80 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



ration in our climate is of course vastly greater than in Eng- 

 land, and simply because our summer heats are greater. And 

 as the effects of evaporation upon the soil, and upon vegetable 

 and animal growth, can evidently, in a great measure, be con- 

 trolled by various operations on the farm, it follows that a 

 system of agriculture which might be best adapted to one cli- 

 mate might be very ill suited to a climate where the atmos- 

 pheric phenomena were so different. 



This difference of climate becomes a matter of great practi- 

 cal importance when we take into view the influence which it 

 must have on the animals which we import from England. 

 Although there is no very great difference in the average an- 

 nual temperature of the two countries, we have seen that the 

 changes are far greater and more sudden with us ; and both our 

 summer heats and our extremely cold weather in winter are 

 vastly more severe than any that is ever known in the south 

 of England or in the Isle of Jersey. Moreover, our climate is 

 very stimulating, and a constant strong stimulus, applied to an 

 animal not accustomed to it, must greatly accelerate the action 

 of the heart, and thus affect the whole system. The change 

 acts so powerfully on the human system that the circulation is 

 quickened to the extent of fifteen pulsations a minute over the 

 usual number before being subject to this stimulus. Its effect, 

 must be as much more powerful and perceptible on the larger 

 animals, as their arteries are larger than ours. A similar 

 effect on cattle is familiar to drovers in some parts of our 

 own country, and particularly to those who drive from Ohio, or 

 from Kentucky, the climate of which is not very unlike that of 

 England, to the New Orleans market. The loss from this 

 cause became so serious as to excite the attention of physi- 

 cians, and a paper was prepared by a distinguished scientific 

 man, in which, after stating that a gradual and steady reduc- 

 tion of the animal energy should be produced, he says, " The 

 quantity of food which the system will in ordinary circum- 

 stances require must be diminished, and all the common excit- 

 ing causes of increased arterial action, such as the heat of the 

 sun, quick motion of any kind, be avoided. Besides, those med- 

 icines, which have a tendency to diminish the heart's action, 

 must not only on the first attack of the fever be resorted to, 



