Vol. XV., Second Series. 



ROCHESTER, K Y., NOVEMBER, 1854. 



No. 11. 



THE GENESEE FARMER, 



A SIO.N'TnLY JOIRXAL OP 



AGRICULTURE & HORTICULTURE. 



VOLUniE XV., SECOND SERIES. 1854. 



EACH Ntf^^BER COXTAIXS 32 ROYAL OCTAVO PAGES, IN 



DOUBLP: COLU.\fN'S, AND TWELVE NUMBERS FORM 



A VOLUME OF 384 PAGES IN A YEAK. 



Terais. 



Single Copy, --- - §0.50 



Five Copies, 2.00 



Eight Copies, -- -.. 3.00 



And at the same rate for any larger number, 

 f^*" Reioittances properly mailed, and postage paid, at the risk 

 of the Publisher. 



J^^" Postma-sters are respectfully requested to act as Agents. 

 DANIEIi. LEE, 

 Publisher and Proprietor, Rochester, N. Y. 



AGRICULTURAL CLIMATOLOGY. 



TiiK most valual)le contribution to llie rural litera- 

 ture of this country made the present year is an ex- 

 tended essay on Agricullural Climatology by Mr. 

 LoRix Blodget ol' the Smithsonian Institute, -which 

 fills over lOQ pages in the Agricultural Report of the 

 Patent Office for 1853. With commendable care, 

 and no inconsiderable labor, the author has collected 

 and collated a large amount of statistics illustrative 

 of the climates best adapted to the growth of the 

 great staples of the United States. The mean tem- 

 perature of the several seasons (Winter, Spring, Sum- 

 mer, and Autumn), and of each month, the fall and 

 distribution of rain and snow, and the general humidi- 

 ty and dryness of the atmosphere, are controlling 

 elements in the production of all agricultural plants. 

 Hence, Climatology and Agriculture sustain to each 

 other the most intimate relations; and both may be 

 studied wiih equal pleasure and profit by every one 

 interested eitlicr in tillage or husbandry. A more 

 inviting field for scientific research does not exist, 

 nor one that promises more useful results. Research- 

 es in this direction will, ultimately, enable every far- 

 mer to adapt his crops, and his system of farm econo- 

 my, to all the requirements of the climate in which 

 his professional operations are carried on. He will 

 wisely co-operate with nature in all his processes, in- 

 stead of throwing away valuable lal)or and not a lit- 

 tle capital, in violating her unljending laws. His ef- 

 forts to acclimate plants that properly belong to a 

 different zone will be practiced with increased suc- 



cess, in proportion as their natural habits and wants 

 have been correctly developed, and are rightly under- 

 stood. 



Mr. Blodget has identified his name with Ameri- 

 can agricultural climatology in a way that will secure 

 to it an honorable remembrance as one of the foun- 

 ders, and most successful cultivators of a new science. 

 Instrumental observations relating to climates have 

 been made in this country since 1738, when a mercu- 

 rial thermometer was first used in Charleston. In 

 1742, observations were first commenced at Cam- 

 bridge; and soon after in Philadelphia, and Williams- 

 burg, Virginia. It is only, however, during the last 

 thirty or forty years that this subject has attracted 

 general attention; and still more recently has it re- 

 ceived the advantages of a matured concert of ac- 

 tion, under the afipropriate direction of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution. Its plan of operations is said to 

 be moie extensive with uuiibrm and critical instru- 

 ments, than that of any other nation; but sufficient 

 time has not elapsed since its adoption to collect the 

 facts necessary to form a complete generalization of 

 all our climatic resources. Enough, however, is 

 known to satisfy every one who will take the trouble 

 to investigate the subject, that we possess conditions 

 of temperature in the spring, summer and autumn 

 months, and in the amount and distribution of rain, 

 which confer on this republic peculiar and unequal- 

 ed agricultural capabilities. The climatology of Eu- 

 rope is best known; and it is with its leading statis- 

 tics that our own are compared in the paper before 

 us. In this coimection ili-. B. remarks: "In com- 

 parison with Europe, we have a tropical summer and 

 a high northern winter; and the capacity of our 

 climates for vegetable growths, or particularly for 

 animals, ranges through all climates, from tropical to 

 extreme north temperate, for almost the same dis- 

 tricts. The peculiar staples which attain the highest 

 perfection here difier, therefore, from any other con- 

 tinental area, and embrace in the same localities those 

 which are elsewhere widely separated, and appear 

 only in distant climates. From this general semi- 

 tropical summer, we find peculiar developments of 

 native and acchmated products. The characteristic 

 class is, in every instance, of sudden growth, exuber- 

 ant, prolific ; developing tropical characteristics in 

 the preponderance of saccharine nutritive elements, 

 and great perfection of essential oils and narcotic 

 qualities. 



