in its relation to /{(/riniUnre. 
AAT 
influence of tli!> Western Oct an, clouds and moisture prepon- 
derate, both require and will repay attention to this subject fully 
as much as the dry, sunny regions of the South. 
If in no other part of the world greater vested interests have 
to 1)0 dealt with, because nowhere has water-])ower been turned 
to greater account in developing industrial enterprise, nowhere 
is an alternative so readily to be found in the use of the most 
finished steam-engines furnished with a boundless supply of coal. 
As Science, illustrated by enlightened Practice, makes us more 
and more familiar with the uses and abuses of water in con- 
nexion with agriculture, our incentives to improvement will be 
strengthened ; prejudices and jealousies Avill abate ; so that 
whenever the decision between the adoption of steam or water 
power already trembles in the balance, the consideraticm that 
the latter would in any way be detrimental either to health or 
fertility will instantly turn the scale. 
Norwood, February, 1862. 
XXI. — On the Manar/ement of Clover Layers ; the Proper Distance 
for Drillimf Wheat ; and the Ravae/es of Insects on Pines. By 
Charles Lawrence. 
To the FiDiTou of the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society. 
It Las been matter of common observation amongst the members of 
cm" Society that our Jom-nal has of late years been wanting in variety 
of infonnation, coveted more than ever by a very large proportion of 
the subscribers ; and that it has been too much occupied by long 
scientific papers, to the exclusion of practical communications of ex- 
periments, and observations of the results of special modes of treat- 
ment in the cultiu-e of crops, and the management and feeding of 
animals, &c. 
I have been led by such remarks to compare the contents of some 
of the last volumes with those of the early volumes, and I find those 
remarks confirmed to an extent I had not looked for. The first six 
volumes of the Journal contain 326 articles, comprising an infinite 
variety of useful information, chiefly from members of the Society ; 
the last six volumes, 16 to 21 inclusive, contain 1-57 articles only, 
less than half the number contained in the first six volumes. 
If agricrdtm'ists have not increased numerically, the nimiber of the 
intelligent, the inquiring, and of the observing, has greatly increased 
during the age of om' Jom'nal. It therefore may be desirable to con- 
sider how it has chanced that there should have been a contempo- 
raneous diminution of commimications, and whether there may not be 
some means of correcting this anomalous state of things. Is it nov 
