106 



NEW ENGLAND FABMER. 



March 



over the inhabitants of the luxurious climates of the 

 south. "The temperature of warm climates," says 

 Chardix, an old French traveller, "enervates the 

 mind as well as the body, and dissipates that fire 

 which the imagination requires for invention. In 

 such climates men are incapable of the long studies 

 and intense application, which are necessary to the 

 production of first-rate works in the liberal and me- 

 chanic arts. Voltaire thinks that "climate has 

 some influence, government a hundred times more ; 

 religion and government combined, more still." He 

 says further — "Perhaps the Americans will at some 

 future period cross the sea, to instruct Europeans 

 in the arts." 



We go farther — believing that climate has a re- 

 markable influence both upon government and reli- 

 gion. It is certain that many of our artizans are 

 now working and teaching in the Old World ! 



"It. is in lofty mountains that liberty has chosen 

 her asylum ; it was from the North issued forth 

 the haughty conquerors of the world. In the south- 

 ern plains of Asia, on the contrary, reign despotism, 

 slavery, and all the political and moral vices, conse- 

 quent upon the loss of freedom." But these general 

 remarks are by no means universal in their appli- 

 cation ; the facts upon which they are founded are 

 just sufficient to show, that while the balance of 

 comfort and indolent ease may be on the side of 

 the inhabitants of a southern clime, the balance of 

 energy, courage, and independence is on the side 

 of the inhabitants of colder regions. It is not our 

 intention to prove that all the advantages are on 

 one side, but that the most intellectual and physi- 

 cal power, and the greatest wealth, exist with north- 

 em nations and the inhabitants of rugged climes. 



How many of the numerous inventions, which 

 liave been made by Americans in the mechanic arts, 

 are attributable to our climate ! Its extreme in- 

 stability and variety suggest contrivances both for 

 keeping ourselves warm in winter and cooler in 

 summer. The cold of our winters has given origin 

 to innumei'able patterns for stoves and furnaces for 

 warming our houses ; the intense heat of our sum- 

 mers has been the occasion of the inventions for the 

 ventilation of our rooms, of refrigerators for pre- 

 serving our food ; and a necessity thus created at 

 home, by intimating the existence of similar wants 

 abroad, has put the ice-trade into operation, and 

 giving origin to a new and profitable branch of com- 

 merce. All these are benefits arising out of what 

 we choose to call the defects of our climate. 



But let us look on the other sidi of the picture, 

 and we shall find that our New England climate is, 

 in many important respects, very delightful. What 

 other wind is so invigorating as our clear north- 

 west wind, at all seasons of the year ? Even in mid- 

 summer, whenever this wind prevails, the heat is 

 tsever oppressive. It is to this wind that we may 

 ;it:ribute the most of those energetic traits of charac- 



ter which can be traced to the influence of chmate. 

 We will admit that it is not always a comfortable 

 wind. It never invites to repose ; it is a constant 

 spur to the indolent man; it allows no lagging 

 and slumbering ; it is a never-failing stimulant to 

 action ; and as it prevails during the year a greater 

 length of time than any other wind, it may be said, 

 more than any other, to give character to our cli- 

 mate. 



It is at the present time and during the whole 

 of the spring, that the disagreeable qualities of our 

 climate are the most prevalent. Fortunately, there- 

 fore, that sort of weather which is most likely to 

 create disquiet and dissatisfaction, comes at a sea- 

 son when hope animates every heart, and enables 

 us to bear present evils with patience, by affording 

 assurance of the pleasing change v/hich is soon to 

 come. In spring the north-east is the prevailing 

 wind, which, though not so sharp as that from the 

 north-west, is the most chilly and uncomfortable 

 which the inhabitant of New England is obliged to 

 encounter. But if we look into the benefits that 

 are derived from the wind to vegetation, we shall 

 be convinced that it is one of the beneficent provi- 

 sions of the Creator, for the purpose of delaying 

 vegetation, at a time when a state of premature for- 

 wardness would expose it to injury from the frosts 

 which are liable to occur during all the months of 

 spring. The intense beams of the sun during the 

 long days of May vv'ould create an excessive and 

 injurious amount of heat, were it not tempered by 

 those chilly breezes from the ocean. In accordance 

 with the operations of this influence, we find that 

 on the coast of Massachusetts the crops are not so 

 forward as in the extreme western part of the State, 

 and not so frequently injured by late frosts. 



Our summer is attended with many days which 

 are excessively hot ; but this weather does not con- 

 tinue long enough to subdue, tending only to re- 

 lease the energy of the inhabitants, and it compares 

 favorably with the summer of any other climate. 

 It is not so equal and temperate as that of Great 

 Britain ; neither is it so uninterruptedly sultry and 

 languid as the summer of the South. 



The New England summer is a season of unri- 

 valled brilliancy, and in comparison with the same 

 season in Europe, it produces a more rapid vegeta- 

 tion. This peculiarity is evidently the cause of the 

 shorter period during which the American trees 

 continue in foliage, compared with those of Europe. 

 European trees put out their leaves on an average 

 a whole week earlier in spring, and hold them on 

 an average a week or ten days longer in the au- 

 tumn. From this circumstance, we may infer that 

 a fortnight more of time is required in Europe 

 than in America to accomplish the same amount 

 of vegetable growth. The foreign trees have ac- 

 quired a habit that does not yield to the quickening 

 influence of our climate. But this quickening in- 



