in  its  Effect  on  Cultivation.  57 
little  reliance  can  be  placed  on  the  usually  received  prognosti- 
cations of  rain. 
117.  I shall  only  add,  that  while  there  is  no  evidence  that  the 
climate  of  this  country  has  deteriorated,  there  is  every  reason  to 
believe  that  the  winters  in  particular  have  been  acquiring  a more 
genial  character ; not  by  any  great  physical  change,  but  by  the 
extension  of  agricultural  operations,  improving  the  condition  of 
the  surface  soil. 
The  severe  winters  so  minutely  described  by  Virgil,  nearly 
‘2000  years  ago,  as  occurring  on  the  Danube,  after  making  every 
allowance  for  poetic  language,  are  no  longer  applicable  to  the 
borders  of  that  river. 
“ With  axes  first  they  cleave  the  wine;  and  thence, 
By  weight,  the  solid  portions  they  dispense. 
From  locks  uncomb’d,  and  from  the  frozen  beard. 
Long  icicles  depend,  and  crackling  sounds  are  heard. 
Meantime  perpetual  sleet,  and  driving  snow, 
Obscure  the  skies,  and  hang  on  herds  below. 
The  starving  cattle  perish  in  the  stalls; 
Huge  oxen  stand  inclosed  in  wintry  walls 
Of  snow  congeal’d  ; whole  herds  are  buried  there 
Of  mighty  stags,  and  scarce  their  horns  appear.’’ 
Georgic  III.  ( Dryden’s  Trans.) 
The  severe  winters  of  the  past  century  seem  in  a £reat  mea- 
sure to  have  disappeared  from  the  present.  From  1708-9,  “the 
cold  ivinter,"  to  1 795,  when  in  January  the  temperature  was  12° 
below  the  mean,  there  occurred  twenty  winters  of  extreme  cold 
in  England.  In  these  severe  seasons  large  quantities  of  cattle 
died,  the  forest  trees  were  split  by  the  frost,  and  the  Thames  was 
several  times  frozen  over.  But  in  the  first  half  of  the  present 
century,  there  has  scarce  been  a winter  which  can  be  placed  in 
the  same  category.  Only  in  two  years  was  there  anv  approxima- 
tion to  this  excessive  character — in  1814,  when  the  January  tem- 
perature fell  8°’7  below  the  mean,  and  in  1838,  when  the  defi- 
ciency was  6°’7.  In  1708-9  the  severe  cold  was  followed  by  an 
east  wind,  and  on  the  north-east  side  of  the  furrows  over  the 
whole  kingdom  the  wheat  was  generally  destroyed,  and  a great 
dearth  followed  ; but  in  1814,  though  the  crop  suffered  by  mil- 
dew, the  supply  was  so  good  that  the  prices  dropped  from  109s. 
to  74s.  and  65s.  the  quarter.  The  severity  of  the  ancient  winters 
therefore  appears  to  be  greatly  modified. 
There  are  grounds  for  expecting  a further  improvement  in  the 
climate  of  these  isles.  The  skill  and  industry  of  man  have  a 
greater  influence  over  the  elements  of  climate  than  at  first  sight 
appears.  Cold  and  noxious  morasses,  where  hoar-frost  was  gen- 
dered, have  been  converted  by  draining  into  dry  healthy  land  ; 
wild  and  bare  hills,  where  cattle  could  scarce  stand  the  exposure, 
have  by  judicious  planting  been  changed  into  fruitful  corn-fields. 
