bodies having the form of a pyramid, the base of which is a spherical cup. These bodies may be compared to sleet; yet they are found under the influence of the same meteorological circumstances as the flakes which fall before gales of wind.” *

639. Frost-smoke.-Clear calm air, admitting much sunshine at the middle of the day, is very bracing, healthy, and agreeable; but in the evening of such a day, the sun usually sets in red, and a heavy dew falls, which is frozen into rime or hoar-frost, incrusting every twig and sprig of trees and shrubs into the semblance of white coral. When the cold is intense, the dew is frozen before it reaches the objects on which it is deposited, and it then appears like smoke or mist, and is called "frost-smoke," which, when deposited on the naked branches of trees and shrubs, converts them into a resemblance of the most beautiful filagree-work of silver. This mist may last some days, during the day as well as night, and then new depositions of incrusted dew take place on the trees and walls every night, until they seem overloaded with it. The smallest puff of winter wind dispels the enchanting scene, as described by Phillips in his Letter from Copenhagen :—

When, if a sudden gust of wind arise,
The brittle forest into atoms flies;
The crackling wood beneath the tempest bends,
And in a spangled shower the prospect ends.

Winter-fog, as long as it hovers about the plains, is indicative of dry weather; but when it betakes itself to the hills, a thaw may be expected soon to follow; and nothing can be more true than "He that would have a bad day, may go out in a fog after frost;" for no state of the air can be more disagreeable to the feelings than a raw rotten fog after frost, with the wind from the SE.

640. Hail.-Hail, consisting of soft, snowy, round spongy masses, frequently falls in winter after snow, and may lie for some time unmelted.

641. Ice. Though a solid, ice is not a compact substance, but contains large interstices filled with air, or other substances

VOL. I.

that may have been floating on the surface of the water. Ice is an aggregation of crystals, subtending with one another the angles of 60° and 120°. It is quickly formed in shallow, but takes a long time to form in deep water; and it cannot become very thick in the lower latitudes of the globe, from want of time and intensity of the frost. By 11 years' observations at the observatory at Paris, there were only 58 days of frost throughout the year, which is too short and too desultory a period to freeze deep water in that latitude.

642. The freezing of water is effected by frost in this manner. The upper film of water in contact with the air becomes cooled down, and when it reaches 39°39 it is at its densest state, and of course sinks to the bottom through the less dense body of water below it. The next film of water, which is now uppermost, undergoes the same condensation; and in this way does film after film in contact with the air descend towards the bottom, until the whole body of water becomes equally dense at the temperature of 39°39. When this vertical circulation of the water stops, the upper film becomes frozen. If there is no wind to agitate the surface of the water, its temperature will descend as low as 28° before it freezes, and on freezing will start up to 32°; but should there be any wind, then the ice will form at once at 32°, expanding at the same time one-ninth larger than in its former state of water.

643. It is worth while to trace the progress of this curious property-the expansion of ice. In the first place, the water contracts in bulk by the frost, until it reaches the temperature of 39° 39, when it is in its state of greatest density and least bulk, and then sinks. After this the water resists frost in calm air, until it reaches 28°, without decreasing more in bulk, and it remains floating on the warmer water below it, which continues at 29-39. So placed, and at 28°, it then freezes, and suddenly starts up to 32°, and in the form of ice as suddenly expands one-ninth more in bulk than in its ordinary temperature, and of course more than that when in its most condensed state at 39°-39. After the water has undergone

K

644. So great is the force of water on being suddenly expanded into ice, that, according to the experiments of the Florentine Academy, every cubic inch of it exerts a power of 27,000 lbs. This remarkable power of ice is of use in agriculture, as I have noticed when speaking of the effects of frost on ploughed land. (620.)

