CHAPTER IV. 



M E T E O R O L, O Q Y . 



121. A good soil, well worked, with good seed, is not the 

 only element of success in farming ; the CLIMATE has a powerful 

 controlling influence on agricultural pursuits; an influence to 

 which the farmer is compelled to submit. By knowledge, how 

 ever, he may so adapt his business to the climate, as to render 

 the changes to which it is subject, beneficial, instead of injurious 

 to him. 



122. The study of the laws which govern the climate is called 

 meteorology. 



The word &quot; meteorology &quot; means, literally, the science of meteors ; but 

 the term is applied, more extensively, to the investigation ol all the 

 physical causes which affect the condition of our globe ; and particularly 

 to the effects of light, heat, and winds on the earth, the ocean, and the 

 atmosphere, and the results of these agents in the production of climate- 



123. As meteorology is in itself an abstruse science, it will 

 only be necessary, in this place, to give such principal laws and 

 facts as bear upon agriculture. 



124. The main elements of climate are, (a,) the temperature 

 of the air ; (b,) of the soil ; (c,) the quantity of rain and dew 

 that fall ; (d,) the character of the prevailing winds ; (e^) the 

 length of the seasons of heat and cold ; and (f t ) the seasons at 

 which, and the mode in which the rains prevail. 



125. There is (a,) a general climate, and (b,) a local climate. 

 The first is equal, over the whole globe, on the same Iso-thermal 



