CLIMATE AND SOIL. 219 



Society be changed to Tuesday and Wednesday, October 4tli 

 and 5th. 



Mr. Johnson then submitted an Essay upon the Time of 

 Cutting Grass for Hay. 



After a lengthy discussion the Essay was recommitted, when 

 the Board adjourned. 



FIFTH DAY. 



The Board met at 9 o'clock, A. M., Mr. Birnie, of Springfield, 

 in the chair. Mr. Bassett was appointed a committee on the 

 credentials of newly elected members. 



Voted, That the annual meeting of the Board be held at the 

 office in Boston, to commence on the Monday preceding the first 

 Wednesday of February, 1871. 



Mr. Alexander Hyde then submitted the following Essay upon 



CLIMATE AS AFFECTED BY SOIL AND LOCATION. 



By climate is meant the air, as affected by light, heat, moist- 

 ure, and all the gaseous and solid matters which in more or less 

 constant proportion are ever diffused through it, as also the 

 changes to which the air is subject. Thus we say the atmos- 

 phere of Northern Italy is brilliant, because the air passing over 

 the Alps, has parted with its superfluous moisture and is clear, 

 so that the sun's rays penetrate it without obstruction. On the 

 other hand, the climate of England is proverbially moist, as the 

 wind, which is merely air in motion, for the most part blows 

 from the south-west and comes loaded with the moisture of the 

 Atlantic, and being warmed by the gulf-stream, its capacity for 

 moisture is very great, and as it comes in contact with the Eng- 

 lish hills, this moisture must be deposited. We speak of the 

 climate of the torrid zone as hot, because the sun's rays fall- 

 ing perpendicularly upon this portion of the earth are more 

 concentrated than when they fall obliquely, as they do in the 

 temperate zones. The same amount of rays which are concen- 

 trated on a square foot at the equator, are scattered over four 

 times this space in northern and southern latitudes, and conse- 

 quently impart to the equatorial soil fourfold the amount of 



