404 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



the New World. It appears to be a large tract 

 of oceanic table-land, over which the currents of 

 the ocean never pass. The Gulf Stream, or its 

 main branch, passes up the coast of the British 

 Isles, and the western shore of Norway, giving 

 those countries much more heat than is due to 

 that latitude. It is then deflected by oceanic 

 mountains, which are a continuation of the Ural 

 Mountains through Nova Zembla, into the polar 

 basins. It passes a little east of Spitzbergen, and 

 flows on, mingling its waters with the cold waters 

 of the polar basin, till it passes around the north 

 cape of Greenland, forming tlie open polar sea, 

 as seen by ])r. Kane's mi-n, then passing through 

 Smith's Sound into Baffin's Bay, it finds its way 

 back, along the shores of the United States, as a 

 cold current between the Gulf Stream and the 

 land ; and finally becomes submerged beneath the 

 hot waters of the Gulf Stream. It passes along 

 till it finally loses itself in the hot waters of the 

 Gulf of Mexico. This current has a cooling ef- 

 fect on the eastern shores of our continent, giv- 

 ing New York the mean annual temperature of 

 Dublin, which is nearly 13° further north. These 

 currents have an effect on the climate of both 

 shores of the Atlantic. A small branch of the 

 great tropical current is deflected by the South 

 American continent southward. It passes along 

 the coast, and through the Straits of Magellan, 

 where it turns to the north, drawn again by the 

 sun's rays till it reaches the Bay of Arica, where 

 it is deflected to the north-west until it arrives at 

 the equatorial regions, and assists in forming the 

 great westerly current of the Pacific. A branch 

 of this current is deflected northwardly by high 

 oceanic mountains, which rear their lofty summits 

 above the waters of the ocean, and form that great 

 archipelago of islands known as Polynesia and 

 Australasia. This range of mountains appears 

 to be a continuation of the great mountain chains 

 of Central Asia, sunk beneath the waters of the 

 ocean. This current passes up the eastern shore 

 of Asia, partially enters the sea of Kamtschatka, 

 and a small portion passes through Bhering's 

 Straits into the Arctic Ocean, on the eastern side ; 

 yet the main current passes down the western 

 coast of America, giving to California a most sa- 

 lubrious climate. It passes along the coast, until 

 it mingles again with the great tropical current 

 of the Pacific. A southern, or principal branch, 

 of this current passes the Isles of Borneo and 

 Sumatra, and enters the Indian Ocean on its way 

 to the African continent, where it is again deflect- 

 ed from its course, and passes southward to the 

 Cape of Good Hope, and then follows the coast of 

 Africa to mingle with the equatorial current on 

 its passage to the Gulf of Mexico. 



A fitful current of cold water, passes from the 

 Arctic Ocean through the west side of Bhering's 

 Strait, down the eastern coast of Asia, to mingle 

 again with the waters of the equatorial current ; 

 having an efl"ect similar to the cold current on the 

 eastern shore of America. These currents have 

 an efi'ect on climate by warming or cooling the 

 air, as it comes in contact with the water. 



The temperature of climate lies in the air, but 

 is affected by almost all sul)stance3 with which it 

 comes in contact. Air, by passing over water, 

 accumulates heat, but by passing to a great ex- 

 tent over land, loses its heat. This is one reason 

 that the western coasts in the northern temperate 



zone are warmer than the eastern. The air, in 

 passing over the Rocky Mountains and the broad 

 prairies of western America, becomes cool, be- 

 cause it ascends to great heights as it passes over 

 ridge after ridge of the Rocky Mountains, to a 

 great distance ; and after leaving the mountain 

 regions it passes overland instead of water, where 

 it cannot accumulate heat, but passes as a cold 

 current to the shores of the Atlantic. The great 

 lakes modify the air to a small extent around 

 them, but have little or no efi'ect as far east as the 

 New England States. 



Oceanic currents have an effect on climate, by 

 warming the air as it comes in contact with the 

 water. The air performs similar evolutions to 

 those of the water, but is not so totally impeded 

 in its course by continents or mountain chains, 

 for its elastic force will enable it to pass over 

 mountain chains of immense height ; yet there 

 are mountains high enough to impede its progress 

 to a considerable extent. Although it passes over 

 the Andes, Himalayas, and other lofty mountains 

 to a great extent, yet all these mountains have 

 an influence to impede its progress, and turn 

 it from its direct course, which causes great dis- 

 crepancies in climate. 



The natural course of the air is similar to that 

 of :he water. The heat of the sun draws the air 

 from each side of the equator, and forms a cur- 

 rent from east to west within the tropics, aided 

 by the centrifugal force of the earth. The current, 

 as it recedes from the sun's path, blows from the 

 north of east on the north side, and south of east 

 on the south side, thus rising in a belt at the equa- 

 tor. The upper portion of this air, in conse- 

 quence of its expansion, will necessarily flow off 

 to the north and south, from the centre of the 

 sun's track, because by becoming colder, and los- 

 ing its moisture, it acquires more weight, and 

 will come back to earth at some place between the 

 tropics and the poles, or at all places. It forms a 

 westerly current as it passes over our continent 

 from about 33° to about 56° latitude, w lile on 

 the eastern coctinent it is driven further north 

 by the southerly winds drawn by the Himalaya 

 mountains from the Indian Ocean. In Asia, this 

 belt extends from 43 to 67° north latitude. This 

 is called, by meteorologists, the belt of westerly 

 winds. North of this, the wind assumes a more 

 northerly direction, until the entire remainder of 

 the air sinks at the pole, forming a northerly 

 wind. This is a general description of the cur- 

 rents of air in the upper regions. In the lower 

 regions, the air is deflected into valleys by moun- 

 tain chains and other causes, so that the general 

 circulation of the air is not wholly applicable to 

 the earth's surface. But here the air obeys the 

 same laws that water does , and is deflected at 

 times from the equatorial regions toward the 

 poles, till the cold polar current rolls back its 

 tide of chilly winds to the tropical regions. 



A Fine Horse Rake. — We have been using 

 for a few days, Stoddard's Self-Operating Horse 

 Rake and Cocker, and find it to entirely surpass 

 every other Horse Rake that we have used. The 

 rake is a decided success. We hope the inventor 

 will sell ten thousand of them, at a fair price, and 

 have little doubt that he will. A child of six 



