 that heat is transmitted by the sea, the temperature of 

 the water being mostly, during winter, from 10 to 

 15 degrees higher than the temperature of the air. 

 Thus, by imparting its heat to the atmosphere, all 

 places situated near the sea, especially upon those por- 

 tions of our western coast extending from Plymouth to 

 the south of Ireland, are many degi-ees warmer in 

 winter than those portions of the eastern coast lying in 

 the opposite direction. 



As regards the local distribution of heat, to which we 

 have before adverted, we find it depends, inland, upon 

 the moisture arising from the proximity of rivers, and 

 upon which side of the hill the land slopes. We are 

 disposed to think that at an elevation of from forty 

 to eighty feet from the river, upon a south and south- 

 western slope, will be found the best situation for 

 orchards and gardens, as well as for purposes of general 

 cultivation. And even at an elevation of another 

 hundred feet they would succeed better than if situated 

 in the valley within a short distance of the stream. 



The quality of the soil doubtless operates very sensi- 

 bly upon the early growth and maturity of cereal 

 and vegetable crops, but the production of fruit de- 

 pends more upon the temperature of the air and its 

 being less combined with moisture. This can only be 

 obtained at an increased elevation, and with a sufficient 

 protection by judiciously planting wherever such shelter 

 is not found naturally to exist. 



In the situation of a farm, the position has more to 

 do with a successful result than inexperienced persons 

 are apt to imagine. There should be a slight inclina- 

 tion to the south or south-west, which ought not to be 

 too sudden or abrupt. Those apparently flat table-lands 

 lying upon the skirts of valleys perhaps are best, if 

 sufficient fall can be obtained for under-drainage. 

 It is fi'om this circumstance that farms bordering upon 

 valleys, having tracts of meadow land below and ara- 

 ble land immediately contiguous lying above, are 

 mostly sought as the best, as regards soil and situation. 

 But the land best adapted for the production of green 

 crops is usually found in the next series ascending; 

 and as the hilltop is approached, the crop will gene- 

 rally be observed to diminish proportionately in quality. 



No general principle can be laid down. Still, how- 

 ever, the endeavour to seek one must to a certain ex- 

 tent be attended with advantageous results. 



HOW GOOD DRAINAGE ACTS IN HOT WEATHER. 



To talk of the benefits of drainage during a dry hot 

 summer may appear to some people as inapposite as to 

 congratulate the inmate of an iron dwelling-house on 

 his possession of a fire-escape. So prevalent is the be- 

 lief that underdraining is useful solely for the jiurpose of 

 letting out water from the soil, that comparatively few 

 practical farmers look for any advantage except in a 

 wet season ; not that they are ignorant of other uses of 

 drainage beside letting off surplus saturating water : 

 no farmer worthy of the name would wish to conduct 

 rain-water off his land by surface-grips, or have 

 recourse to underdraining simply to taj) the soaking 

 subterranean springs. We know better than to seek 

 merely the drying of our fields: we eagerly catch the 

 fertilizing rain, and filter it through our soil ; and have 

 even got as far as "aeration." It is clear that by 

 sending down the rainfall through the soil in quick and 

 unobstructed percolating streams, instead of suffering 

 it to stagnate and saturate and slowly find an escape 



by evaporation and by parsing away in a barren 

 surface-outflow, a great number of successive charges 

 of atmospheric air are introduced into the interstices ; 

 and this air contains fertilizing gases, and prepares inert 

 mineral ingredients for the use of plants, beside operat- 

 ing mechanically in improving the texture of the soil. • 

 Every drop of water sinking through a crevice exi^els 

 the used-up or spent air there present, and draws in 

 after it another charge of fresh ; very small quantities 

 of water thus refilling the cracks and channels of the 

 earth, with large quantities of air — just as a small 

 quantity of liquid flowing through a pipe drives out the 

 volume of air occupying the whole length of the pipe, 

 and is followed by another volume equally large. 



But what action can the existence of under-drains 

 create or facilitate, at periods when there is no water 

 to penetrate and pass thi'ough the ground ? Why, a 

 soil that has been permeated with fissures and crevices 

 by the repeated wetting and drying, and the agency of 