645. It is obvious that no large body of fresh water, such as a deep lake or river, can be reduced in temperature below 39° 39, when water is in its densest state, as what becomes colder floats upon and covers the denser, which is also the warmer, portion; and as ice is of larger bulk, weight for weight, than water, it must float above all, and, in retaining its form and position, prevent the farther cooling of the water below it to a lower temperature than 39°39. On the other hand, sea-water freezes at once on the surface, and that below the ice retains the temperature it had when the ice was formed. Frost in the polar regions becomes suddenly intense, and the polar sea becomes as suddenly covered with ice, without regard to the temperature of the water below. The ice of the polar sea, like the snow upon the polar land, thus becomes a protective mantle against the intense cold of the atmosphere, which is sometimes as great as 57° below zero. In this way sea animals, as well as land vegetables, in those regions are protected at once, and securely, against the effects of the intensest frosts.

646. "Water presents a phenomenon analogous to sulphur," observes Kaemtz; it crystallises under the influence of cold alone. However, on examining the ice of rivers, we do not discover the smallest trace of crystals; it is a confused mass like that of the rolls of brimstone. But in the progress of crystallisation is followed on the banks of a river, needles are seen to dart from the bank, or rather from the ice already formed, and to advance parallel to each other, or making angles with each other from 30 to 60 degrees. Other needles dart from these at the above angles, and so on until a compact uniform

a sheet of ice thus formed is raised, very irregular crystals are often discovered in its lower surface. Similar phenomena are observed in winter on panes of glass. The secondary crystals are seen to make a constant angle with the crystals which serve as a common axis; and if the glass were a perfect plane, very regular figures would be seen. They occur sometimes when the pane of glass is very thin. The air of the room is moist, then each scratch, each grain of dust, becomes a centre of crystalline formation; and by radiating in all directions, these crystals form a net-work, which excites admiration by its astonishing complication."

"'*

647. Ice evaporates moisture as largely as water, which property preserves it from being easily melted by any unusual occurrence of a high temperature of the air, because the rapid evaporation, occasioned by the small increase of heat, superinduces a greater coldness in the body of ice.

648. The great cooling powers of ice may be witnessed by the simple experiment of mixing 1 lb. of water at 32° with 1 lb. at 172°-the mean temperature of the mixture will be as high as 102°; whereas 1 lb. of ice at 32°, on being put into 1 lb. of water at 172°, will reduce the mixture to the temperature of ice, namely 32°. This perhaps unexpected result arises from the greater capacity of ice for caloric than water at the temperature of 32°; that is, more heat is required to break up the crystallisation of ice than to heat water.

649. It may be worth while to notice, that ponds and lakes are generally frozen with different thicknesses of ice, owing either to irregularities in the bottom, which constitute different depths of water, or to the existence of deep springs, the water of which seldom falls below the mean temperature of the place, 40°. Hence the unknown thickness of ice on lakes and ponds until its strength has been ascertained; and hence also the origin of most of the accidents on ice.

650. Wind.-The true character of all

the phenomena of rain and snow is much modified by the direction of the wind. In winter, it may be generally stated as a fact, that when the wind blows from the NW. to SE. by the N. and E., cold and frost may be looked for as certain, and if there are symptoms of a deposition from the air, snow will fall; but if the wind blows from the SE. to NW. by the S. and W., fresh weather and rain will ensue. Heavy falls of snow occur, however, with the wind direct from the S.; but they are always accompanied with cold, and such are usually termed "Flanders' storms." In this case, the wind veers suddenly from the N. or NE. to the S., which causes the lower stratum of vapour to give way by the introduction of warm air, and the cold vapour above then suddenly descends in quantity.

651. The characters of the winds in winter are very well described by old Tusser in these lines:

:

N. winds send hail, S. winds bring rain,
E. winds we bewail, W. winds blow amain;
NE. is too cold, SE. not too warm,
NW. is too bold, SW. doth no harm.*

