NOTES. 3 



yards ; and it was well observed by an English sailor, when a Spaniard taunted 

 him with a display of oranges, which his country produced, he said, twice a-year t 

 " See," (says he, holding up a great Cheshire cheese), " what my country 

 produces twice a-day." 



30 Derbyshire Report, vol. ii. p. 114. 31 Ibid. 



32 Husbandry of Scotland, vol. i. p. 151. 



53 Statistical Account of Scotland, vol. iv. p. 565. 



34 Young's Annals of Agriculture, vol. xxxix. p. 487. 



35 Dr Graham very justly remarks, that in a variable climate, every farmer 

 should be somewhat versed in the prognostics of the weather. Long experience 

 has given rise to a set of maxims on this subject, which are not unworthy of the 

 attention of the physiologist, while they are the common guides even of the 

 most illiterate. Stirlingshire Report, p. 12. 



36 The weight of the atmosphere is subject to frequent variations, and the 

 change of its density is made use of, to prognosticate the weather, by means of 

 an instrument called the barometer. During the prevalence of easterly winds, 

 from some unknown cause, (perhaps their greater dryness), the indications of 

 the barometer, are not so much to be relied on, on the eastern coast of Great 

 Britain. Nor is this instrument so useful in variable weather, as when a great 

 change is to take place; and in the winter season, it is of little avail. Derby- 

 shire Report, vol. i. p. 98. But, on the whole, the barometer furnishes the best 

 indications of the state of the weather, of any instrument we have. At Chats- 

 worth, since 1763, the daily quantity of rain has been carefully registered, and 

 some curious deductions therefrom will be found in the Derbyshire Report, 

 vol. i. p. 99. 



37 The hygrometer is made with sponges, or other materials, affected by damp- 

 ness in the air, for ascertaining the degree of moisture at any particular time. 



38 Derbyshire Report, vol. ii. p. 126. Dr Graham, of Aberfoyle, in his paper 

 on climate (General Report of Scotland, vol. iv. p. 146, note), very justly re- 

 marks, how much it is to be regretted, that scarcely any of our Scottish natural- 

 ists, have thought of recording, from year to year, the vernation, or foliation of 

 our indigenous plants. Such a register would furnish the best criterion of cli- 

 mate, that could possibly be conceived ; and by comparing the differences of 

 vernation in the course of a number of years, we might be enabled to make an 

 approximation, which no other data could afford us. In the Dorset Report, 

 p. 34, there are same valuable remarks upon the same subject. 



39 Dr Coventry's Discourses on Agriculture, printed an. 1808, p. 29. If it 

 were possible, to ascertain the courses of the seasons, for a considerable number 

 of years, it might probably lead to some discovery, whether there be any fixed 

 law of nature, by which the revolutions of good and bad seasons are brought 

 about. Clydesdale Report, p. 10. 



40 Sir Humphry Davy's Lectures on Agriculture, p. 11. 



41 Stirlingshire Report, p. 23. 



42 Forfarshire Report, p. 55. It has been found, that according to Fahrenheit 

 the heat of the ground is commonly 2 or 3 higher than that of the ambient 

 air in warm weather, and considerably more in cold weather. 



43 Inverness-shire Report, p. 12. 



44 Za premittre richesse d'un peuple est son sol, et son ciel. This maxim, how- 

 ever, is more applicable to southern than to northern countries, for in the latter, 

 good culture is essential, even with a good soil, whereas in the former, as in the 

 ast Indies, the soil is so very rich, that every thing vegetates without art, and 

 the necessity of invention, or great labour, does not exist. 



45 Sir Humphry Davy's Lectures, p. 163. And in this point of view, Mr 

 William Smith's large Map of the Strata of England, and the Memoir accom- 

 panying it, are particularly valuable. Also Mr John Farcy's more minute, but 

 local observations of the strata and soils of Derbyshire. Report, vol. i. p. 303, 

 &c. &c. 



46 One of the most intelligent farmers in Norfolk, accustomed to a dry and 

 sandy soil, was asked, What he would do with a wet or clayey one ? He very 



a 2 



