98 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



PLATE II. 



A QUIET PIPE, 



Here's our friend Donald enjoying his bit of 

 'bacca, without a chance of annoying any one — 

 not even of offending the deer if they sniflf the 

 taint in the pure mountain air. They might rather, 

 indeed, take it as a kindly warning to keep at a 

 respectful distance from old Oscar, who generally 

 sleeps with one eye open. How different it would 

 have been, if, instead of the short clay, the High- 

 lander had been amusing himself with another 

 kind of pipe — those abominable, noisy, screeching 

 things, that would have cleared the country of 

 every living creature or crawling thing within miles 



of him ! Often have we, when jogging along at 

 early dawn, " run" a labourer, a begging sailor, a 

 gipsy, or a travelling tinker, with his short pipe, 

 for a mile or two, before coming up to hiia — de- 

 lighting in the fumes, and thinking what are 

 " mossy viokt with their odoriferous exhalations" 

 to the fragrant tobacco, as it is wafted, on a sharp 

 morning, from the black dudeen of the working 

 man ? There is moderation in everything, and a 

 pull or two at his pipe has made many a philoso- 

 pher to think the lighter of his cares, and the 

 better of his fellows. 



A DROP OF RAIN-WATER. 



BY CUTHBEET TV. JOHXSON, ESQ., F.R.S. 



We are often, but erroneously, said by foreigners 

 to be far too attentive to the weather — that it is too 

 often the leading topic of our conversation ; but if 

 the remark had any foundation it is hardly a mat- 

 ter of surprise, as we have more reason than most 

 nations for having our thoughts thus directed ; we 

 are more dependent upon the weather for our food 

 than those blessed with more certain seasons ; our 

 corn, our vegetables, our fruits, are all natives of 

 other and warmer lands ; we can only preserve by 

 very great care and skill what nature spontaneously 

 produces in more southern soils, and under a more 

 serene climate. We are all, therefore, whether 

 gardeners or agriculturists, deeply interested in 

 atmospheric transitions in temperature, and in the 

 degree of moisture to which our plants are ex- 

 posed. It is but rarely, however, that we inquire 

 of the origin and history of the meteorological 

 phenomena which encircle us. The research might, 

 however, be attended with more profit than we 

 may at first suspect. It is with that conviction 

 that I propose in this and a subsequent paper to 

 endeavour to trace the history of a drop of rain- 

 water. 



The origin and progress of a drop of rain is a 

 history of many things which relate not only to 

 our comfort and enjoyment, to the growth of the 

 vegetable world, but to our very existence. We 

 do not commonly inquire about such matters ; we 

 have always been used to see the rain descend ; 

 there is nothing novel about it, to cause us to search 

 as to its history — why it falls upon our fields, 

 whence it comes, or where that water proceeds in 

 its course when it disappears in the earth from our 

 sight ? We do not engage in such examinations, 

 because the phenomenon is neither novel nor start- 

 ling; the fall of a meteoric stone arouses more 



attention, although we can neither discern its 

 origin nor its usefulness, than all the rain-drops, 

 which we well know spread the oil of fatness so 

 continuously over our fields. Could our lot have 

 been cast in a totally rainless district, like that of 

 the Chincha or Guano Islands, on the Peruvian 

 coast, our wonder would have been considerably 

 excited when first placed in a shower of rain — oiir 

 inquiries about its origin more fervid, our gratUude 

 to its great Author more deep. It may be useful, 

 then, if we travel together with an imaginary in- 

 quirer of this kind, who has everything to learn 

 with regard to a drop of rain-water, and is anxious 

 to find its origin, its nature, and why and whence 

 it disappears or evaporates. 



The size, shape, and composition of a drop of 

 rain seem to be naturally the first portion of our 

 inquiry. Its size varies from the very smallest, say 

 1-2 5th to about ^ of an inch in diameter; its shape 

 is spherical. An early reflection presents itself 

 when we are considering the size of a drop of rain 

 — the beneficence of its Divine Architect in adapt- 

 ing the weight of those rain-drops to the wants and 

 safety of His creatures. Falhng as they do from a 

 great elevation, they descend with a force which, 

 had they been considerably larger, would have 

 spread death and destruction in every shower. We 

 all know the painful eflFect produced upon our 

 heads by a rapidly-descending current of water, or 

 when a few small drops of rain are congealed toge- 

 ther by a low temperature as they descend from the 

 clouds, and hailstones formed. In our driest sum- 

 mers, it is true, we may desire, in figurative lan- 

 guage, " torrents " of rain upon our languishing 

 crops ; but no one wishes to receive rain-drops 

 as large as turnips, or rain falling in columns. A 

 prayer for a hailstorm was perhaps never yet uttered. 



