466 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



an iuflueuee upon the prcvailinj^ winds, and their height, or the phitcaus from 

 which they arise, niodity the climate, and render it temperate or arctic under 

 the fervent heats of the torrid zone. A mountain chain extending from east to 

 west may form a barrier between the colder regions on tho north and the 

 warmer on the south, and thus protect the northern plains from the warmer 

 winds of more temperate regions, and increase the heat on the southern slope. 

 This is exemplilied by the Alps of Switzerland, which reduce the temperature 

 of Germany below the mean that would otherwise prevail but for their cooling 

 influence. Under s^ome of the high towers of this mountain barrier against the 

 assaults of winter, the palm, the pomegranate, the orange and the olive grow in 

 the open air, while a few miles to the eastward, in valleys, open to the north, 

 through which ihe hurricane blasts of the Borra rush with terrific force and 

 severity of cold, often sweeping vessels from anchorage, these more tender 

 plants cannot exist. 



A few thousand feet in elevation, which is insignificant compared with the 

 mass of the earth, changes entirely the aspect and the character of a country. 

 For evidence of this assertion Ave may compare the burning region of Vera 

 Cruz — its tropical productions and its fatal fevers — with the lofty plains of 

 Mexico, their temperate growths and perennial spring, or the immense forests 

 of the Amazon, where vegetation puts forth all its splendors, and where animiil 

 life is abundantly prolific, with the desolate paramos or Alpine regions of the 

 summits of the Andes, "rude, ungeuial and misty." Or imagine the interior 

 plains of' the United States, east of the Rocky mountains, to be slightly inclined 

 towards the north, and the Mississippi river to empty into the Frozen sea or 

 Arctic ocean, or into Hudson's bay, and the new relations of warmth and 

 moisture incident upon this simple change of direction of the current of this 

 river would eifect the most important modifications in the conditions of the 

 vegetable and animal world, would exert a still greater influence upon the 

 welfare of the inhabitants, and, through them, upon the destinies of society yet 

 to be, and, perhaps, upon the entire human race. 



The climate that would result from latitude alone is greatly modified by the 

 presence or absence of extended sheets of water; and the distribution of heat 

 through the year, for any place whatever, depends essentially on its proximity 

 to, or distance from, the ocean or large lakes, and the relative frequency of the 

 winds that blow over them. The equalizing influence of large bodies of water, 

 the temperature of which is less liable to sudden changes than the atmosphei-ic 

 air, is quite appai-ent. While in Ireland and the southwestern part of England 

 the myrtle grows in the open air, as in Portugal, fearless of the cold of winter, 

 tlie summer sun of these so genial isles does not succeed in perfectly ripening 

 the plums and pears which grow and ripen Avell in the same latitude on the con- 

 tinent. On the coast of Cornwall shrubs as delicate as the camellia and 

 orange are green throughout the year in the gardens, though in a latitude at 

 which, in the interior of the continent of Europe, trees the most hardy can 

 aloBie brave the winter cold. The mild climate of England cannot ripen the 

 grape almost under the same parallel where are grown the wines of the Rhine, 

 nor will our Indian corn ever mature or attain there, even the size it will reach 

 on our most northern border or in Canada. 



In our own country the influence of the ocean is very favorable, and is more 

 apparent in the northern sections, where it attempers the heats of summer on 

 the land by the sea-breezes which prevail during part of the day along the 

 coast. Nor is this genial influence of water upon the temperature of the 

 neighboring iand limited to very extensive bodies. The inland lakes of Noi'th 

 America certa,inly ameliorate the otherwise severe climate of the district in 

 which they are located, and even the minor lakes of western New York soften 

 the extremes of cold, and, in connexion with ihcir larger congeners, protect the 



