1869.J MATTHE.W— ON PLANTS IN ACADIA. 141 



sickly appearance when found growing in soils not adapted in tex- 

 ture and composition to their nature. 



Moisture also is of the utmost importance to the well-being of 

 all cellular bodies, as well vegetable as animal ; and is in fact so 

 much a necessity that when deprived of it they cease to live. 

 These three agencies are those which have played the most im- 

 portant part in diversifying the vegetation of the globe ; but two 

 of them, viz.: temperature and moisture, present themselves under 

 a somewhat peculiar aspect in Acadia. 



The renovation of the ocean by the interchange of waters 

 throughout its vast expanse, is aflected through the medium of 

 ocean currents, flowing alternately to and from the poles. Such of 

 these " ocean rivers " in the northern hemisphere as flow northward 

 are continually thrown further and further east as they approach 

 the arctic circle, by the retarded rotation of the earth from west 

 to east ; while such as run southward are thrown to the west. 

 Hence, while Europe is bathed in the warm waters of the Gulf 

 stream, running in a long arc northward across the Atlantic, the 

 polar current, having a westerly momentum, clings to the Ameri- 

 can coast, and Acadia not only shares the cool climate prevalent 

 along this seaboard, but owing to its semi-insular position, has its 

 temperature still further lowered. This is strikingly evident when 

 the climate of St. John is compared with that of cities in Europe 

 — such as Bordeaux, Turin and Venice, — under the same parallel 

 of latitude. The principal cause of this difierence of temperature 

 is the fact that here we have the north-east a refrigerator in the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence, traversed as it is by a branch of the polar 

 current, which entering at the Straits of Belleisle, sweeps around 

 the shores of the Lower Provinces and finds an outlet in the Gut 

 of Canso and further east. We have also a cool vapor bath in 

 the sea fogs, which in summer bathe our south-eastern shores, and 

 whose influence on vegetation will be noticed in the sequel. Thus 

 we see that within the limits of these maritime provinces there are 

 variations of temperature, which mere extent of surface or eleva- 

 tion of land will not account for, but which are mainly dependent 

 on ocean currents and their concomitants. 



In comparing the relative heat and cold prevalent in various 

 parts of Acadia, and other portions of the British possessions, it 

 has not been thought necessary to notice the temperature of the 

 colder months of the year, during which nature, in these latitudes, 



