706 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



sugar-canes which are exposed to the sun, have more of that important ingredient than 

 when they grow under shade. Nor ought the observation to be omitted, that darkness 

 and h'ght have effects directly opposite upon vegetables. Darkness favors the length of the 

 growth, by keeping up the pliancy of their parts ; light consolidates them, and stops 

 growth, by favoring maturation. Hence, in the northernmost regions, plants go through 

 all their stages of growth at a time when the sun no longer quits the horizon ; and the 

 light, of which they thus experience the unremitting effect, hardens them before they 

 have time to lengthen. Their growth is therefore quick, but of short duration. They 

 are robust, but undersized. (Mirbel.) It has been remarked also, that a soil, not re- 

 tentive, will be more productive in a wet climate than in a dry one. Hence, in the 

 western coasts of England, as in Lancashire, where the quantity of rain that falls annu- 

 ally varies from forty to sixty inches, a siliceous sandy soil is much more productive than 

 the same species of soil in the eastern districts, where seldom more than from twenty-five 

 to thirty-five inches of rain fall in a year. In wet climates also, even wheat and beans will 

 require a less coherent and absorbent soil than in drier situations. At the same time, 

 weather moderately dry, is the most favorable to a great produce of corn ; and the blos^ 

 soms of wheat, in particular, set best if no rain falls in the flowering season. 



4361. The importance of moisture to vegetation is obvious to every one. Water con- 

 stitutes a large proportion of every plant, and is the vehicle of the food of plants held in 

 solution. Hence, without so essential an ingredient, they must either become stunted in 

 their growth, or perish. In dry weather, when vegetation seems at a stand, no sooner do 

 showers of rain fall, than a rapid growth, of every kind of herbage, or of corn, immedi- 

 ately succeeds, even on poor dry soils, where otherwise, however well manured, vegeta- 

 tion would make but slow progress. 



4362. The quantity/ of rain that falls annually in any country, is a very inferior consi- 

 deration, when compared with that of the general and equable distribution of that quan, 

 tity throughout the several days and months of the year. A great quantity, at the same 

 time, is rather hurtful than beneficial ; whereas those moderate, but golden showers, which 

 regularly fall on a soil calculated to receive them, are real sources of fertility. It is by 

 this that the character of a climate, whether wet or dry, is chiefly determined, and the 

 operations of agriculture are principally influenced. 



4363. The utility of a moist atmosphere, with a view to vegetation, is, in some respects, 

 peculiarly remarkable. Thus in wet climates, as on the western coasts of England, 

 Scotland, and Ireland, crops of grain and potatoes are found to exhaust the soil less than 

 in dry situations, Oats in particular are impoverishing in a greater degree in dry 

 climates, than in moist opes ; and in the former, should be sown much earlier than in the 

 latter. 



4364. The disadvantages of a wet climate to a farmer, more especially if accompanied 

 with a retentive soil, are very great. It is calculated, that in the richest district in Scot- 

 land, the Carse of Gowrie, there are only about twenty weeks in the year fit for plough- 

 ing; whereas in several parts of England, they have thirty weeks, and in many cases 

 i;nore, during which this essential operation can be performed. Hence ploughing must 

 be much more expensive in the one case than in the other. 



4365. The season of the year in which rain abounds, is likewise of much importance. 

 An excess is prejudicial in any season, but is peculiarly so in autumn, when it often 

 lodges the grain by its violence, or, by its long continuance, prevents the corn from 

 being properly harvested. The hopes of the husbandman are thus blasted, and the fruits of 

 his toil and industry are frequently diminished, and sometimes entirely lost. 



4366. Dews have a great e^ect in furnishing plants with moisture; and, indeed, with- 

 out their aid, vegetation, in warm and dry climates, could not go on. Even in tempe-- 

 rate regions, dews are beneficial. In Guernsey, on the coast of Normandy, the autumnal 

 dews are singularly heavy, so much so, that in the middle of a hot day, the dew-drops 

 are not quite exhaled from the grass. From this moisture, the after-grass receives great 

 benefit. Dr. Hales estimated the quantity of dew that falls in one year, at three and a 

 half inches : Dalton at nearly five inches. In this matter, however, it is not easy to be 

 correct. 



4367. The prevailing winds have a great influence on the character of a climate, and a 

 powerful effect on vegetation When they pass over a large expanse of water, they are 

 usually of a warmer or higher temperature in winter, than those which blow over high 

 lands ; more especially if such come from countries covered with snow. Hence the east 

 and north-east winds, which have passed over the coldest regions of Europe, are much 

 colder than the west and south-west winds, which blow over the Atlantic Ocean, and 

 oftener occasions blights. The former are comparatively drier, unless when accompanied 

 by those thick mists, called haars, arising from the copious evaporation of the German 

 Ocean. The latter are loaded with the vapors of the Atlantic, and often, from excess 

 of moisture, are rendered prejudicial. The strength of the prevailing winds, or the 



