_Utility of a Knowledge of the Temperature of the Soil._--The temperature of the soil is an important element in the consideration of climate, as it concerns the vegetable kingdom. Dr. Daubeny, in his _Lectures on Climate_, gives the following statement with respect to some temperatures which have been observed just beneath the earth's surface, in different parts of the globe:-- -------------------------------------------------------------------- Country. | Temperature. | Authority. -----------------+-------------------------------------------------- Tropics, often |162-184 deg. | Humboldt. | | Egypt |133-144 | Edwards & Colin. | | Orinoco |In white sand, 140 | Humboldt. | | Chili |113-118, among dry grass | Boussingault. | | Cape of Good Hope|150, under the soil of a bulb | Herschell. garden | | | Bermuda |142, thermometer barely covered | Emmet. | in earth | | | China |Water of the fields, 113; | Meyer. | adjacent sand, much higher; | | blackened sides of the boat | | at midday, 142-150 | | | France |118-122, and in one instance 127| Arago. -------------------------------------------------------------------- "The importance of this to vegetation may be estimated by the following considerations:-- "It is known that every plant requires a certain amount of heat, varying in the case of each species, for the renewal of its growth, at the commencement of the season.