39^ [AsSEMLBY 



Island, the farming of the Bloomingdale Asylum, culture of tea, 

 arrowroot, agave sisalana for cordage, the aracacha, &c.,&c. The 

 potatoe olfers (on both continents) a vast subject of stud3^ We 

 find here the good works of Samuel Van Wy civ and others, on the 

 malady of this precious tuber. The cultivation of the grape 

 has of late years assumed a very important and worthy extension, 

 calculated in many points of view to awaken tlie attention of our 

 fellow-citizens. 



[Translation by H. Meigs.] 



Le Bon Jar dirtier Almanac pour 1851, presented to the American 

 Institute by Messrs. Vilmorin, Andrielx & Co. 



In a horticultural work, destined to be used in various locali- 

 ties, it is impossible to give prognostics of weather of any value 

 generally, for they differ essentially according to local circum- 

 stances ; that is, according to the direction of plains, valleys, 

 mountains, forests, water courses, &c. These local circumstances 

 exert a manifest influence over the mean temperature, the general 

 direction of winds, the quantity and frequency of rains, on the 

 number of storms, and in one word, over all the meteorological 

 phenomena so interesting for the farmer to know beforehand. 

 Until it shall become a science, we can place no confidence in 

 their recurrence at the times indicated. A farmer or gardener 

 had much better rely upon long continued observations of the 

 weather of his own neighborhood ; and they should write them 

 down every day. The greater part of popular traditions of weather 

 proverbs, so confidently repeated, are pure prejudices, which in the 

 experience of many years, set down in good faith and intelligence, 

 almost always fail. The meteorology of Paris, for instance, from 

 long observation, is pretty well known. For an instance, the 

 wind goes around the compass from east to west, and after blow- 

 ing from the south, it moves to the west, then to the north, then 

 east, and then south, blowing more or less time from each of 

 these points. The wind rarely retrogrades so much as the semi- 

 circle, and still more rarely around the compass the opposite 

 way. In Paris, the south-westerly winds are generally warm, 

 humid and rainy. Those of the north-east ordinarily are cold 

 and dry; they have often a cloudy sky, well covered over, but 



