LOCAL CLIMATE. 27 



and the more so when the results of these experiments are to 

 be compared with those made in other localities. Thus j 



1. The annual fall of rain varies much. On the west coast 

 of Great Britain and Ireland, exposed to the wide range of the 

 Atlantic, it is greater than on the east coast ; and among the 

 mountains towards the west, as in Cumberland, it is still greater. 

 The seasons at which the rain falls are also different .in different 

 localities, as well as the number of days on which it falls and 

 the habitual clearness of the sky, on which the progress of 

 vegetation so materially depends. 



2. Then the mean annual temperature of places differs much 

 the mean temperature of the several seasons the maxima 

 and minima the periods when they occur their duration, &c. 



Altitude modifies these temperatures, (1 F. for 300 or 400 

 feet ;) latitude modifies them, the neighbourhood of the sea, the 

 proximity of mountains, and other circumstances. 



3. The direction and temperature of the prevailing winds ; 

 their duration ; their intensity ; their hygrometric condition ; 

 the consequent evaporative power of the place, and the degree 

 of permanent moisture in the soil which mainly depends upon 

 it ; the frequency of hoar-frosts or blighting winds in spring ; 



All these subjects together include a very wide field of useful 

 meteorological knowledge. To the interpreter and reconciler 

 of experimental results, this kind of knowledge is more imme- 

 diately necessary than to the suggester or performer of the 

 experiments themselves. But its connexion with experimental 

 data and deductions is so intimate, that it must be consulted and 

 taken into account by all those who desire to aid in establishing 

 practical agriculture upon a scientific basis. 



5. Composition of the several parts of animal bodies , and 

 how they are built up and sustained. 



To that department of husbandry which occupies itself with 

 the feeding of animals, a familiarity with the composition and 

 functions of the several parts of the animal body, and of the 

 mode in which they are built up, or fed and sustained, is of 

 great importance. By the experimental feeder these things 

 ought to be well understood. 



