STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 101 



their food from the utmosphere, existing in the form of a rich dust 

 cloud of unequal thickness, probably several feet above the earth's 

 surface. The elements of this dust cloud may reach the ])lants directly 

 throu<i;h its leaves l)y the action of moisture and sunli<i:ht, or it may 

 be droi)ped upon the soil by the great law of molecular yttraction, or 

 it may be washed down by the rain or dew, and so be sujjplied to the 

 plant through the si)ongi(des of the roots. Those ])laiits called air 

 plants throw their roots out into the air, and feed through both roots 

 and leaves from this rich atmospheric soil. It is by means of the 

 culture of the soil in all its details of composting, pulverizing, com- 

 mingling, turning, moving, or giving needed rest, that man is ena- 

 bled to secure the best results in plant production, both from the 

 ponderable and imponderable forces of nature. 



CLIMATIC CONDITIONS. 



Plants are circumscribed to set boundaries by conditions of cli- 

 mate. ^ In the cold icy regions of the North, and on high mountain 

 ranges, nature can produce little but lichens and mosses, while in the 

 temperate and tropical regions vegetable products of almost infinite 

 variety s])ring into being in profuse abundance. Under climatic con- 

 ditions may l»e considered atmos})heric motion or winds, storms of all 

 kinds, electrical conditions, heat, moisture, etc. However, in the 

 practical operations of agriculture and horticulture thermal condi- 

 tions and moisture especially concern our study. And yet, to secure 

 these con(liti(jns, every means possible should be used to break the 

 force of winds, check the destructive tendency of storms, and favor- 

 ably modify electrical action. 



The judicious distril)ution of forest growth through all agricul- 

 tural and horticultural districts will help to secure these ends, and so 

 change and modify climatic conditions as to bring rich reward in 

 better and more bountiful cro])s of the product grown, to say nothing 

 of the great value of forest jjroducts, and of timber itself. 



The late Prof. Tice observed a difference of two degrees of tem- 

 perature on opposite sides of a belt of timber during a winter storm. 

 Everv individual has the meaus of im])roving the temperature of his 

 plantation by the judicious arrangement of groves of timber, timber 

 belts, fences, buildiugs, etc. It is probable, at this stage of our 

 knowledge of climatic conditions, we cannot decide how great changes 

 m;iv be wrought Ijy mau all over the globe, in a more equable tem- 

 })erature, )jy a judicious distribution of forest growth. When asso- 

 ciate effort in the distribution and growing of forests shall be legally 

 conducted by county, state, national, and inter-national authorities, 

 we may reasonably expect that the golden age of vegetable produc- 

 tion is near at hand. 



