194 



QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 



Plant 



Adaptability 

 tu 

 Climate. 



Crops in 

 164S. 



Corn in 

 1654. 



1038. Q. Do plants of warm latitudes adapt themselves to cold 

 climates? 



A. As a rule only so far as to quicken growth, or shorten the period 

 of life. Corn, for instance, grown near the limit of its Northern 

 localities of production, no doubt was originally selected from Southern 

 stocks of a marked early habit. Fixed types of plants grown far North 

 do not acquire strength to withstand cold, simply a habit of quickly 

 maturing to escape cold. Many cross-bred plants, like some tobaccos, 

 for example, possess a precocity fitting them for Northern climates 

 better than the parents. Many natural conditions of plants can be 

 changed by climate ; for example, the plants of North America bloom- 

 ing and fruiting in their own appointed seasons change their habits 

 when taken to South America and Australia, where the seasons are 

 reversed. 



1039. Q. "Why is it that corn grown in the cotton States when brought 

 as far North as Pennsylvania will not ripen ? 



A. The planting of corn ripened under a Southern climate, in locali- 

 ties far North of its latitude of production, seems to completely upset 

 its natural habit, a common occurrence in vegetable life, as such corn 

 runs almost entirely to foliage, the function of leaf and stem develop- 

 ment being so stimulated as to completely displace the function of seed 

 production. The cause of this it is difficult, perhaps impossible, to 

 answer to the satisfaction of every one. It may be due to several 

 causes in combination, sometimes partially influenced by richer soil, 

 more generally to increased moisture, or more even distribution of rain 

 during the last half of the season of growth, a better conservation of 

 water, for in Southern localities the evaporation is greater, and transi- 

 tions of soil moisture conditions more marked. 



A Southern corn under any circumstances takes a greater number of 

 days of growth to arrive at maturity, and when planted in the North 

 simultaneously with Northern corn continues vigorous longer than the 

 Northern sort, so much so as to be in a position to profit by August and 

 September rains which come too late to extend the growth of the 

 quicker maturing Northern varieties. Thus the formation of leaf 

 tissue in the case of Southern corn is still further continued till finally 

 the plant, yet in vigorous growth, enters the moister seasons of the 

 Autumn when nothing will arrest the growth but frost. 



1040. Q. What kind of crops, if any, did the early Indians cultivate? 

 A. Campanius, a Swede, who explored the valley of the Delaware in 



1642, wrote that among the Indians he found cultivations of hops, grape- 

 vines, plum trees, maize, calabash and a fibre like hemp. 



1041. Q. What are some of the earliest references to the growth of 

 corn in Pennsylvania ? 



A. In 1654, Peter Lindstrom, a Swedish engineer, surveyed the Dela- 

 ware river, and wrote that he met with extensive cultivations, by the 

 Indians, of corn ; the grain being of various colors, white, black, red, blue, 



