I 232 ] 



climates germinate here much more early in the sea- 

 son than the same species brought from cold climates. 

 The apple tree from Siberia, where the short summer 

 of three months immediately succeeds the long winter, 

 in England, usually puts forths its blossoms in the 

 first year of its transplantation, on the appearance of 

 mild weather; and is often destroyed by the late 

 frosts of the spring. 



It is not difficult to explain this principle so inti- 

 mately connected with the healthy or diseased state of 

 plants. The organization of the germ, whether in 

 seeds or buds, must be different according as more or 

 less heat or alternations of heat and cold have affected 

 it during its formation ; and the nature of its expan- 

 sion must depend wholly on this organization. In a 

 changeable climate the formations will have been inter- 

 rupted, and in different successive layers. In an equa- 

 ble temperature they will have been uniform ; and 

 the operation of . new and sudden causes will of course 

 be severely felt. 



The disposition of trees may, however, be chang- 

 ed gradually in many instances ; and the operation of 

 a new climate in this way be made supportable. The 

 myrtle, a native of the South of Europe inevitably 

 dies if exposed in the early state of its growth to the 

 frosts of our winter ; but if kept in a green-house 

 during the cold seasons for successive years, and 

 gradually exposed to low temperatures, it will, in an 

 advanced stage of growth, resist even a very severe 

 cold. And in the south and west of England the, 

 myrtle flourishes, produces blossoms and seeds, in 



