REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 37 



they will fully justify the expenditure of the Smithson fund which has 

 been devoted to this subject. 



The importance of a thorough knowledge of the climate of a country 

 in relation to the well-being of the inhabitants can scarcely be over- 

 estimated. The character of the animal and vegetable productions of 

 any part of the world mainly depends on the climate, and if, as in 

 geological periods, we suppose this in any case to undergo a change, 

 we are certain, from the operation of general laws, that the fauna and 

 flora of the region will undergo a corresponding change. It is true that 

 civilized man has in a degree, through science, the power of resisting 

 the influence of climate to which his race has not been long subjected, 

 yet if suflicient time be allowed for the weather to produce its effect, 

 marked peculiarities of physical constitution and even mental charac- 

 teristics will eventually be produced, though these will be somewhat 

 modified by the artificial conditions which have been introduced. Even 

 a difference in the degree of moisture of the atmosphere has been shown 

 by a critical observer to induce marked changes in the manners and 

 customs of Europeans in their emigration to this country. 



The average temperature and moisture of each region, as well as the 

 periodical fluctuations to which these elements are subjected, are essen- 

 tial data on which to base the choice of special objects of culture and to 

 estimate the probable results as to success or failure in a given number 

 of years. It is a fact to which the statesman and the intelligent 

 farmer cannot be too much alive, that the great material prosperity of 

 this country in the past has been due to the large quantity of fertilizing 

 material originally in the soil, and that this has been exhausted to a far 

 greater extent than is generally supposed. It is well known that the 

 same soil which in the eastern States originally yielded 30, and in some 

 cases 40 or 50 bushels of wheat to an acre, now produces but eight or 

 ten. From a late estimate by the Commissioner of Agriculture the 

 average yield of the whole United States is less than 12 bushels, while 

 that of Great Britain is 28 ; the great excess of the latter over the for- 

 mer must be mainly due to the improved methods of agriculture. Indeed 

 with the large extent of virgin soil in this country, producing sponta- 

 neously rich harvests, with the expenditure of a minimum amount of 

 labor, we have had comparatively little necessity to adopt methods of 

 scientific agriculture, but we have now arrived at the condition in which 

 every year a new demand will be made for the application of knowledge 

 and skill of this kind, and for all the light which can be shed upon the 

 subject by meteorology, chemistry, physiology, and other branches of 

 science. 



It will be remembered that the meteorological system of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution was in a considerable degree interrupted, particularly in 

 the southern States, on account of the late war. We have, howev er, during 

 the past year succeeded in obtaining a number of copies of registers 

 which were continued with but little interruption through the whole 



