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habituated to such circumstances. But the most 

 extraordinary effect of cultivation, and the one 

 to which we owe most of our flowers and fruits, 

 is the change it produces on the natural habits 

 of plants ; delicate exotics may be made to grow 

 in the open air in this country ; vegetables truly 

 aquatic may be made to grow in dry ground, and 

 plants may be habituated to circumstances of a 

 very different description from those to which 

 they were accustomed in a state of nature. 



Much difference of opinion, it is true, has ex- 

 isted as to the positive truth of the foregoing 

 statement, but daily experience points out the 

 important consequences of cultivation in this re- 

 spect ; and as there can be little doubt that many 

 reputedly conservatory and hot-house plants are, 

 in reality, quite able to bear the severity of our 

 climate, it becomes a question of much import- 

 ance what will, and what will not, prosper in it, 

 not only as involving a most interesting subject, 

 but as the solution of this question may greatly 

 tend to increase our agricultural wealth. And, 

 indeed, when we reflect that climate itself is 

 not stationary, but that cultivation is every day 

 considerably improving it, it is by no means uto- 

 pian to suppose we shall in time be possessed of 

 many of the choicest productions of tropical 

 countries. 



It would certainly be a matter of moment 

 nay, one of the greatest importance, to discover 

 that, although the original plant first imported to 

 a colder climate is unable to resist its severity, 



