1813.] 



Agriculture in Berwickshire. 



265 



either by fallow, or by a drilled crop of turnips. If tbe pre- 

 vailing weeds be annuals^ turnips may be sullicient. But the 

 most prevailing weed in clay soils of Berwickshire is couch 

 grass, Vv^hich can be banished only by fallow. Fallow, then, is 

 necessary on clay soils, at least when infested with couch grass. 

 But fallow is attended with other advantages besides diminishing 

 or removing weeds. Jn particular, it pulverizes the soil, and. 

 thereby fits it to incorporate in minute particles with the minute 

 particles of v*?hatever is mixed with it for enriching it, whether 

 lime, compost, or stable manure. In the opinion of some, too, 

 the soil is meliorated by the successive exposure of the ditlcrenf 

 parts of it to the sun and air : and therefore they say th.at a 

 proper interval ought to be admitted between each ploughing, 

 that each new surface may derive benefit from the sun and air, 



{To he concluded in our next.) 



Article IV, 



Meteorological Tables for the Year 1812. Communicated by 



Dr. Clarke. 



(To Dr. Thomson.) 



DEAR SIR, 



In the second number of your Annals of Philosophy you have 

 inserted a very valuable paper on the temperature of Stockholm, 

 ■which shows an ardent desire to advance the science of meteo- 

 rology. I have sent you the following tables and observations, 

 \vhich may prove interesting to some of your readers. It will be 

 necessary to introduce the table for Sidraouth by a short topo- 

 graphy of the place. 



Sidmouth is a market town in the county of Devon, on the 

 sea coast, 159 miles from London, 9 from Honiton, and 15 

 from Exeter. It is situated at the mouth of the little river Sed, 

 protected by hills on the north, east, and west ; whilst on the 

 south the sea forms a small bay, which is bounded by Salcombe 

 Hill on the east, and Peak Hiii on the west. This bay lies nearly 

 in the middle of that larger bay which is bounded on the east by 

 the Isle of Portland, and on the v^'est by the Start Point. Sid- 

 jnouth has but one parish; and the population, by the last census, 

 was estimated at 1800 persons. It has deservedly been long the 

 resort of invalids ; and many extraordinary recoveries attest the 

 benefit of its equable climate, and the softness of the atmos--- 

 phere, very rarely i?ideed affected by fog. 



