‘ 
+ AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 
The first regular series of these observations made in this country 
were prepared by T. Romeyn Beck and Professor Joseph Henry, and 
published at the early date of 1826.* It is to be regretted that, in the 
“Results of the Meteorological Observations made from 1826 to 1850,” 
and published by the University of New York, under the care of Frank- 
lin B. Hough, all that valuable information upon periodical phenomena 
should have been omitted entirely. 
In 1862 Professor Joseph Henryt issued, through the Smithsonian’ 
Institution, a circular addressed to observers, for the purpose of obtain- 
ing all possible information upon these phenomena, both in plants and 
animals. Unfortunately, the great importance of this study was not ' 
comprehended, and the design of Professor Henry failed for want of as- 
sistance. ; 
To ascertain the laws of dependence and relation which exist between 
these periodical phenomena, in connection with the state of the atmo- 
sphere and conditions of the soil, it is first necessary to study them si- 
multaneously, by the aid of observations made at a great number of sta- 
tions. A single plant, carefully watched, is capable of yielding inform- 
ation of the greatest interest. Synchronic lines, or lines of equal phe- 
nomena, might be traced on the surface of the United States, to indi- 
cate the foliation, the flowerizg, and the ripening of the fruit of the 
principal plants. <A line might be conceived on this surface upon which 
the flowering of our principal productions takes place at the same date; 
and also lines on which the flowering is earlier, or later, by ten, twenty, 
or thirty days. Will these lines, then, be equi-distant? Will they bear 
analogies to the isothermal lines, or lines of equal heat? What depend- 
ence wil] exist between them? How will it be with the isanthesic lines, 
lines of simultaneous flowering? Will the latter be parailel to those 
relating to foliation, or to other clearly marked phases in the develop- 
ment of the individual? We may presume, for example, that, while a 
plant is beginning to bloom in a peculiar locality, and ata certain date, 
there aiso exist other places, to the northward, where the same species: 
is just putting forth the leaves. Has the line, then, which passes through 
these places, any relation to the lines of simultaneous flowering which 
answer to the same date? It may also be asked whether the places 
which have the foliation on the same day will likewise have the same 
date of flowering and fructification. Thus we may see how, by confin- 
ing our observations even to the simplest data, many important dedue- 
tions might be drawn from a system of simultaneous observations con- 
ducted on an extended scale. 
The periodical phenomena are divided into three great classes, the 
first two comprehending plants and animals, and the other concerning 
man living in a social state; for society itself, with all its tendencies to 
withdraw from natural laws, has not been able to escape from this 
periodicity of the reappearance, more or less regular, ef the same phe- 
nomena. 
We shail here take into consideration only these periodical phe- 
nomena appertaining to plants, which are as follows: 1st, the foliation, 
or first appearance of the leaves; 2d, the flowering, or first appearance 
of the flowers ; 3d, the fructification or ripening of the fruit; and, 4th, 
the defoliation, or fall of the leaves. These refer.only to the annuat 
revolution of the earth; but for the diurnal revolution, the hour and 
Pee Report of the Regents of the University of the State of New York, Albany, 
we LJ 
t Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Washington, 1862, vol. i, pp. 63-70. 
