4G8 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 8 



general are limited to certain countries in wliich 

 they appear as natives, yet porne are, ami probably 

 the greater number may be, inured to cliniaies 

 soila and situations very difi'erent from I hose to 

 which they naturally belong. 'I'he change which 

 a plant undergoes in acconunodaling itsell' 'o a 

 new country is called acclimation. IJy this pro- 

 cess the habits of a plant may be much altered, as 

 we see in the case oCthe nasturtium, which in Chili 

 S. A. its native country, becomes a tree ol' consi- 

 derable size, and does not blossom until several 

 years after it is planted ; whilst in our climate it 

 is an annual trailing shrub, blossoming and per- 

 jecting its fruit the same year in which it is sown. 

 But though the liabiis of a plant may be thus al- 

 tered, yet no device of man can alter its nature. 

 The potatoe which has been long cultivated in 

 Europe, and propagated from seed ripened there, 

 and this through innumerable generations, yet 

 there is no reason for supposing that it is in the 

 least degree more hardy now than when first im- 

 ported from Mexico. The same slight degree of 

 autumnal Irost blackens its leaves, and ol" spring 

 cold destroys its germinating buds. Annual plants 

 are much more easily acclimated in northern 

 countries, than perennial ores. This we should ex- 

 pect from the lad that the temperature of real 

 summer weather is very much the same in all in- 

 habited lands, the onlyserious dificuliy experienced 

 in removing southern plants to a northern country 

 is that the summer is sometimes loo short to ena- 

 ble them to come to perfection. Where this is 

 the case, the proper method to be pursued is to 

 make the change as gradual as possible, removing 

 the plant a little further north each year than it 

 was the year preceding, and thus enabling it 

 gradually to adapt itself to its new situation. Next 

 to annuals, in the case with which they undergo 

 acclimation, we must reckon herbaceous biennial 

 and perennial plants. In northern climates, the 

 Jrosts of winter are generally accompanied with 

 snow, which lalling early in the season, and lying 

 throughout the winter, shelters the root from the 

 inclemency of the atmosphere until the return of 

 spring. Trees and shrubs, on the contrary, are 

 acclimated with difliculty, owing to the great 

 length ot their stems and branches rendering il 

 impossible to shelter them liom the cold. "The 

 greatest refinement in culture consists in the suc- 

 cessful Ibrmation of artificial climates, lor the cul- 

 ture of tropical plants in cold regions. Many 

 vegetables, natives of the torrid zone, as the pine- 

 apple, palm &c. cannot be acclimated intemper- 

 ate countries ; but by means of hot-houses ol'dif- 

 lerent kinds, they are grown, even on the borders 

 of the li'ozen zone to the highest degree of perfec- 

 tion ; and in Britain, some of the tropical li-uits, as 

 the pine and melon, are brought lo a greater size, 

 and better flavor, than in their native habitation. 

 Casting our eye upon man, and the eflects of his 

 industry, we see him spreaihipon plains and the 

 sides of mountains, from tht*. frozen ocean^to the 

 equator, and yet in all situations assembling 

 around him whatever is useful or agreeable from 

 among the products of other lands." 



3rd. Chamge in soil. — A change in soil may be 

 effected either by removing a plant fioni one spot 

 of earth, to another difiering from it in fertiiitv; or 

 by the addition of manure, producing a change in 

 the character of the soil in which a jjlant grows, 

 wiiiirtiit changing the location o{' the plant. Tlic 



ett'ect of removing a plant liom a comparatively 

 barren to a more fertile soil, is to incrense the size 

 of all its parts, and olten lo convert its organs of 

 one kind into those of another. Exi)erience has 

 tauirhi us, that it is advantageous lo supply food 

 to plants artificially. Where increase in the size 

 of vegetables, without reference to their magni- 

 tude, is desired, it can almost always be accom- 

 |)lished, by atlording an increased supply of all 

 the ingredients of the food of |)laiits, distributed 

 in well pulverized soil, in such a manner that the 

 roots of the plant can easily reach it. The efl'ect 

 thus produced, can be greatly increased by addi- 

 tional heat, and moisture; and by a partial exclu- 

 sion of the direct rays of the sun, so as to mode- 

 rate the evaporation of fluids fi-om the plant. Ex- 

 perience alone can determine to what extent this 

 may profitably be carried in the case of each 

 species of' vegetable. The results which have 

 been produced in some instances are truly remark- 

 able. Loudon slates that cabbages have been 

 produced weighing half a hundred weight, appleSjU 

 pound and a half, and cabbage-roses of lour inches 

 in diameter, or more than a foot in circumference. 

 By cultivation and change of soil, the appearance 

 of many trees have been entirely altered. The 

 wild crab-apple, which is the original slock from 

 which all our vast variety of apples have spiung, 

 fias its stem anil branches thick set with thorns. 

 On removing it to a more fertile soil and more fa- 

 vorable circumstances, all these thorns have dis- 

 appeared, and their place have been supplied by 

 li'uit-bearing branches. Yet all the distinctive 

 characierisiics ol'ihe tree, the structure of its wood 

 and hark, the shape and iirrangement of its leaves, 

 the liirm ;nid aggregation of iis flowers, indeed 

 all that a botanist would consider characteristic of 

 the plant, have remained unchanged. Perhaps 

 the most remarkable changes which result from a 

 change ol" soil, are those of organs of one kind 

 into those rif" anolher. It is by such changes, that 

 all our double flovvers have been obtained. The 

 organs which are most commonly converted into 

 others, are the stamens, and next to them, the pis- 

 tils. In the hundred-leaved rose, and s(ome other 

 double roses, almost all the stamens have been 

 converted into petals; in the flowering cherry, 

 the pistils have been converted into green leaves; 

 in the double collumbine, a part of the stamens 

 have been converted into petals, another part into 

 nectaries, whilst a third part, have retained theit; 

 original form. 'J'he perfect regularity with which 

 the chanires have taken jilacc in lh<^ last mention- 

 ed flower is worthy ot" notice. Wherever one 

 stamen has been converted into a petal, a corres- 

 ponding one has always been converted into a 

 nectary; and so regularly have these changes j)ro- 

 ceeded, that by careful dissection, you may sepa- 

 rate one of" these double flowers into several sin- 

 gle ones, each perfect in itself, and destitute of 

 none of its appropriate parts. Where flowers 

 have been doubled by art, the only sure way of 

 propagating them, is by some means by which 

 the new plant should be nothing more than a con- 

 tinuation ol" ilie old one, as by slips or callings. 

 Whenever the seed is resorted lo, there is danger 

 that ihe plant will revert to its original type, and 

 the flowers appear single again. A change of co- 

 lor also, fiequently results fi-oni a change of soil. 

 Resppctini; the nature of this change, no fixed 

 laws have been as yet di.-covered. As a general 



