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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



to the stucl as Mr. Sharpe's, and threw Parnassus, 

 by Paragone, in 1852, and was barren in 1853. 

 Since then all her produce has been to Turnus, 

 and these, as we have just said, include Trip-the- 

 Daisy, foaled in 1854, Captain Wedderburn in 

 1855, and Butterfly in 1857. 



Butterfly is a chesnut filly standing fifteen hands 

 three inches high. She has a good but not hand- 

 some head, and though altogether a fine mare, was 

 not quite so " pretty " as some of her opponents 

 for the Oaks. She has some vv'onderfully good 

 points, and amongst these a famous forehand, with 

 great depth of girth, and powerful quarters. She 

 has capital arms and thighs, with good sound legs, 

 and a very lasting look about her. 



Mr. Sharpe, or "Willie Sharpe," as heisknov/n 

 over the Border, is honorary secretary of the Royal 

 Caledonian Hunt Club, and one of the staunchest 

 supporters both of the Leash and the Tuif in Scot- 

 land. He sold the chesnut Catherine filly in the 

 first instance to Gates the trainer of Middleham, 



who in turn offered her to Mr. Eastwood, one of 

 his masters, and the agent to Colonel Towneley. 

 She ultimately became the joint property of Mr. 

 Eastwood and Mr. Culshaw, the latter of whom 

 has long had the management of the Colonel's 

 famous herd of shorthorn cattle ; and Culshaw 

 insisted as part of the bargain that the filly should 

 be called " Butterfly," in compliment to that 

 renowned tribe of bovine worthies. There are too 

 many Butterflys, however, already in the Stud 

 Book to justify the title, although in the Herd 

 Book there is every precedent for Butterflys, 

 Duchesses, and Matchlesses without end. 



There has been no little discussion as to whether 

 Butterfly, in her preparation last year, had the use 

 of the Turkish bath ; and contradictions and cross- 

 contradictions followed with the most pertina- 

 ceous exactness. We have the authority of one 

 of her owners for saying that the mare was never 

 subjected to such a bath in her life. 



A DROP OF RAIN-WATER. 



BY CUTHBEBT W. JOIINSOK, ESQ., 1\E,S. 



In a previous number of this valuable Magazine 

 i^ante, page 98) we have traced the origin of the 

 aqueous vapour of our atmosphere. That vapour, 

 the mother of the rain-drop, we followed in its 

 course as it rose into the atmosphere from the sur- 

 face of the earth, its waters, and its tenants, both 

 vegetable and animal. The beneficial influence of 

 that evaporation we can partially perceive in the 

 cooling effects which it produces ; but there are 

 other and highly important results arising from 

 this insensible emission of steam, with which we 

 are as yet only imperfectly acquainted. If the in- 

 sensible moisture which thus exists was withdrawn 

 from the air, all vegetation, all animals would either 

 languish or perish. We know how our plants and 

 ourselves suflfer in a dry easterly wind, and that 

 the far drier winds, such as those which flow from 

 the burning deserts of Africa and other places, al- 

 though not utterly devoid of moisture, are almost 

 insupportable by animal life. But if when it is 

 insensible its services to us are so essential, to an 

 equally important extent is the moisture of the at- 

 mosphere indispensable to us when it becomes vi- 

 sible in clouds, and again descends upon us in the 

 dew and in the rain-drop. It is needless to refer 

 to these as essential to our existence, for they are 

 the only sources whence are derived the water on 

 which the vegetable and animal worlds subsist. 

 Every cultivator of our country is deeply interested 

 in these marvellous movements. To avail himself 

 to the greater extent of the atmospheric vapours, 

 is one very material reason why he pulverizes 

 and deepens his soils ; for the better this is accom- 

 plished, the more freely the air penetrates into 

 the ground, and the more copious is the depo- 

 sition in the soil of its moisture; an aqueous 

 portion which, by the contrivance of its Divine 

 Author^ is present in the largest proportions 



in the atmosphere in the summer season, when the 

 weather is the warmest, and the need of moisture 

 the greatest. This deposition of water, too, we 

 must not forget, is frequently taking place, espe- 

 cially in permeable soils, when the evaporation 

 from the surface of the soil is still proceeding. 

 Many a skilful grower of roots avails himself of 

 this state of affairs, without being aware of the true 

 reasons of his mode of cultivation. The sun may 

 keep shining, the rain-cloud be long absent, but 

 still he keeps his horse-hoe at work between his 

 rows of turnips, for he has discovered that the more 

 the soil is disturbed, the more freely the atmos- 

 phere enters the soil, and then the better the swedes 

 and mangolds prosper. 



But let us proceed to follow the watery vapour 

 of our atmosphere from its invisible state, to the 

 time when it becomes evident to our senses ; in 

 the atmosphere still suspended, as clouds and fogs, 

 or descended on the earth, fl.uid, as dew and rain, 

 or sohdified in hail or snow. 



The aqueous vapour which we have traced from 

 the surface of the earth, its waters, plants, and 

 animals, mixes at first entirely with the atmos- 

 pheric gases. But in the eternal circles which it 

 is ever pursuing, it soon again becomes visible to 

 our senses ; it appears as the cloud, or collection of 

 visible vapour or steam, which floats over our heads 

 at varying, yet considerable elevations. Why, how- 

 ever, that transition from invisible vapour to cloud 

 takes place, is not yet well determined. We must 

 suppose that the air in which the cloud floats is 

 saturated with moisture — cannot dissolve any of 

 the cloud : but why the insensible vapour takes the 

 form of steam or cloud, rather than that of drops 

 of rain, is not quite clear. It is very true, that a 

 cubic foot of air at a temperature of 60'^, can hold 

 nearly 8 grains of water, and that when its tem- 



