APRIL. 



161 



with impunity any amount of heat or drought to which it is 

 liable to be exposed. 



But nature has not protected the plants of the temperate 

 zone against the effects of drought, which in the usual course 

 of things, as instituted by nature, would be of very unfrequenl 

 occurrence in these latitudes. In all temperate regions, where 

 the hand of man has not interposed and created an artificial 

 state of things, nature has provided a constant and equal sup- 

 ply of rain and moisture for the wants of the indigenous 

 plants. This is evident from the structure of their foliage, 

 which is not protected against the deleterious influence of 

 long continued or frequent droughts. The land is covered 

 to a certain extent with wood and shrubbery ; and the climate, 

 under these circumstances, is affected with that proportion of 

 heat, dryness, cold and moisture, which is suitable to the 

 wants and habits of vegetation. If all men who cut down 

 forests had correctly understood meteorology, and had gov- 

 erned all their operations by the principles of this science, 

 studying the effects of the different modes of clearing and 

 planting upon the climate, and acting in conformity with this 

 experience, many.a region of country, once fertile and now a 

 desert waste, would still have retained its ancient fertility and 

 beauty. 



I have often been surprised at the zeal which our legislative 

 bodies have always manifested in encouraging the best modes 

 of tilling and planting the soil, while they looked with per- 

 fect unconcern upon operations extensively going on, which, 

 if not checked, must, before a great lapse of time, render 

 half the country a desert. Among other subjects of investi- 

 gation which have been proposed by our legislatures, why 

 has it not occurred to them to institute inquiries respecting 

 the general causes of humidity and drought, the sources of 

 rain, and the laws that influence not only the quantity but 

 the frequency of showers. Such investigations, made by com- 

 mittees of scientific men, would lead to many important dis- 

 coveries, even if they did not prove the correctness of our 

 present views. In order to promote the interests of agricul- 

 ture, we must study the sources of heat, moisture and fertility, 



VOL. XXII. NO. IV. 21 



