HABIT. 27 



the banks ofthe Peruvian streams ; yet, transferred to this 

 country, it has become an annual plant, which arrives 

 at maturity in a few short months. The habits of other 

 tender plants are with more difficulty subdued, and they 

 to be successfully cultivated must be gradually transfer- 

 red from their native soil. In the latter case the habit 

 and the power they acquire to accommodate themselves 

 to their new situation, overcome' the natural impedi- 

 ments to their growth, which under different circum- 

 stances would have been irresistible. Therefore it is, 

 that plants whose seeds were ripened in northern lat- 

 itudes, are less liable to injury from frost, than they 

 would have been if their seeds had been brought from 

 a temperate climate. By thus gradually accustoming 

 it to a diminution of temperature, Rice was at one time 

 cultivated with advantage in New Jersey, though with- 

 out these precautions it rarely comes to maturity even 

 in Virginia.* - The habits of the Indian corn aided by 

 climate and culture have suffered still more remarka- 

 ble changes. After having been for several years rais- 

 ed in Canada it arrives at perfection in a few weeks, 

 and on that account is employed by us as an early corn, 

 But that which has been repeatedly cultivated in Vir- 

 ginia will not ripen even in New-England, yet origin- 

 ally the small early Canadian, and the luxuriant Virginia 

 corn were the same, both in habit and in every other 

 known property. They probably originated from the 

 same identical seed. Numerous other examples might 

 be mentioned, but enough has been done to justify the 

 conclusion, that vegetables as well as animals are under 

 the dominion of habit. 

 Yet some there are, who deny the existence of vege 



* Barton's Medical and Physical Journal. 



