VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS OF NORWAY. ys | 
not the case. Corn and other plants will ripen under a 
much lower temperature, and in a much shorter time,* 
in Norway than in any of the more southern countries ; 
and even in the same country there is a marked 
difference in this respect between the southern and 
northern districts. Corn or other seeds brought from a 
southern to a northern climate require at first a longer 
time to ripen in than the same species which have been 
cultivated there for some time; and conversely, seeds 
brought from a higher to a much lower latitude will in 
the first and second years ripen earlier than those of the 
same species which belong to that lower latitude. 
Again, it may be remarked that so long as a plant is 
not cultivated further north than is compatible with its 
attaining its full development, the seed increases both 
in size and weight for the first three years; but it 
diminishes in like manner if cultivated several degrees 
furthe rsouth. The greater the difference in the lati- 
tude the more marked is the disparity. 
Again, the flowers of plants assume an intenser 
colour, and the foliage of trees a brighter green, the 
further they are found to the north. 
Those plants whose roots, leaves, flowers, «&c., 
* To give only one instance: six-rowed barley takes ninety days 
to ripen in from the date of sowing on the banks of the Nile. From 
an experiment made by Dr. Schiibeler, with seed of the same variety 
obtained from Alten, only fifty-five days elapsed between the date 
of sowing and of ripening. 
