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FARMERS' MISCELLANY. 



A BIRDSEYE VIEW OF THE STATE OF AGRICULTURE 

 OF DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. 



BY C. N. BEMENT. 

 EUROPE. 



Face of the Country. — The central part of this continent is in 

 general mountainous. The whole northern part, extending from 

 London and Paris to Razan, and comprising the northern part of 

 France and Germany, the Dutch and Belgian Netherlands, Prus- 

 sia, Poland, and a great part of Russia, is a vast plain, little ele- 

 vated above the level of the sea, and scarcely broken by any 

 considerable elevations. There are several elevated plains or 

 plateaus in Europe, but of no great extent. The Swiss plateau, 

 lying between the Jura and the Alps, has an elevation of from 

 1,800 to 4,000 feet. Central Spain forms an elevated table land 

 2,200 feet high, and the central part of Russia forms a similar 

 plateau about 1,200 feet high. 



Climate in general. — The climate of southern Europe may be 

 described as mild, and that of the north severe, with long winters 

 and hot but short summers. The climate of the western coast is, 

 however, tempered by the vicinity of the ocean, and the same 

 cause renders it liable to sudden and violent changes. That of 

 the eastern part of the continent is rendered much colder, in cor- 

 responding latitudes, by its exposure to the icy winds of northern 

 and central Asia. The heat, brought by the burning winds of 

 the African deserts to the southern countries, is in general tem- 

 pered by their great exposure to the sea, occasioned by their 

 peninsular formation. The mountains of Switzerland, Spain, 

 and Hungary, also modify the character of the climate in the ex- 

 tensive districts which they cover. 



