XIX.] ACCLIMATIZATION OF THE INDIVIDUAL. 323 



ened upon it. There is no physiological reason why 

 such change should not occur, as is witnessed by the 

 practice of "hardening off" cabbages and other plants, 

 whereby a direct and radical change, though not strictly 

 acclimatization, is produced in the individual. 



The best direct evidence which I now recall bearing 

 upon the probability of individual constitutional adap- 

 tation is that of the vine cited by Darwin.* Vines from 

 Madeira are said to succeed better in the West Indies 

 than those taken from France. Here, obviously, there 

 has been a divergence between the vines of France and 

 Madeira, and, as vines are propagated by cuttings, we 

 can say with truth that the vines in the two countries 

 are but different parts of the same individual. Yet I 

 am not satisfied with this indication of individual accli- 

 matization, as the vines of the two countries may have 

 been separated by seedage or modified in habit. 



I. B. Does the individual ever become changed in 

 any external character or habit in a manner to over- 

 come climate ? While record of experience upon this 

 caption is meager, as upon the last, it is still valuable. 

 It is well known that the same plant sometimes be- 

 haves differently in different years. If this difference 

 is in the direction of enabling the plant to grow in an 

 injurious climate, it is a true means of acclimatization. 

 For instance, if the plant were removed northward it 

 might acquire the habit of blossoming relatively earlier 

 in the spring, so as to take advantage of the shorter 

 season. Peach trees from central Georgia blossom ten 

 or twelve days later in Virginia and Maryland than do 

 those of the same variety from New Jersey or New 



* Animals and Plants Under Domestication i. 377 Amer. Ed. 



