174 Tlu! Iiifincncc of the 



advantag^es of steam-cultivation have been amply discussed and 

 pretty generally admitted. Its special advantages in the very 

 <lry season of 18(58 furnished one of the most interesting topics 

 discussed by Mr. Morton ; but the results obtained in a very wet 

 season were wanted to present the subject fairly under all its 

 aspects. The year 1872 will be long remembered as one unfavour- 

 able for almost all kinds of tillage. The first quarter of the year 

 was remarkable for its high temperature and heavy rainfall. At 

 Greenwich the warmth of the whole quarter was 5° above the 

 average of 101 years, and the rainfall 1*4 inches in excess of the 

 average of 57 years : in all parts of the country farm-work was 

 impeded by an excess of moisture saturating the land. The 

 prospect of an early spring was checked by quick alternations of 

 temperature during April and the early part of May ; the latter 

 half of May and the beginning of June were remarkable for 

 frequent frosts and a deficiency of daily temperature resulting 

 from a cloudy sky. From the middle of June until the end of 

 July hot weather prevailed : the rainfall at Greenwich was 

 slightly below the average, but heavy thunderstorms visited 

 many parts of the kingdom, and were especially violent in the 

 northern counties. The early part of August was cold and wet. 

 Short intervals of finer weather enabled a late harvest to be com- 

 pleted during the end of August and the beginning of September 

 over the greater part of England ; but in Scotland and on some of 

 the high-lying land in the north of England the crops were not 

 removed from the land before the commencement of a period of 

 autumn and winter rain, almost unprecedented for its excess. 



During the months of October, November, and December, a 

 total rainfall of 11*32 inches was recorded at Greenwich, an 

 amount 4*2 inches above the average of 57 years, and greater 

 than is recorded for any one year since 1821, when it was 

 11*47 inches. The average fall of rain for the whole country 

 was 13*97 inches. Out of the 92 days comprised in the quarter, 

 rain fell at Greenwich on 67 days, a number which exactly cor- 

 responds to 'the average obtained from all the stations included 

 in Mr. Glaisher's report, and is a greater numljer than is recorded 

 for the same three months in any one of the 57 years registered 

 at Greenwich. 



This last quarter of the year was remarkable not only for the 

 number of its wet days and the total quantity of rain that fell, 

 but also for the violence of its storms, strewing our coasts with 

 wrecks, and causing many of our largest rivers to overflow their 

 banks and flood the surrounding country. In such a season 

 we should expect to sustain the maximum amount of injury that 

 excessive rain can inflict upon agriculture. 



The injury and losses sustained by those who adhered to the 



