CLIMATIC RANGE OF WHEAT. 261 



weather in July and August, and the farmers generally 

 predicted a failure of the corn crop, and wondered all 

 the summer at the luxuriant growth of this plant. The 

 secret of it undoubtedly was that the last week of June 

 and the first week of July were excessively hot, though 

 the rest of the season was unusually cool and moist. 

 The ground had become warmed to a great depth, and 

 this was sufficient to give the plant a rapid growth 

 through the rest of the growing season. Every part of 

 the country is, therefore, adapted to Indian corn, with 

 the exception of the higher mountainous parts of New 

 England, and northern New York, and northern Wis- 

 consin and Minnesota. 



There are great staples of the Southern States more 

 profitable, it is true, owing to their extremely limited 

 range of climate ; but, as a plant for the whole country, 

 no other can compare with it in importance. 



The climatic range of wheat and barley is still 

 greater, for both grow successfully at small elevations 

 above the level of the sea, on the borders of the trop- 

 ics, while wheat may be cultivated as far north as 

 60, and the culture of barley extends to the polar 

 circle. The climatic range of oats does not materially 

 vary from that of wheat. 



But, though the absolute range of climate for wheat 

 is greater than that of Indian corn, there are more local 

 conditions which affect it, and hence its most profitable 

 limit of cultivation may not be much greater. 



The districts of this country which correspond 

 most nearly to the great wheat-growing sections of 

 Europe may be found in central New York, Pennsyl- 

 vania, and a part of Maryland, and a section through the 

 states lying immediately south of the great northern 

 lakes, including the prairie lands west from Lake Michi- 

 gan. In these sections the mean temperature of 