In winter, the N. wind is firm, powerful, cold, and bracing; the NE. howling, deceitful, cold, disagreeable, and may bring either a heavy fall of snow or rain; the E. wind is cold, piercing, and drying, causing a quick evaporation; the SE. feels cold, damp, and thin, and causes a shiver; the S. wind is soft and undecided, and sometimes causes shivering; the SW. generally blows a loud and steady gale for hours, frequently accompanied with heavy battering showers; the W. wind is bluffy and buoyant; and the NW. pouring and steady, and often cold. Any wind that blows for a considerable length of time, such as two or three days. always brings down the temperature of the air. When any wind blows a good way over-head, it will be fair weather for some time, or until a change of the wind takes place; but when it blows low and very near the ground, and feels raw, cold, and thin to the feelings,-which is frequently the case in winter with the SW., S., and SE. winds,-rain will follow in fresh weather, and thaw in frost. Mostly

all winds begin to blow in the upper portion of the atmosphere; and whether they will descend to the earth or not depends on the quantity, first, of the cirri, and then of the cirro-strati, in the air. Very frequently different currents of air, at different elevations, may be seen in winter at the same time by means of the clouds. When this is observed, it may be relied upon that the uppermost current will ultimately prevail. It is characteristic of winds in winter to shift much about,-sometimes to all points of the azimuth in the course of twenty-four hours, and seldom remaining more than three days in one quarter. Winter winds are heavy, overpowering, stormy (242.)

652. A set of rules was published about a hundred years ago, to judge of the changes of the weather, by John Claridge, shepherd, many of which are much akin to those given above; but as a few are expressed in so definite terms in regard to the wind, they must have been the result of observation, and therefore deserve attention. He says:"When the wind turns to NE. and it continues two days without rain, and does not turn S. the third day, nor rains the third day, it is likely to continue NE. for 8 or 9 days, all fair, and then to come to the S. again. If it turn again out of the S. to the NE. with rain, and continue in the NE. two days without rain, and neither turn S. nor rain the third day, it is likely to continue NE. for two or three months. The wind will finish these turns in 3 weeks. After a N. wind, for the most part two months or more, and then coming S., there are usually 3 or 4 fair days at first, and then, on the fourth or fifth day, comes rain, or else the wind turns N. again, and continues dry. If it return to the S. in a day or two without rain, and turn N. with rain, and return to the S. in one or two days as before, two or three turns together after this sort, then it is like to be in the S. or SW. two or three months together, as it was in the N. before. The wind will finish these turns in a fortnight. Fair weather for a week, with a S. wind, is like to produce a great drought,

if there has been much rain out of the S. before. The wind usually turns from N. to S. with a quiet wind without rain, but returns to the N. with a strong wind and rain. The strongest winds are when it

turns from S. to N. by W. When the N. wind first clears the air, (which is usually once a-week,) be sure of a fair day or two." "*

653. Sky.-A difference in the blue tint of the sky in winter indicates a fall of different states of moisture; for if of a deep blue, in fresh weather, rain will fall; of a yellowish or greenish colour near the horizon in frost, snow will certainly come; and on a clear watery blue opening in the clouds, occurring in fresh weather near the horizon in the S., a heavy rain may soon be expected.

654. Mean of the atmospherical phenomena occurring in winter is as follows:

Mean of barometer in England, in

ON

November

December

January

Mean of Winter

:

29.81 inches. 29.90

29.97

29.89

PREPARING FOR, AND COMMENCING THE WINTER OPERATIONS.

655. We shall now direct our attention to the practice of farming. I have said, that the agricultural year commences immediately after the completion of harvest, and the sowing of the autumnal

wheat; and as these operations may be finished sooner or later, according to the nature of the season, so the agricultural year may commence sooner or later in different years. It seldom, however, commences before the middle of October, which it does when the harvest has been very early, and it is less seldom postponed until the end of November, which it only is when the harvest has been a very late one. The last week of October may be regarded as the average time for commencing winter operations.

656. To join consistency to practice, it is necessary to adopt some regular method of good farming, and as I have recommended the mixed husbandry (52,) we shall take that as our model; and it is eminently adapted for such a purpose, since it embraces the raising of grain, as in the farming of heavy carse clays-the raising of green crops, as does the farming in the neighbourhood of large towns,-the rearing of stock, as in pastoral farming,— the making of cheese and butter, as in dairy farming, and the fattening of cattle and sheep, by grazing in summer, and on turnips in winter, as is practised in ordinary farming in many of the rural districts. Thus the mixed husbandry affords full scope for every species of farming practised in this country, and if there is any peculiarity of farming in any remarkable district, the mixed may be introduced into it if desired; and as a large farm affords a greater scope for displaying the capabilities of management in the arrangement of labour than a small one, I shall suppose that we are about to commence one year's operations on a farm of 500 acres in extent, -a size of farm within reach of most intelligent farmer-capitalists.

