76 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



greatly changed within the last hundred years, from an exami- 

 nation of the following table of the mean temperature of the 

 summer months at Cambridge, near Boston, during the period 

 from 1742 to 1774, and that of the same months, from 1793 to 

 1812, and from 1841 to 1852, inclusive :— 



These figures show a most striking resemblance between the 

 periods in question, and certainly give no color to the idea 

 that our summers have become any warmer. 



It is proper, in this connection, to notice very briefly the 

 difference between the climate of England and our own. This 

 subject also was so ably treated in the paper above referred to 

 that it will not be necessary to dwell upon it at any length 

 here. I desire only to show how little we can rely upon the 

 results of experiments made in England, and how unsafe it 

 would be for us to follow implicitly, in every case, the precepts 

 of British agriculturists. 



The climate of England is proverbially damp, with almost 

 constant cloudiness and rain; hence the greenness and ver- 

 dure of its fields, which are never parched up like our own. 

 The soil of any country, of course, will be moist or dry accord- 

 ing as its atmosphere is moist or dry. As the summer ad- 

 vances, and the heat increases, both will gradually lose their 

 moisture ; and the degree of dryness will be in some proportion 

 to the intensity and long continuance of the heat. Hence, as 

 the temperature never rises so high in England as with us, and 

 never continues at its highest point there as here, the English 

 farmer will never suffer from the droughts which oppress us. 



The average number of days on which it rains in England 

 during the year is no less than 178 J, giving a monthly aver- 

 age of nearly fifteen days. In other words, it rains in England, 

 on an average, almost every other day. The following tables 

 give the average number of days on which it rains near Lon- 



