158 



HORTICULTURAL AND OTHER NOTES ON ST. LOUIS, 



of Missouri, while the country is compara- 

 tivclv flat farofl'to the north and tlie south, 

 and vast prairies stretch to the east and the 

 west of us. The prevailing winds follow the 

 general course of our Great Valley, modified 

 at times by the blasts from the great plains in 

 the west, and from the prairies and lakes to 

 the east and northeast. Fortunately for us, 

 the east wind does not often, for many con- 

 tinuous days, bring to as the epidemic efflu- 

 via which are generated in the great Sene- 

 gambian Bottom, that stretches along the 

 opposite shores. 



The average number of dry days of four 

 years was 260 for each year ; of wet days 

 105; of sunshine, 314 ; of no sunshine, 51 ; 

 of thunder storms, 53. 



The summer of the present year has been 

 unusually dry, favorable for insects inju- 

 rious to fruit, and would have proved en- 

 tirely destructive to corn and potatoes, but 

 for the rains of the last of August. But the 

 year 1844 was more destructive from too 

 much wet. I think, however, that, as we 

 have no mountains, and the primitive forest 

 is gradually disappearing, future observa- 

 tions will show that the average number of 

 dry days will increase, and that the mois- 

 ture of our soil and the waters of our streams 

 and small lakes will diminish. 



The nights of summer often fed as op- 

 pressively hot as the days, but not always. 

 The thermometer sometimes falls twenty 

 degrees soon after sunset. There is, in 

 bright moonlight nights, an extensive radia- 

 tion from the surface of the fields. The 

 thermometer will indicate eight or ten de- 

 grees lower temperature at the surface, than 

 it will at ten feet above. Dew is rapidly 

 distilled. The night air is humid. Fogs 

 sometimes arise, but they are not frequent. 

 The commonest diseases of the country are 

 bilious and remittent. New immigrants 



scorching sun of summer. Ague and fever 

 are often found in the low grounds and 

 along the river " bottoms." Where vege- 

 tation is most lu.xuriant, there is the greatest 

 decomposition. A vegetable diet is the 

 most suitable for the summer months. Fruit 

 also, in moderation, I believe to be better 

 than animal food in warm climates. Fully 

 ripe, and sound and healthy itself, it seems 

 naturally adapted and intended for the use 

 (not abuse) of man, but more particularly 

 in that climate where the man and the fruit 

 grow together. 



The following table is an approximation 

 to the limes of the flowering, &c., of the 

 fruit trees in St. Louis : 



Peaches and Isabella Grapes begin to 

 ripen early in August, and are abundant the 

 last of that month. 



The Red Juneating Apple, or Early Red 

 Margaret, sometimes bears two crops in one 

 season, (the second inferior to the first ;) and 

 I have seen it blooming the third time the 

 same season. 



Garden Operations. — We sow seeds for 

 early salad and cabbage under glass in Janu- 



can scarcely labor in the field under the | ary and February. Plant Irish potatoes for 



