NOTES 



EEFERRING TO 



THE AUTHORS QUOTED IN THE CODE OF 

 AGRICULTURE. 



CHAPTER I. 



1 Agriculture, even restricted to the management of farm lands, when viewed 

 in all its branches, and treated of to its full extent, is not only the most im- 

 portant, but the most difficult to explain, in the whole circle of human arts and 

 sciences. Marshall's Rural Economy of the West of England, vol. i. p. 56. 

 Dr Coventry's Discourses, p. 25. 



2 Climate and soil, as Mr Curwen justly remarks, are, above all other consi- 

 derations, those which the farmer ought constantly to keep in view. Report to 

 the Workington Society, p. 36. He adds, " that some practices, which com- 

 pletely answer in a better climate, I have found to fail most lamentably on my 

 own farm." The importance of climate, indeed, is generally admitted ; yet, in 

 carry ing on their agricultural enterprizes, many proprietors are too apt to forget it. 

 Hence, after they have improved their land at a great expense, their hopes of 

 success are frequently disappointed, by the want of a thorough knowledge of the 

 climate on which they have bestowed their money and exertions. 



Z Derbyshire Report, vol. ii. p. 268 ; vol. iii. p. 671. 



4 Kincardineshire Report, p. 17; Derbyshire Report, vol. ii. p. 259. 



5 Middlesex Report, p. 16. 



6 Communication from John Middle-ton, Esq. 



7 Wakefield's Account of Ireland, vol. i. p. 166. 



8 Robertson's History of the Atmosphere, vol. i. p. 170. Ovid takes notice 

 of the freezing of the Euxine during winter, and it would appear, that it was 

 sometimes covered with ice, even in summer. Ibid. p. 16. This latter degree 

 of coldness, however, has long been unknown in those parts, since they were 

 cleared of woods. It appears from Horace, that about the year 480 from the 

 foundation of Rome, the Tiber was frequently frozen over, and the ground was 

 often covered with snow, during the space of forty days at a time. Polybius 

 describes the climate of Gaul and Germany, as a perpetual winter. The cli- 

 mate of North America has been greatly improved, since it has been cultivated. 

 See Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, vol. i. 



9 Heat has also an effect on animal matter. It has been remarked by an emi- 

 nent chiropodist, that the nails both of the fingers and toes, but particularly of 

 the former, grow much more in summer than in winter. 



10 It is known, that water below 40 of heat, expands, in its progress to con- 

 gelation, to 32, and as much as to 48 of heat upwards, when it is becoming 



a 



