542 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 9 



other important and relevant fkct is equally attest- 

 ed, that under the influence oC this change, plants 

 and anin:ials, with the exception of a few individ- 

 uals, have been I'rotn the most ancient periods of 

 time, regularly and irradually migrating from high- 

 er to lower latitudes; the latter, from the general 

 decline of heat, having acquired that degree for 

 which they had been constituted; and which the 

 former had previously possessed and now lost; 

 hence, we have no reason to flatter ourselves with 

 ihe hope that our wheat plant will continue, and 

 resist the instinctive impulse given it lor its own 

 preservation, by the commanding hand of nature. 

 And a priori — it is deducible ii'om causes, ob- 

 viously siill in operation, that a comparatively 

 short period, perhaj:s half a century or a litlle 

 more, will find the wheat plant flourishinir only in 

 the most scutliern secilons of our vast empire: and 

 another period still longer, may in all probability, 

 cancel it from the cataloiaie of vegetable life. 



Our sister states of higher latitudes, have long 

 since experienced the efiiicts of this mutation of 

 climate upon their wheat crop; the 'Northern Far- 

 mer', of New England, informs us that fifty years 

 ago, their wheat was a certain and profitable crop; 

 and that now, they carmot by any mode of prac- 

 tice produce enough of this grain to defray the 

 costs of cultivation. 



Thus, by a diligent review of the past, we are 

 enabled to direct our course for the future; we are 

 furnished with a key to unlock the magnificent 

 temple of nature, disclose her enclianting seci'ets, 

 and contemplate her wise and providential plans, 

 lor the general good of her creation. 



A fallacious ground has been assumed, and on 

 very respectable authority, agait;st the continuance 

 ■of our wheat crop, which though leading to the 

 purpose of my proposition to abandon this plant, 

 is wholly untenable — that land tires of a species. 

 This, in the sense designed, is an unphilosophicno- 

 tion, and may produce much error in practice. 



The theory of rotation of crops rests not upon 

 this principle, but upon the appetency of plants for 

 ultimate principles, peculiarly essential for their 

 sustenance, and respectively consumed in the dif- 

 ferent ratios of their natural demands; by a fresh 

 supply of manures, the consumed principle will ne- 

 cessarily be furnished, and the capacity of the land 

 ibr reprotluciion, be restored, or perpetually pre- 

 served. But it is said by the advocates Ibr the land- 

 tiring doctrine that the remedy of manuring is in- 

 competent Ibr a wheat crop, where fbrmerly the 

 plant flourished; true, because the station has be- 

 come materially modified, and for reasons already 

 given, we must adopt others whose habits and 

 constitutions are conlbrmable to this modification. 

 Our desire to retain this crop, is founded on an 

 amiable principle in man, often conducive to his 

 interests; that of a venerable attachment to the 

 prescriptive law of usage, yet it is a law, which 

 like all others, has its numerous excepiions, to be 

 found in the absence of the reasons from which 

 they derived their validity. In regard to this in- 



ed station. The longer the time it shall have oc- 

 cupied its new domicil, the greater will be the hos- 

 tilearray of these predatory tribes uj^on it. No bet- 

 ter evidence can be required of this truth, than the 

 instance of the Hessian fly, which Ibr many years, 

 had not annoyed our wheat crop — yet, has accu- 

 mulated, until, alone, it is now competent to its 

 destruction: and annually, we hear of new ene- 

 mies, multiplying uponlhis plant; and. which,, too,, 

 will never abandon their post, while we supply 

 them with the choice forage, for which, they had 

 made their incursions. 



From a chanixe of climate, and other incidental 

 circumstances, our rich harvests v.diich, to our- 

 selves, and our ancestors, had yielded a bounteous 

 equivalent, Ibr cost and labor, have degenerated 

 into a fi-uiiless heritage, continued solely, from an- 

 cestral veneration, and the irrefragable bond of 

 usage. 



For occupying so much of your time, upon sub- 

 jects of natural science, which may have appeared 

 abstract, and irrelevant to that of agriculture, i 

 must make the apology of its necessity to demon- 

 strate an itnportant proposition, that our wheat 

 crop should be, at least, considerably curtailed — 

 and new crops, from other countries, substituted 

 lor it. 



From the view 1 have taken, too, some useful 

 rules may be drawn, for the direction of those 

 whose enterprise may lead them to discover, and 

 introduce such new crops, as may, with the great- 

 est prospect of success, supply our necessities. 



The most obvious rule, that grows out of the 

 premises, for this purpose is, that the selection of 

 plants be made from higher latitudes, than those 

 to which they may be transferred. 



Since we have seen, that the mean temperaturs 

 of the globe is diminishing; and, with this cause, 

 necessarily, a general migration of the vegetable 

 and animal species, regularly, though slowly pro- 

 gressive, from Ihe poles towards the equator, in 

 quest of new stations, which may have become 

 more suitable to their habits and constitutions — it 

 follows, that our selections must come from higher 

 latitudes, in conformity with the physical laws, un- 

 der which they had been heretofore moving; and, 

 with as wide a difference of climate as experiment 

 may prove them capable of beuring: this removal 

 will be only in anticipation of their natural im- 

 pulse; and what this impulse would, in a longer 

 lime, have accomplished; and this principle of se- 

 lection will afford a reasonable hope, cater is pari- 

 bus, of a longer enjoyment of the plant, than had 

 it been found in the south, and brought back to a 

 station, which, possibly, it may have deserted ibr 

 its unfitness. 



It has been wisely said, we may command na- 

 ture, only by obedience to her laws: under her well- 

 defined laws, as we have seen, the physical geogra- 

 ph}' of the whole globe has been sufl^ering a se- 

 ries of changes, fi-om the earliest history of time — 

 and, by a rule, based on this fact of natural science, 

 the cultivator of the soil must select his crops, and 



teresiing question of the policy of continuing our graduate his system of cultivation 



wheat crop, another consideration may be oflered, Under this rule, the only hof)e remaining for a 



enti^lled to much weight. continuanceof our favorite staple crop, will be found 



Every individual plant, as well as animal, has in seed wheat fiom higher latitudes. A spring 



its respective tribes of parasitic insects, which pe- wheat from Switzerland, and another from Flor- 



culiarly belong to it, and which follow it, in its pro- ence, have recently attracted public attention; yet, 



gressive migrations, before mentioned, at a less or but little is known of them; the common spring 

 greater period after its removal to its newly adopt- j wheat has heretofore disappointed us; how far 



