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Usefulness^ to Husbandmen^ of attending to natural 

 Phcenomena^ by Richard Peters. 



Read February 8, 1814. 



1 know not whether the account I gave, of some of 

 the prominent circumstances of the season of 1813, 

 may, or not, claim any serious attention. It would be 

 well, however, if observations on seasons of every de- 

 scription, either favourable, or otherwise, to the busi- 

 ness of the farmer, were more commonly noted. Al- 

 though some circumstances may, at first, appear tri- 

 fling, and not worthy of any attention ; yet, in a course 

 of time, they may be found highly important. Much 

 of Virgil's Georgics, is devoted to the signs and 

 motions of the heavenly bodies, — the phcenomena ex- 

 hibited in the air, and in the ocean, — according to the 

 state of knowledge in his day, — the habits of animals, 

 — including reptiles and insects, however mean, and 

 otherwise insignificant. He draws, out of these, in- 

 structions and warnings for husbandmen, written in a 

 style of elegance, and even practical correctness, which 

 have not been surpassed in modern times ; with all 

 their boasted improvements, in science, or the arts. 

 The great character Linn^us, whose acumen of re- 

 search pervaded all nature, has not disdained to inves- 

 tigate subjects, which would appear unworthy his no- 

 tice, but for the interesting uses, to which he applies 

 them. The times of arrival of certain birds, — the ap- 

 pearance Ok c'^viixinjloxucrsy — the vegetation of certain 



VOL. III. u u 



