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86 danger; and it is confidently maintained by those whose opinions are entitled to the greatest weight, that with such a system of observation the laws that govern the course of those storms would soon be so well known, that, in most cases, shipmasters and outdoor labourers could forewarned of their approach. Lieutenant Maury has also suggested that by mapping the skies, for example, of the United States, and adopting a system of signs and symbols, these telegraphic observations may be so projected on this map as to convey to the observer, at a glance, a knowledge of the appearance of the sky all over the whole country any hour in the day; and that by this means the change of the appearance of the sky, and subsequent changes of weather all over a continent, may be seen and studied from day to day; from which it is believed that science would deduce results of the highest importance. But, however important to commerce and navigation and all the industrial pursuits these observations may become from the considerations above named, agriculture has a still deeper interest in them.

"The growth of a plant is not the result of accident, but of natural causes. The phenomena of the vegetable creation, therefore, is as palpable for the investigation of science as the phenomena of the sea. . ..

"With a knowledge of the laws that govern these forces, the gardener will take a plant of any genus, species, or variety, from mountain or valley, from rocks or alluvion, from torrid or temperate zone, and by artificial means create a climate for its reproduction. If then the climate of any region, the character of the soil, and its ordinary meteorological forces could be fully understood, it would not be difficult for science to designate precisely the plant and fruit for which it is best adapted, and thus to determine for the agriculturist, with reasonable certainty, in advance perhaps of years of wasted labour, the capabilities of his fields. . ..