82 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



almost be said to consist wholly of matter, as they are visibly 

 deficient in ardor, energy and courage." 



The descriptions given above apply respectively to animals 

 which live in very warm or very cold countries. Those brought 

 from England, France, or the Isle of Jersey, to New England, 

 do not find a climate entirely the reverse of their own, but 

 there is difference enough to make the change in some degree 

 injurious to them. Undoubtedly much may be done to facilitate 

 acclimation, and prevent ill effects from the change, by care in 

 providing suitable shelter in winter. It would be still better 

 to import them while young, when, from the greater flexibility 

 of organization at that age, they would more easily accommo- 

 date themselves to their new circumstances. Yet, with all the 

 precaution and care which can be taken, it must still be some- 

 what doubtful whether the delicate organizations of the thorough- 

 bred animals will be able to bear the extremes of the climate 

 of New England without injury. 



There is another point of view in which this difference of 

 climate is worthy of consideration. I refer to the practice 

 of draining, and the great importance now laid upon it by most 

 theoretical writers on agriculture, guided very much in their 

 deductions by the results of this practice in England. It will 

 have been noticed by what has been said that more water falls 

 here than in England ; but it does not follow that our lands 

 are wetter, for we have seen that, while England has an atmos- 

 phere eminently foggy, we have one eminently dry, or, at least, 

 liable every year to cause the crops to suffer during the grow- 

 ing season for want of moisture. Evaporation here is very 

 rapid, while there it is comparatively slow ; and of course after 

 a rain the soil is much longer in drying, and consequently a 

 small amount of rain there may cause the soil to be wet and 

 cold. No one can doubt the propriety as well as the profit of 

 draining all wet and cold soils which it is designed to improve, 

 and particularly all lands where there is an excess of water on 

 the surface, all stiff, clayey soils, and loams in which clay pre- 

 dominates, and generally all springy soils. Draining and 

 loosening the soil allows the air to penetrate into it, and to 

 cause those chemical changes to take place which are neces- 

 sary to prepare the nourishment of the plant and to promote 



