The principle of association to which I have just adverted is one of great importance to the future of experimental agriculture, and is one of the methods by which it may be most suecessfully promoted. As our knowledge advances, experiments must of necessity become more and more complex and elaborate, and at length require expenditure of both time and money which at no distant date will put it beyond the power of individuals to make them. The elaborate researches of Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert, which are unsurpassed for minuteness and precision, may be referred to as an example of what agricultural experiments ought to be, and of the difficuly of increasing their number, for I need scarcely say that the case is quite exceptional in which an'individual has both the will and the power to expend upwards of £200 year for many successive years in inquiries of this kind. It might be accomplished, however, if the means requisite for the purpose were raised by subscription; and this plan has been adopted by the German agriculturists, whose exertions well merit attention. There have been established for some years back in that country what are called Agricultural Experiment Stations, of which the number is considerable-I believe not less than eight or ten being in existence-supported chiefly by subscriptions, to which the Government in some instances contributes, their entire object being to carry out inquiries in various departments of agriculture. They differ considerably in extent and in the particular department of experiment they prosecute; but, as an example, I may instance that at Salzmunde, in Saxony, which is under the direction of Dr. Grouver, an able chemist, and author of a course of lectures on agricultural chemistry; it includes a laboratory, small cattle house for feeding experiments, and other necessary appliances. The cost of starting the station was between £400 and £500, and the annual expenditure about £450; but this does not include any charge for land, manure, labor, or cattle food consumed in the experiments, all of which were supplied by a neighboring proprietor free of all expense. The other experimental stations throughout the country were conducted on a similar plan, though in some instances the means are smaller, in which case, of course, the experiments are more limited. Dr. Grouven, who appears to have given much attention to the subject, is of opinion that the minimum outlay should not be less than it is at Salzmunde.

The cost of a similar institution in this country, taking into account the much greater expense of living and wages, would not be less than double what it is in Germany, or say £1,000 a year; to this must be added the cost of land, labor, &c., which I have no means of estimating, but it could not be well done under £200 or £300 a year; so that the expense of an experimental station in this country would not be less than £1,200 a year. As there are eight or ten stations in Germany, the agriculturists of that country are at the present moment expending a sam equivalent to £8,000 or £10,000 a year of our money for the encouragement of scientific agriculture. The experimental stations are doing a great deal of good work, and support a periodical, in which the whole of their labors is given to the public. We have here an example which might be advantageously followed in this country, and though it may be vain to expect, at least at present, an outlay at all equivalent to that which is made in Germany, something might surely be done. If an institution of this kind could be established in Scotland, I should myself be glad to contribute towards it both money and labor; and I am satisfied that if it were properly started, its results would in the course of time be in the highest degree beneficial to agriculture.

METEOROLOGY AND CROPS OF 1863.

As there are no meteorological statistics or reports returned to the State Board of Agriculture, we have taken the liberty to copy the following from the report of the Commissioner of Statistics:

The general results of temperature, of falling water, and of winds, for six different points, are given in the following table, viz.: Painesville,

(Mr. Storrs) Table 1; Cleveland, (Mr. Hyde) Table 2; Kelly's Island, (Mr. Huntington) Table 3; Medina, (Mr. Clark) Table 4; Portsmouth, (Mr. Engelbrecht) Table 5, and Cincinnati, (Mr. Harper) Table 6. The combined results of these tables for the year ending November 1, are as follows:

The numbers given for the days of rain and of winds, simply show the proportions-the winds being observed more than once a day, and sometimes noted in different directions on the same day.

To interpret this table properly, we must look at the averages of these places for several years:

The last two are the averages of more than twenty years of observation. The above table proves conclusively that the average temperature of 1863 was higher than the average of a series of years. The same was true of 1862.

The following is the mean fall of water, in inches, for several years, viz.: At

The average fall of water in Ohio, in 1863, being but 33.68 inches, it is very evident that it was much less than the average. At Cincinnati it was seven inches short, and at Portsmouth still more deficient. This corresponds with another fact, well known to all observers, that drouth prevailed through a large part of the State, seriously injuring most crops.

TABLE I.—Meteorological Table of Cincinnati; prepared by G. W. Harper, of the Woodward High School.

15

During the 14th and 15th of January, there was one of the heaviest snow storms ever witnessed in this vicinity. The average depth of snow was over twenty inches, which was not only the greatest amount. I have ever measured at one time, but the greatest I have ever measured during an entire winter. On the 5th of February, there was another severe snow storm, during which over eight inches fell. The winter of 1862-3 was very mild, the thermometer having a range of only sixty-one degrees. The depth of snow, over three feet, is an amount unprecedented at this place. The month of May was very dry. From the 5th to the 26th, there fell less than one-tenth of an inch of rain. The average temperatures of June and October were the lowest I have ever recorded for those months. The last week of August was the coldest ever experienced at this place during that month. On the morning of the 30th, the thermometer stood at 7 o'clock at 45 degrees, by far the lowest recorded observation ever made at this place at that time in the year. GEO. W. HARPER, A.M.

NOTE.-The barometrical observations were made at a height of 305 feet above low water in the Ohio river, or 638 feet above the ocean. They are all reduced to the freezing point and for capillarity.