657. The winter work does not every year begin with the same operation, this matter being determined by the nature of the preceding season of autumn. When the harvest has been completed early, and the after season so mild as that the live stock may occupy the fields with advantage to themselves, that is to say, have still a full bite of grass, the first winter work is ploughing; but when the harvest work is not completed until after the grass

has failed to support the stock, and which is always the case in a late season, the stock must be put upon turnips, and occupy their respective apartments in the steading, before the land is begun to be ploughed. But as the usual occurrence of seasons allows the finishing of harvest before the entire failure of the grass, the common practice is to commence winter operations with ploughing; and I shall therefore adopt this alternative, and describe the manner of ploughing land into the different sorts of ridges, and point out first how the plough itself is harnessed and managed.

ON THE PLOUGH, SWING-TREES, AND

PLOUGH-HARNESS.

658. The plough.-The plough serves the same purpose to the farmer as the spade to the gardener, both being used to turn over the soil; and the object of doing this is, to obtain such a command over the soil as to render it friable, and to enclose the manure within it, so that the seeds sown upon it may grow a crop to the greatest perfection.

659. The spade is an implement so simple in construction, that there seems but one way of using it, namely, that of pushing its blade into the ground with the foot, lifting it up with both hands with as much earth upon it as it can carry, and inverting the earth so as to place its upper part undermost. This operation, called digging, may be done in the most perfect manner; and every attempt at improving it has failed, and, indeed, seems unnecessary. Hitherto the spade has only been used by the hand, and is thus an instrument entirely under man's personal control, though means have been devised to apply horse-power to wield it; but no locomotive machine can compete with the human body in executing work within the sphere of its strength aud dexterity.

660. The effect intended to be produced on the soil by the plough, is to imitate the work of the spade; but the plough being too large and heavy an implement to be wielded by the hand, it is not so entirely under man's control as the spade. He is obliged to call in the aid of horses to

wield it, and through the means of appropriate appliances, such as harness, he can command its motions pretty effectively. It is thus not so much man himself, as the horses he employs, that turn over the ground with the plough; and he is thereby a gainer in the end, inasmuch as they can turn over a much greater quantity of soil with the plough, in a given time, than he can with the spade. Turning over the soil with so very simple an instrument as the spade, seems a very simple operation; but, nevertheless, the act of digging is not a simple operation, requiring every muscle of the body to be put into action, so that any machine to imitate it must have a very complex structure. This would be the case even were such a machine always fixed to the same spot; but it is a difficult problem in practical mechanics, to construct a light, strong, durable, convenient instrument, and easily moved about, which shall produce a complicated effect, with a complex structure, by a simple action; and yet the modern plough is an instrument possessing all these properties in an eminent degree.

661. The common plough used in Scotland is made either wholly of iron, or partly of wood and partly of iron. Until a few years ago it was universally made of wood and iron, but is now generally entirely of iron. A wooden plough seems a clumsier instrument than an iron one, though it is lighter. The plough is now made wholly of iron, because iron withstands the vicissitudes of weather better than wood—and this is a desirable property in any implement that must necessarily be much exposed to the weather-and when it becomes old the iron is always worth something; and because good ash timber, of which ploughs were usually made, is now so scarce in many parts of the country, that it fetches the large price of 3s. per cubic foot, whereas iron is daily becoming more abundant. A wooden plough with iron mountings usually weighs 13 stones imperial, and an iron one for the same work 15 stones. The cost of a wooden plough is £3, 16s., that of an iron one £4, 4s., both capable of being serviceable, with repairs, for a lease of 19 years. Some farmers, however, still prefer the wooden one, alleging that it goes more