Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1871-07-22

phere, so by the ancients entirely different
causes were supposed to produce it.
Pliny, one of our greatest historians, being
thoroughly reliable us regards the facts of his
day, says, In houses there be hollow places
devised and made by mems hands for receipt
of wind, which being enclosed with shade and
darkness gather their blasts" Thus in the
time of the ancient Greeks, in the time Of
renowned men that invented an architecture
or manner of finish which has been handed
down and used to the present day. building
their houses and stately cdifices with curl
ously contrived cavities on the outside rs II
resting place for wind. Wind, to their minds,
was a spirit needing their provision, and one
to which they did not wish to give oflcnse.
Caves were places of superstitious dread, us
they We're supposed to be the resting places
of wind, and finally became of use to the
freebOOterS, as they were thus comparatively
safe from the law. The origin of wind Us
taught to their youth, and handed down to
MS in their ancient manuscript school-books,
is this: There be certain caves and holes
in the earth which breed wind continually
without end. They have wide mouths, and
if you cast in anything of light weight it will
be seen presently to come out with stormy
tempest. Thus you can see how all winds
have II cause That all winds have cause
we are ready to admit, but that they under
stood that cause no one of sound mind can
now bcl;eve. 5,
AS the first principles of meteorological
science, it becomes necessary that we should
look to the causes and effects of wind. Wind
is defined in our school books as air put in
motion; such motion is generally attributed
to heat. Thus, us the air becomes heated, it
rises, because ii is rar'fied, and cool OF more
dense mir rushes in to supply its place. Dur
ing the day the air is heated by the sun
and rises. cooler air coming from the west
the sun the air is more heated; this. were
there no other conflicting CAUSES, would cause
Il strong west wind during the day, and
mild east wind during the night. In this
section this cause with the lay of land slightly
changing it towards the northwest. giving us
IL west, northwest wind rs many days as we
have from all other points together. Near
the ocean the land becomes heated by the
direct rays of the sun hotter than the water,
causing breeze blowing inland during the
day. At night the earth parts with its heat
much more readily than the ocean, so the
current changes, blowing seaward during the
night. This creates the general winds of our
coast called land and sea breczes. But so
far inland we feel little effect from that
cause.
Another great modifying cause is evapora-
ton. That silent power ever present and al
ways going ON. That power which dries our
clothes, seasons our wood and lumber, and
without which this world would be uninhab-
table. Did you ever think that if God should
withdraw this power from earth, every
thing would be always wet? That fire would
not burn, and your clothes once wet would
never be dry again, in fact, that it would re-
duce the world to wet, Shiny, uninhhbita-
BILE globe of filth? But by the kind dispensa-
tion of that overruling power we have IN
evaporation sufficiently powerful to raise
about two thousand gallons of water per day,
during the summer months, from every acre
of land and nearly double that amount from
the same surface of water. AS the heated
mir rises, il takes up with it II greater amount
of water than can be held in solution ut n
lower temperature; this when it strikes II
colder stratum in the higher atmosphere is
condensed into clouds, these clouds chang
ing and impeding the currents cause wind,
sometimes severe.
Electricity. that subtle agent ever present
in the atmosphere, being beyond the COM
prehension, and almost beyond the control of