STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 129 



invasion of an otherwise equable and happy tempered summer — 

 an invasion not remembered by the careless cultivator — often 

 seems to give character to the whole season, and greatly jeopar- 

 dizes the hopes of the farmer. A discerning cultivator may 

 always predict, with considerable accuracy, the character and 

 degree of suffering which will result from these two classes of 

 irregular weather. 



c. Term of continuance. — Here my present purpose makes it 

 necessary to speak principally of tropical plants, since they espe- 

 cial Iv suffer from short seasons. 



In conducting a large market garden for ten years, I noticed 

 that, when tender plants were forwarded in hot beds from as 

 early a period as was consistent with the pecuniary proiit of the 

 cultivator, say from the 10th of April, cucumbers could be cut 

 lor market by about June 20th; tomatoes and musk-melons about 

 August 10th. To secure this result the summer needed to be 

 somewhat dry and even temperate. If the summer were other- 

 wise these, and other tropical crops were proportionably later; 

 and then, in case of an early frost, say by the 10th of September, 

 all tropical productions, with the exceptions perhaps, of corn, 

 beans and potatoes, exhibited a loss of from one-third to one- 

 half of the ordinary profits. The occurrence of a late spring 

 would almost equally injure the same crops, by preventing the 

 timely or safe transfer of such crops from the seed beds, and thus 

 virtually giving a shortness to the season, even with an autumn 

 of ordinary length. 



3. Period of maturity. — Closely related to the subject of 

 climatic requirements, and co-ordinate with it, is the considera- 

 tion of tlie maturities of plants. The maturity of a plant, in any 

 one year, depends mainly on the elevation of the temperature. 

 A warm summer, other tilings being equal, matures fruits, grains 

 and roots earlier than a cooler one. Hence, thouj<h the sowing 

 and planting season, in the northern States, is considerably later 

 than ill England, Holland, and the north of Finance, their harvest 

 is earlier than in those countries. This result is produced by the 

 higher teni}>erature, and therefore the more impulsive character 

 of the weather. Aside from this general law, niaturity d('i>ends 



1. On a law of reproduction. Plants raised annually from 

 the seed may be made in many, and probably in most cases, 



[Ag. Trans.J I 



