Adaptations in Horticulture. 71 



has found sometliing adapted to its wants, which we will do well 

 to inquire after. 



We plant a strawberry bed ; a cold winter passes, a part of the 

 bed is killed, a part survives and is fruitful. It is very common 

 for one part of a bed to be far more productive than another; so 

 with fields of grain, portions of our winter wheat will survive our 

 severest winters. The slight inequalities caused by ridge and 

 dead furrows in plowing level ground, will often result in nice 

 strips of wheat, running clear across the field. A slight variation 

 in the slope — some accidental protection, will make all the differ- 

 ence between success and failure. I conceive that the adaptations 

 of varieties and localities, is one of the profoundest studies which 

 the horticulturist has before him, and it is equally important to 

 the farmer. Each one will have to modify general rules to fit 

 their own peculiar circumstances. 



Nature observes certain laws of adaptation on all occasions, and 

 nearly all of our native productions are found under peculiar cir- 

 cumstances of soil and exposure. This may be illustrated by the 

 spontaneous arrangements of the trees and shrubbery in the forest. 

 There are places to look for each variety of tree, grass, or flower, 

 and while some are found under a great variety of circumstances, 

 yet the arrangement is generally settled by some definite law of 

 adaptation. A person understanding these things, and wanting 

 to find any particular plant, will start at once for such a locality 

 as is likely to harbor it. In leaving the side of a little brook, on 

 my farm, crossing its valley, and ascending to the crest of its di- 

 viding ridge, this law will be abundantly illustrated. We pass 

 first through the willows and alders which skirt its margin, 

 through the sedges and cattails of the marsh ; across the meadow 

 with its peeuliar flora, to the bank covered withhajsel, crab apples, 

 and wild plums. The elm, butternut, and basswood will grow 

 upon the flat, while the ridge will be crowned with oak, hickory, 

 and maple. Some varieties will be more widely spread than 

 others, but with many things the lines are strongly drawn. The 

 smaller growths will be more definitely divided than the timber. 

 It will not need a very observing eye to notice, that nature has 

 very definite ideas of adaptation in planting. 



