Book V. CLIMATE OF FARM LANDS. 771 



Chap. I. 



Circumstances of a Farm necessary to be considered by a proposed Tenant. 



4717. Whoever intends to become n professional or rent-paying farmer will, in searching 

 for a farm, find it necessary to attend to a great variety of considerations. Those of the 

 greatest importance may be included under climate, soil, and subsoil, character of sur- 

 face, topographical position, extent, buildings, roads, fields, tenure, rent, and outgoings. 

 In The Code of Agriculture, a more valuable collection of facts as to these points is brought 

 together than in any other work, and from it, therefore, we shall select the greater part of 

 the following sections. 



Sect. I. Climate, in respect to farming Lands. 



4718. The climate of a farm is one of the circumstances over which human art has 

 less control than over any other ; and a farmer who has but a temporary interest in his 

 possession may be considered as incapable of exercising any influence over it. He may 

 improve the soil and subsoil by draining and culture ; and the buildings, roads, and 

 fences by additions and alterations ; but it is for the landlord to attempt improving the 

 climate by planting, and for a future generation to enjoy the eflPects. 



4719. Sufficient attention, it is said in The Code of Agriculture, " is rarely paid by the 

 farmer to the nature of the climate in which his operations are carried on. Unless the' 

 system he adopts be calculated for the weather his crops are likely to experience, every 

 exertion will often terminate in disappointment. The system that is proper for warm 

 and dry situations is not suitable for cold and wet ones ; and in a bleak and backward 

 climate, the nature of the soil ought not only to be attended to, but the utmost care 

 ought to be paid to the early sowing of the earliest varieties of seed. Even the species 

 of stock to be bred or kept on a farm should, in a great measure, be regulated by the 

 climate. Hence, this is a subject which the diligent farmer will invariably study with 

 the greatest solicitude. Climate and soil, Curwen justly remarks, are, above all other 

 considerations, those which the farmer ought constantly to keep in view." (Rej)ort to the 

 Workington Society.) 



4720. I7i considering the climate of a country, the following points are of peculiar im- 

 portance : Its general character, and the means of its improvement ; its local heat ; the 

 light it furnishes ; the quantity of its moisture ; the prevailing winds ; its position, 

 whether maritime or inland ; the regularity of the seasons ; the phenomena to which it is 

 liable ; the productions best suited to it ; the expenses it may occasion in cultivation ; 

 and its suitableness for the introduction of exotic plants and animals. 



4721. The general character of a climate not only depends on position or latitude, but likewise on the 

 elevation of a country above the level of the sea ; its general aspect; the vicinity to mountains, forests, 

 bogs, marshes, lakes, and seas ; the nature of the soil and subsoil, and the power which the former pos- 

 sesses of retaining heat and moisture; the direction of the winds; the length of time the sun continues 

 above the horizon ; the difference of temperature between the day and the night; and the extent of dry 

 surface in the neighbourhood. The result of these particulars combined form what may be called the 

 general character of climate. Some of the causes of an unfavourable climate cannot be remedied by 

 any human effort ; in other cases, art may effect much ; but that art is generally such as the farmer can 

 seldom undertake, unless with a very long lease. Ameliorations of this sort, therefore, belong to the 

 landlord. 



4722. The importance of heat, as a stimulus to vegetation, cannot be doubted. It is at a certain degree 

 of heat that vegetation commences, and it becomes nearly stationary when the temperature falls below it. 

 There are, comparatively speaking, but few plants calculated for very cold countries, and these are seldom 

 valuable ; whereas, in warm and temperate regions, the variety is great, and their value unquestionable. 

 Indeed, such is the effect of cold, that, while the thermometer is below forty degrees of heat, the strongest 

 plants become torpid, and remain in that state while it continues. Revived by the warmth of spring, and 

 strengthened by the heat of summer, they acquire fresh life and vigour, and are thus better enabled lo 

 withstand the rigours of the succeeding winter. 



47i.'3. An increased temperature, when not carried to excess, will augment the quantity qf nutritive 

 tnaitcr in a platit, or improve the quality of fruit grown under its influence. Thus, English barley, of 

 equal weight, is more valuable than the Scotch, because, from growing in a warmer climate, and enjoying 

 the advantage of a greater quantity of heat and light, it is more fully ripened. It thence acquires more 

 saccharine matter, and produces a greater quantity of spirits, or of malt liquor. It is also proved, by the 

 experiments of Sir Humphry Davy, that wheat, ripened in a more regular and warmer clime, contains 

 more of that valuable article called gluten, than (he same species of grain when raised in England. 



4724. The average heat of the year is not, however, of so much importance to the growth of plants, as 

 its duration, and its steadiness at a certain degree, during the season when the grain is ripening. This 

 gives the uniform climates of the Continent a great advantage over our variable seasons, in the production 

 of the more delicate sorts of fruit ; which, in this island, are often injured by the frosts in spring, and 

 seldom ripen in a northern climate, where the greatest summer heat is both unsteady and of short 

 duration. 



4725. The quantity of solar light which a climate furnishes, is likewise an important object of enquiry. 

 Light is essential to increase the proportion of starch or farina ; to complete the formation of oils in 

 plants ; and to give to fruits their proper colour and flavour. It has also the effect of augmenting 

 saccharine matter, insomuch that those sugar-canes which are exposed to the sun have more of that 

 important ingredient than when they grow under shade. Nor ought the observation to be omitted, that 

 darkness and light have effects directly opposite upon vegetables. Darkness favours the length of the 

 growth, by keeping up the pliancy of their parts; light consolidates them, and stops growth, by favouring 

 maturation. Hence, in the northernmost regions, plants go through all their stages of growth at a time 

 when the sun no longer quits the horizon ; and the light, of which they thus experience the unremitting 

 effect, hardens them before they have time to lengthen. Their growth is therefore quick, but of short 

 duration. They are robust, but undersized. {Mrrbel.) It has been remarked also, that a soil, not reten- 



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