DROUGHT. 



It is an interesting employment to watch the progress 

 of a drought from its commencement, and to witness the 

 efforts of nature to resist its effects and to guard the 

 tender plants from injury. By carefully noting all its 

 phenomena, we may arrive at a knowledge of its causes, 

 which are undoubtedly, in one way or another, connected 

 with the clearing of the forests, and we may learn the 

 means by which we may secure our crops from its rav- 

 ages, by certain appliances or particular modes of tillage. 

 The drought that visited us in the summer and autumn 

 of 1854, on account of its extraordinary severity and du- 

 ration, afforded a study for the observer of nature, such as 

 but few generations can witness ; and it has led to much 

 speculation concerning the means which may be used to 

 save the country from the frequent recurrence of such an 

 evil. I am but a speculative and superficial observer of 

 these phenomena, having entered only the vestibule of the 

 temple of science. From this I endeavor to take as wide 

 a view as possible of Nature and her works, humbly seek- 

 ing every opportunity to gain access to the inner temple, 

 from whose windows I may behold a wider prospect, and 

 trace the relations of things which seem now to have no 

 mutual dependence. Many important laws are discov- 

 ered by correctly noting superficial appearances ; and if 

 we trace the connections between all the phenomena that 

 attend one of these periods of drought, we may acquire 

 many points of information that would be valuable both 

 to science and agriculture. 



