102 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



rariable—~exhihits more s?iddcn and greater extremes, than the climates of 

 New- York and New-England. The weak and easily prostrated miisculai 

 and vascular system of the sheep, will better endure great extremes of con* 

 tinuoua heat or cold, than rapid and marked variations in temperatura 

 Subjected to t>ie latter, catarrh not violent enough to kill in its inflammato- 

 ry stage, but assuming a chronic form — and followed by a slow and wast- 

 ing debility, frequently attacks flocks. Sometimes it assumes an epizoa- 

 tic and malignant character — as during the past winter — and sweeps away 

 thousands of sheep. . 



The isothermal line (or line of equal mean heat), does not vary particii- 

 'arly between the same latitudes in New- York or Wisconsin — or between 

 Virginia and Missouri. But as we leave the ocean and other large bodies 

 of water, the isotheral and isocheimal lines are found to diverge more 

 and more from the isothermal one — and the range of the thermometer (the 

 extremes of heat and cold indicated by it), rapidly increases. The follow- 

 ing Table of temperatures, kept by officers in the Army, for a series of nine 

 years, is from Doct. Forry's excellent work on the " Climate of the [Jnited 

 States, &c."* It strikingly illustrates the fact asserted. The four points 

 specified are in about the same latitude. 



Docl. FoiTy states that the mean annual range of the thermometer at the 

 6)llowing places, is as follows : at Fort Sullivan (Eastport, Me.) it is 104'^, 

 while at Forts Snelling (confluence of the St. Peter's and Mississippi in 

 Iowa) and Howard, (Green Bay, Wisconsin,) in about the same latitude, it 

 is respectively 119^, and 123^. 



At Fort Preble (Portland, Me.) Fort Niagara (near the mouth of th*. 

 Niagara River, N. Y.), Fort Constitution (Portsmouth, N. H.) it is 99<3 

 92^, and 97*^ ; at Fort Crawford, (confluence of the Wisconsin and Missi? 

 sippi Rivers in Wisconsin,) on the same parallel, it is 120'^. 



The above instances are not isolated ones. The same law 's found—- 

 other things being equal — to generally prevail throughout our Dwn, and 

 perhaps all other countries. t 



While the cold of the Northern, and particularly the North-western 

 States, so greatly exceeds that of the Southern States, few would be pre- 

 pared for the proposition that the extremes of heat in the former, often 

 reach points unknown many degrees farther South ! Yet such is the 

 fact ! 



Fort Snelling, in latitude 44^^ 53', and occupying a central position in thai; 

 vast territory lying between the Great Lakes and the Missouri, and between 

 the 41st and 49th .parallels of latitude — and which may therefore be pre- 

 sumed, to a certain extent, to afford a type of the climate of that whole re- 

 gion — feels a maximum summer heat of 93^ — the same with that of Wash 

 ington City, in latitude 38"^ 53', and Old Point Comfort, Va., in latit.idi 

 370 2'. At Fort Johnston, on the Coast of North Carolina, in latitude 34^ 

 the maximum heat is but 90^ ; at Fort Moultrie, in Charleston Harbor 

 n latitude 32^ 42', it is also 90^ ; at Fort Marion. St. Augustine, Floiida. 



* See th9 above named work. p. 43. I am also indeotea to Doct. Forry for all the records of tberraometri 

 eal observiitions, at the U. S. military posts, which are subsequently quoted. 



' Local exceptions exist, owrini,' to the prevailing winds and other causes. For example, Port Hcworrf 

 Ig n.uch nearer a large h idy o*" watei than Fort Snelling. Altitude also exerts its induence. 



