184 METEOROLOGY. GROWTH OF PLANTS. 



rainy season about the 1st of June, and it is then reaped about the 

 in.dJIe of November ; it therefore stands on the ground for about 

 168 days, and the mean temperature is between 51° and 52' F. 



At Santa Fe de Bogota they reckon about four months between 

 the barley seed-time and harvest, or about 122 days, the mean tem- 

 perature being between 58" and 59" F. 



CULTIVATION OF MAIZE, OR INDIAN CORN. 



In the neighborhood of Bechelbronn the maize which sprouted on 

 the first of June yielded an abundant harvest on the 1st of October, 

 the mertn temperature having been 68° F. 



In South America maize comes to maturity in the course of three 

 months, say 92 days, the mean temperature being between 81" and 

 82° F.; but on the elevated plains, as that of Santa Fe, maize will 

 require six months to come to maturity, say 183 days, and there the 

 mean temperature is 59" F. 



CULTIVATION OF THE POTATO. 



In 1836 our potatoes at Bechelbronn were put into the ground on 

 the 1st of May, and the crop was gathered on the 15th of October, 

 after 157 days, therefore, the mean temperature having been about 

 65" F.; but in ordinary years, when the temperature is less elevated 

 than that of 1836, the potato crop is generally gathered at the end 

 of October, after 183 days, the mean temperature having been as 

 before nt^arly 59" F. 



In the neighborhood of Alais potatoes are planted at the end of 

 March and taken u]) about the 1st of September, after five months 

 or 153 days, the mean temperature of which has been 70" F. 



According to M. Codazzi [)Otatoes are grown near the lake of Va- 

 lencia, (Venezuela,) in 120 days, and the mean temperature of Ma- 

 racaibo near the lake is 78" F. 



AccordiiifT to the same observer, the potato still yields good crops 

 at Merida in the Cordilleras, where the mean temperature is between 

 71° and 72" F., and the growth lasts about 4 V months. 



On the temperate levels ot" New (iranada at Santa Fe I saw po- 

 tatoes set in the middle of December immediately after the rainy 

 season, and the harvest was gathered in the course of the first week 

 in June, the cr()[i therefore was at least 200 days in the ground, the 

 mean temperature having been between 58" and 59" F. 



On the occasion of my ascent of the volcanic mountain. Antisana, 

 I ate on the 4th of August some potatoes which had just been gath- 

 ered, and which had been planted in the l)eginning of November, so 

 that the crop had lieen 276 days in the ground, the mean tempera- 

 ture of the country being 52' Fahr. 



But this is not yet the superior limit to the cultivation of potatoes 

 under the equator. They are still grown at Cambugan, the mean 

 temperature of which scarcely exceeds 19" Fahr., the plant remain- 

 ing nearly eleven months in the ground, and the crop being frequently 



