90 THE FARMER AT HOME. 



be wanting. On soils so sandy as to be porous, the application of 

 manures produces only a partial good, it soon sinks beyond the reach 

 of the roots of the plants. It is on these that clay may be applied 

 directly with excellent effect. 



CLIMATE. We understand by climate the metereological 

 peculiarities of any location, whether of heat or cold, moisture or 

 drought, and pestilential or salubrious atmospheric influences. Heat or 

 cold do not depend altogether on geographical position ; there are 

 numerous causes that tend to increase or decrease these, such as 

 oceans, mountains, plains, local or general currents of air, and others 

 that will at once present themselves, as influencing climate in these 

 respects. The western side of continents is found warmer than the 

 eastern side, a fact accounted for by the general prevalence of westerly 

 winds, which in their passage over oceans are raised in their temper- 

 ature, while winds that pass over land for the same distance are 

 usually cooled in the same degree. Thus the coast of the United 

 States that borders on the Pacific Ocean is altogether warmer than 

 the eastern or Atlantic coast, the territory at the mouth of the Colum- 

 bia, which is in the latitude of Mackinaw and Montreal, having the 

 climate, and producing the same vegetables, as the Carolinas and 

 Georgia. On the different sides of the Atlantic, too, it is found the 

 same difference prevails ; places having the latitude of Quebec, in 

 western Europe, producing the grains and plants of Pennsylvania and 

 Maryland. 



The elevation of any country above the sea has also a decided 

 effect on the climate. Thus under the equator, in ascending high 

 mountains, the temperature and the climate of widely different 

 regions may be passed in a few miles or hours. The clearing of a 

 country has also a great effect on climate ; as forests prevent speedy 

 evaporation, and retain the water that falls on the surface. All other 

 circumstances being equal, a cleared country is warmer than a 

 wooded one. The Cape Yerd Islands, by being deprived of their 

 woods, have become sultry, the springs have mostly dried up, and the 

 health of the inhabitants seriously affected. Is it not probable that 

 many eastern countries, once fertile and filled with inhabitants, have 

 become wastes, if not actual deserts, in consequence of the face of the 

 earth having for centuries been wholly denuded of wood ? The great 

 lakes of this country, containing as they do about one-half the fresh 

 water on the globe, and from their great depth only slowly feeling the 

 influence of the atmosphere, whether in cooling or heating, have, 

 perhaps, more influence over the climate of the countries bordering on 

 them, than any other single cause. 



CLOCK This is a machine moving by a pendulum, serving to 

 measure time, and to show the hours by striking on a bell. Al-B,as- 

 chid, an Arabian embassador, brought into France, in the year 802, 

 a striking clock, the first ever seen in that kingdom. At that time, 



