114 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 
cotton in the United States, vines in I'rance and Spain, &c. These are 
facts which highly educated agriculturists know, which the common 
class of farmers learn, and yet which all seem to forget. It is thus 
that, in all these questions, we strike the fatal slowness which appears 
to preside over the law of human progress. How much time and oppo- 
sition are necessary to attain the discovery of a simple truth! And how 
much more are necessary to have it accepted and put into practice! To 
the natural law of intellectual progress, which impels us against our 
will, we appear to oppose a pernicious routine, which would be pro- 
longed indefinitely if science did not enlighten our pathway. Will agri- 
culturists succumb under the weight of this routine? No! for a pro- 
gressive nation, like ours, cannot rest stationary in the midst of the 
advance which proudly places it at the head of modern civilization in 
other branches of human knowledge. A free and intelligent press will 
carry throughout this great republic instruction and science, and at last 
enlighten our agriculturists. 
In reading my first report.some farmers may have objected that it 
was more scientific than practical. I must say that the practical aim, 
whenever possible, will be found pervading the essay with the subject 
offered. But, where the practical side is wanting, or is not well defined 
it is for a forcible reason which often appears; it is because the special 
branch of science is yet in its infancy, and its practice is not at all de- 
termined. In all hum&n knowledge we have first to ascertain the prin- 
ciple or theory by which w@can account for any phenomendn, and then 
to determine the law which regulates it, before we can make any appli- 
cation. If I have not succeeded to my complete satisfaction in the two 
reports, the failure is mainly due to the insufficiency of science; and this 
will again show the great necessity for uniting otr efforts to reach that 
practical state so much needed in agriculture. 
NECESSITY FOR AGRICULTURAL REFORM AND MODE OF PROCEDURE. 
1. In order to discuss all the atmospheric observations and periodical 
phenomena of plants, made by observers and farmers, a division of 
meteorology should be established in the Department of Agriculture. 
The investigations of Buys-Ballot, Francis Galton, and Alex. Buchan, 
have proved a close connection between the barometric pressure, tem- 
perature, and moisture in the prevailing winds and storms, as follows: 
that where the pressure is the highest, the temperature of the air is the 
lowest, and vice versa; that the wind flows out in all directions from the 
regions of higher pressure to those of lower pressure; and that the 
moisture follows the track of the highest temperature. Now, the whole 
system of wind blowsin a vortex upon the spaces of lower pressure, and 
this is the path pursued by the center of cyclonic storms and hurricanes. 
We see immediately the important application of this fact to agriculture. 
Suppose we knew the lines of equal mean monthly barometric pressure, 
temperature, moisture, and direction of the wind over the whole country, 
then, by tracing on the map all the stations where the lowest pressure 
prevails, we should ascertain the exact track which the storm had to 
follow, as the wind flows from the surrounding stations of the higher to 
those of lower pressure. Now, weather previsions, as applied to agri- 
culture and navigation, rest entirely upon this rule. But before reach- 
ing this point we must work up these mdnthly charts of the normal 
state of the atmosphere, in order to know and trace the abnormal state, 
just as in the human body we must know its healthy condition te cure 
its diseases. 
Another consideration which the meteorological division should take 
