74 THE FLOEAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 



cepting the mariner, none have a greater need for such knowledge than 

 he who tills the ground. The glorious summer we enjoyed last year may 

 not have a parallel again in the lifetime of any of us, though, judging 

 from the meteorological annals of the last hundred years, a succession of 

 such seasons is possible, for such have occurred for three or four consecu- 

 tive years at a time. It is the business of the cultivator to adapt his 

 operations to those circumstances over which he has no control. In dis- 

 tricts where such soils as are required for particular plants are unat- 

 tainable, composts resembling them are resorted to with more or less 

 success, and, in like manner, many plants that would prove too tender if 

 exposed to the full action of the atmosphere, are found to thrive when 

 planted against walls. But these are instances of adaptation which in- 

 clude some amount of control, for the circumstances are altered, so as to 

 bring about conditions resembling those which it would be desirable to 

 enjoy without the necessity of calling in the aid of invention and ingenuity. 

 The changes of the weather are utterly beyond our control, however 

 much we may obviate injurious effects by the use of glass and other con- 

 trivances, and the only means Ave have of realising every benefit which 

 favourable weather may offer, or of avoiding losses by the opposite, are 

 directly dependent on our capability of estimating the probabilities of 

 the future. Though the anticipations of the most accurate observers will 

 frequently be falsified by events, it is, nevertheless, certain that he who 

 takes an interest in observation, will, in the majority of cases, be better 

 prepared to cope with difficulties, and profit by genial influences, than 

 he who trusts to guess work and the invitations of the hour. At no sea- 

 son of the year is the gardener so thoroughly at the mercy of the 

 weather as in spring ; continued cold rains and late frosts may prevent -the 

 completion of operations that may have been delayed beyond their time, 

 and the sudden outbursts of summer sunshine, which are so frequently 

 followed by the rigours of January, may start many things into prema- 

 ture growth, only to render them the more susceptible of the untimely 

 check that follows. We recommend all who take an interest in the culture 

 of plants, no matter wdiat may be the extent or special nature of their 

 operations, to study the weather. Accurate instruments for registering 

 the density of the atmosphere, and the relative amounts of moisture sus- 

 pended in it, or falling from it ; the temperature of the air and the soil ; 

 the direction and velocity of the wind, &c, are no longer confined by 

 their expensiveness to the means of the few, for the prevailing cheap- 

 ness of the age has effected in this branch of trade changes similar to 

 those which have occurred in others ; and manufacturers of the highest 

 scientific eminence have successfully taxed their ingenuity to meet the 

 demands of the times. It would be found a source of pleasure as well as 

 of profit, for the cultivator to adopt a regidar system of meteorological 

 observation, and if no great result Avas obtained by the regidar entry in a 

 weather journal, and a periodical determination of amounts and averages, 

 much useful knowledge would, nevertheless, be gained, and the mind 

 would be trained in that best of habits — the habit of observing with 

 accuracy. There is nothing difficult about it ; regularity of observation is 

 all that is necessary ; anyone can read off the barometer and thermometer 

 twice a day ; anyone can measure the rain fall by the aid of a proper 



