THE GENESEE FARMER. 



203 



It is some consolation to find that we are not 

 lone in finding it difficult always to locate the 

 ^ir in the best places. The Royal Agricultural 

 ociety of England adopts the itenerant plan of 

 aiding Fairs pursued in this State. There, as 

 are, efforts have been made to induce the Society 

 I permanently locate the Fairs at one or two 

 aces, but hitherto without success. Other things 

 ling equal, the Society endeavors to select places 

 here the Fair has never before been held, or at 

 Qg intervals. It appears from the last number 



the Loudon Agricultural Gazette that the same 

 lestions have to be considered, even in a country 



densely populated as England, as arise in this 

 ate. The Gazette says : 



"On Wednesday next the choice of the Agri- 

 Itural Society will be declared, of Newcastle, 

 irhngton and Durham, which is to be the scene 

 the great Country Meeting in 1864. The coin- 

 ttee of the Council appointed to examine the 

 ialities made their examination last week and 

 iir report will no doubt decide tliis matter, 

 ere is of course a natural desire tliat fresli 

 )und should every year be selected, and that 

 len two towns come into competition for a vi*it 

 ■ new one should be chosen. Unfortunately the 

 vns named above compete on terms which are 

 lerwise exceedingly unequal. And the railway 

 iomniodation, the house accommodation, tiie ac- 

 nmodation for implement trials and for live stock 

 libition, are all on the side of the town which 

 1 already received the annual visit of the Society, 

 wcastle, which was visited sixteen or seventeen 

 rs ago, has three railways from Scotland, which 

 uld, no doubt, send many competitors and many 

 tors; and it has also direct railway communi- 

 lon with the south. A show ground — the 

 lous Town Moor, of 1400 acres — is placed at 

 disposal of the Society free of charge, with a 

 way station adjoining; and tlie trial ground 

 small implements is also close by. The popula- 

 i of Newcastle with Gateshead is over 100,000 



they possess many hundred hotels, inns' and 

 ring-houses, and capital river transit, besides 

 r railway accommodation. Darlington and 

 ■ham, either of which the Society might wish 

 ■isit, can not afford adequate lodging room for 

 tors, and do not provide a local population large 



IKrh tn fill tha TTo^.ln -^Xt-u .•.:<._.' ° 



THE TEMPERATURE OF THE SOIL, AND ITS 

 EFFECT ON CULTIVATED PLANTS. 



agh to fill the yards with visitors. 

 Every other year of late the Society has lost a 

 e sum by Its show. Its funds are not in a po- 

 'n to risk another deficit of this kind. The 

 hty which provides the largest local popula- 



18 to be preferred on this ground, even though 

 rivals have the powerful plea in their behalf 



they have never yet received a visit from the 

 ety. 



nee the above was written we learn that it 

 been decided to hold the Fair at Nkwoastlk- 

 «-Tyne. 



ilbof'Ethax Allen.— The celebrated race- 

 e Ethan Allen" has been sold to Frank 

 LEB, of ban Francisco, Cal., for $16 000 



At the last monthly meeting of the London, or 

 Central Farmer's Club, Mr. J. B. Spearing, of 

 Moulsford, Wallingford, delivered a lecture "On 

 the Effect of Temperature on Cultivation, from 

 Observations of the Three Past Seasons." 



The science of meteorology has been profoundly 

 studied in America. The Smithsonian Institute 

 has for many years paid great attention to the sub- 

 ject; and observations in regard to the temperature 

 of the atmosphere, rain, prevailing winds, &c., have 

 been made and recorded in all sections of our widely 

 extended country. But in regard to the tem- 

 perature of the soil we have but few recorded ob- 

 servations. The subject has not received, either 

 here or in Europe, the attention that its importance 

 merits. Within the last few years the French and 

 English horticultural journals have had consider- 

 able to say about " Geothermal Culture," and some 

 remarkable results have been obtained by artificially 

 heating the soil. In ground heated by hot water 

 pipes, tender annuals and green-house plants have 

 been found to flourish as well as those which were 

 covered with glass. If the soil is warm, the sap 

 in the plant will be warm also ; and as the pores 

 of the leaves close during cold nights, the plant can 

 withstand considerable cold, without injury— just 

 as the warm blood of animals enables them to re- 

 sist cold. 



Gardeners have long known the importance of 

 " bottom heat," and the use of fermenting manure 

 is well understood. An increase of one or two de- 

 grees in the temperature of the soil during the 

 spring, is of great importance. One of the great 

 advantages of underdraining is due to the fact that 

 the removal of water from benonth renders the 

 surface dryer, and the heat of the sun is absorbed 

 by the soil, instead of being expended in evapor- 

 ating the water. 



Though our climate is very dissimilar from that 

 of Great Britain, and though the exact figures are 

 not applicable to this country, yet the following 

 extracts from Mr. Speaking's address will be read 

 with interest by all intelligent farmers. Mr.* S. 

 said : 



When we look around us in the spring and ad- 

 mire the works of Nature, we can not but feel that 

 all is governed by a law which is not to be calcu- 

 lated by time, but rather by heat or temperature ; 

 and it will be my business here to show that the 

 more the cultivators of the soil study these laws, 

 the less frequent will mistakes be made as to the 

 time of planting, «fec., and the more certain will be 

 the results of their labors. If I may be allowed 



