16 Climate. 



experience. It may still be proper to study the appearance 

 of the heavens, and not to despise old proverbs, which often 

 contain much local truth ( 3S ) ; but the vane now points out the 

 quarter whence the winds blow, with all their variations ; 

 the barometer ( 36 ) often enables us to foretell the state of the 

 weather that we have reason to expect; the thermometer ascer- 

 tains the degree of heat; the hygrometer ( 37 ), the degree of 

 moisture; and therain-guage, the quantity of rain that has fallen 

 during any given period. By keeping exact registers of all 

 these particulars, much useful information may be obtained. 



The influence of different degrees of temperature and hu- 

 midity, occurring at different times, may likewise be obser- 

 ved, by comparing the leafing, flowering, and after-progress 

 of the most common sorts of trees and plants, in different sea- 

 sons, with the period when the several crops of grain are sown 

 and reaped each year ( 38 ). 



The farmer who thus attends to the character, the progress, 

 and the length of the seasons ( 39 ), and registers them with 

 accuracy, elevates himself above the station of an ordinary cul- 

 tivator, and the facts which it is thus in his power to furnish, 

 may essentially promote " The Science of Agriculture." 



SECT. IL Soil. 



THE surface, or outer coating of land, usually consists 

 of a collection of various earthy matters, in a loose and 

 porous state, with a mixture of animal and vegetable sub- 

 stances, partially decomposed, together with certain saline 

 and mineral ingredients. Where favourably combined, it 

 is admirably calculated to afford support to plants, to enable 

 them to fix their roots, and gradually to derive nourishment 

 by their tubes, from the soluble and dissolved substances 

 contained in thesozY, as this mixed mass is called ( 4 ). The 

 strata on which it rests, are known under the general name 

 of subsoil. 



The importance of the soil has been described in various 

 ways. By some it has been called the mother, or nurse of 

 vegetation ( 4I ). By others it is represented as discharging 

 functions to plants, similar to those which the stomach does 

 to animals, in preparing their food, and fitting it for ab- 

 sorption by their roots. It furnishes the plant also with 

 heat ; for a well-cultivated and highly manured soil, is much 

 warmer than the surrounding atmosphere ( 4a ). The farmer, 

 it is said, ought to study the relative value of the different 



