506 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



be carefully considered in making plantations, for any at- 

 tempt to force trees to grow in uncongenial soil or climate is 

 a crime against nature which she will not tolerate. Thus it 

 will be seen that the question is not one of geography 

 merely. We cannot say that a tree will flourish here solely 

 because its native habitat is within our latitude, for other 

 conditions are to be considered. 



A glance at a map of the northern hemisphere, shows us 

 that the configuration of the east coast of the continent of 

 Asia is quite similar to that of eastern North America, and 

 that in the Pacific ocean, as well as in the Atlantic, a warm 

 ocean current commences at the southwest and, flowing 

 across the ocean, disappears at the northeast. Therefore 

 the coast climate of our continent closely resembles that of 

 'the other ; the climate of northeastern Asia resembling 

 that of New England and eastern North America, while 

 that of California and Oregon is not unlike the climate of 

 western Europe. There are, also, in various portions of the 

 globe, certain conditions which tend to produce local cli- 

 mates quite diff'erent from the surrounding regions, and in 

 some respects similar to our own. 



Working with these facts, we may arran.ge in order the 

 regions from which we are obliged to select trees for culti- 

 vation in New England, and beyond which, unless in rare, 

 exceptional cases, it is useless to go to add to our collections. 



The order is as follows * : — 



First. The North Atlantic region of America, which in- 

 cludes New England and Canada, and extends southward to 

 the mountains of northern Georgia and Alabama, and broadly 

 to the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains. 



Second. The eastern coast of Asia, north of about lati- 

 tude 38, and including northern China, Manchuria and 

 northern Japan. 



Third. Regions with climates not sufficiently differing 

 from that of New England to interfere with the adaptability 

 of the plants of such regions to our climate. The central 



* These points are more fully treated in a paper by the present writer, read before 

 the Mass. Horticultural Society, 1881. 



