396 T.S. Hunt on the Earth’s Climate in Paleozoic Times. 
It is “thorough cultivation and underdraining.” Where these 
are practiced, the roots are enabled to strike deeper, beyond 
the direct influence of the sun’s rays; a much larger quantity 
of nourishment is presented to them; the humidity of the sql 
is equalized; its absorbing power for moisture and gases is 
vastly increased; and the growth of the plants is consequently 
much invigorated and placed beyond the reach of sudden 
changes of the weather. If the farmer, instead of superficially 
cultivating extensive tracts of land with an altogether inade- 
quate laboring force, as I have frequently noticed, would thor- 
oughly cultivate a smaller area, he would not have to com- 
plain so much of drought and failure-of crops, and of the ‘ giv- 
ing out” of fields. Instead of exhausting his soil, he would 
make it richer every year; and, by making heavy and certain 
crops, he would find himself amply repaid for the increased 
r, and reap more on an average on the smaller surface 
adequate to his laboring force, than before on the larger fields. 
Springfield, IIL, August, 1863. 
Art. XXXTV.—On the Earth’s Climate in Paleozoic Times ; by 
T. Sterry Hunt, M.A., F.R.S.’ 
RES 
+ Communicated to this Journal by the author. 
