38 Aspect, or Exposure. 



Yorkshire Wolds), from their superior warmth, compared 

 with cold clays, or peat, barley has been grown to great per- 

 fection, at an elevation of 800 feet above the level of the 

 sea ( l35 ). Experiments have been tried, to raise corn crops, 

 at even a higher elevation, on the celebrated mountain 

 Skiddaw in Cumberland, but the attempt was unsuccessful. 

 On this subject, it is proper to add, that on the second 

 class of mountains in the county of Wicklow, in Ireland, 

 where no other grain is considered to be a safe crop, rye is 

 cultivated with success ( l35 )- 



SECT. V. Aspect, or Exposure. 



IN hilly or mountainous districts, this is an important sub- 

 ject of attention to the farmer, more especially where the 

 climate is unfavourable. It is proved in a variety of in- 

 stances, both in the Central Highlands of Scotland, and in 

 other parts of the kingdom ( l37 ), that where the aspect of a 

 hill is towards the north, the soil is more fertile, than when 

 it lies with a southern exposure. This is attributed to the 

 variations from frost to thaw in the spring months, which 

 are greater in a southern, than a northern aspect. Hence, 

 while the soil to the north remains locked fast, and secured 

 from waste, the other is loosened by the sun, and carried off 

 by showers falling in the intervals of thaw. Soils also which 

 face the south, are more liable to have their substance carried 

 away by heavy rains, which are generally impelled from the 

 south and south-west ( l38 ). Nor is this remark restricted to 

 the climate of this country ; for it has been most distinctly 

 stated, in communications inserted by Dr Thomas Thomson 

 in his Annals of Philosophy, that in the climate of Nice, 

 the south side of a hill is so much warmer than the north, 

 that orange trees will flourish much higher up in the former 

 than in the latter. 



But though soils with a northern exposure often produce 

 the heaviest crops of grass and hay, yet on those which have 

 a southern aspect, from their possessing a more genial cli- 

 mate, and from the earlier and more powerful action of the 

 sun, both corn and grass are harvested earlier ( l39 ) ; and 

 superiority of quality, thus compensates, for any inferiority 

 in the quantity of the produce. 



