No. 4. 



Acclimation of Plants. 



131 



Acclimation of Plants. 



In the following article, which we take from the 

 Farmer's Encyclopedia, lately published by Carey 

 & Hart, of this city, we cannot fail to notice a 

 beautiful record, and the sound deductions of a close 

 observer of nature. The constitutional adaptation of 

 plants to climates vastly different from those to which 

 they are indigenous, has been long remarked, as one 

 of the evidences of beneficence of design, in Him who 

 careth even for the sparrow.— Ed. 



A sensible and eloquent writer in the 

 American Journal of Geology, has, in a 

 paper upon the "Acclimating Principle of 

 Plants," treated the subject in a highly in- 

 teresting manner, and illustrated it by re- 

 ferring to many instances where plants have 

 actually adapted their growth and habits to 

 a great extent of country and diversity of 

 latitude. His views are calculated to be 

 particularly interesting in the meridian of 

 the United States. 



" Plants," observes the writer referred to, 

 " have directly no locomotive powers, but 

 indirectly^ they have, in a great degree, the 

 faculty of changing their places, and conse- 

 quently, their climate. The embryo germ 

 wrapped in a kernel, or seed, is virtually a 

 plant, ready to germinate when thrown upon 

 its parent earth, and affected with heat and 

 moisture. It is in a most portable shape, 

 and can be transported with ease to an un- 

 limited distance. Nature in many instances, 

 superadds to seeds, wings, down, feathers 

 and chaff, by which they become buoyant, 

 and are carried by the winds of heaven, by 

 the storms that sweep the forest, and by the 

 streams and currents of rivers, and the ocean, 

 to an immense distance, and through many 

 degrees of latitude ! They become finally 

 deposited in some genial soil, and at one re- 

 move, or through a succession, they occupy 

 extensive regions. Nature manifests her 

 great care of the embryo, by coating some 

 of her seeds with shells, which protect them 

 from the attacks of insects, and the action 

 of the elements; others have bitter, narcotic, 

 or poisonous qualities, which forbid animals 

 eating them ; and many are filled with oily, 

 or resinous matter, which resists, for ages, 

 and even centuries, the action of the ele- 

 ments, unless acted upon by the proper de- 

 gree of heat and moisture. By such quali- 

 ties they endure, and await a suitable time 

 and conveyance to their destined place, in 

 order to extend and vary their families. 



Birds also convey the seeds of plants in 

 their crops, over a wide extent, before they 

 become triturated and digested; and when 

 these winged carriers die, or decay, from 

 accident or age, the seeds are deposited, and 

 take root in some distant land. Animals 



also convey them in their stomachs to a con- 

 siderable distance, and pass them uninjured 

 by the powers of digestion. 



Man, ipore provident than all, to whom 

 plants are necessary, whose support, whose 

 comforts, and whose pleasures connect him 

 with them, carries their choice seeds, slips, 

 and scions, far and wide. His interests fos- 

 ter their growth, his attentions enrich their 

 products, and his skill and science preserve 

 their existence, and adapt them to their new 

 condition. In an improved commimity, man's 

 wants multiply; he has occasion for the more 

 varied and rich fruits ; more abundant and 

 luxurious clothing, and furniture of vege- 

 table growth; odours to regale his senses, 

 vegetable flavours to pamper his appetites, 

 and all the medicinal plants to heal his va- 

 rious diseases, and invigorate his shattered 

 constitution. He attaches himself to agri- 

 culture and horticulture: plants become his 

 companions ; he carries a creative resource 

 into those departments, and by his atten- 

 tions, forms new varieties and excellencies, 

 unknown to the wild state of vegetable ex- 

 istence. Such are the means nature has 

 provided for the propagation and extension 

 of plants ; such are the indirect locomotive 

 powers they possess. We must no longer, 

 therefore, consider vegetables such inert and 

 sluggish beings. 



Human care, and the providences of na- 

 ture, have given to many plants a great ex- 

 tent of climate and latitude, an enlarged 

 growth, and an increased and improved pro- 

 duct. Let us bring together such instances 

 as are within the knowledge of all, and 

 which ought to stimulate our cultivators to 

 greater efforts. 



The valley of the Euphrates was doubt- 

 less, the native region of all those fine and 

 delicious fruits which enrich our orchards, 

 and enter so largely into the luxury of living. 

 We thence derived all the succulent and 

 nutritious vegetables that go so far to sup- 

 port life; and even the farinaceous grains 

 appertain to the same region. The cereal 

 productions began in that same valley to be 

 the staff of life. 



Our corn, our fruit, our vegetables, our 

 roots, and oil, have all travelled with man 

 from Mesopotamia up to latitude 60°, and 

 even further, in favourable situations. The 

 cares of man have made up for the want of 

 climate, and his cultivation atoned for this 

 alienation from their native spot. The 

 Scandinavians of Europe, the Canadians of 

 North America, and the Samoides of Asia, 

 are now enjoying plants which care and 

 cultivation have naturalized in their bleak 

 climes. Melons and peaches, with many of 

 the more tender plants and fruits, once al- 



