No. 1 1. 



Influence of climate on the fruit fulness of plants. 



347 



Influence of Climate on the fruitfulness 

 of Plants. 



The following article, quoted from "a sensible and 

 eloquent American writer," we take from the sixth 

 Number of the Farmer's Encyclopedia. We have been 

 delighted in its perusal, and have no doubt our readers 

 will also enjoy it. There is a vein of sound philoso 

 phy running through it,— an aptness of illustration, 

 and mellowness of feeling, which characterize it, in 

 our estimation, as of more than ordinary interest. The 

 writer might have extended his speculations into the 

 animal kingdom, and have been at no loss to produce 

 numerous instances, corroborative of similar views. 



Ed. 



" The cultivated plants yield the greatest 

 products near the northernmost limit in which 

 they will grow. 



"I have been forcibly impressed with this 

 fact, from observing the productions of the 

 various plants, which are cultivated for food 

 and clothing in the United States. The fol- 

 lowing instances will go far to establish the 

 principle. 



"The cotton, which is a tropical plant, 

 yields the best staple and surest product in 

 the temperate latitudes. The southern parts 

 of the United States have taken the cotton 

 market from the East and West Indies, both 

 as regards quantity and quality. This is 

 partly owing to the prevalence of insects 

 within the tropics, but principally to the 

 forcing nature of a vertical sun. Such a 

 degree of heat developes the plant too ra- 

 pidly — runs it into wood and foliage, which 

 become injuriously luxuriant ; the conse- 

 quence is, there are but few seed pods, and 

 these covered with a thin harsh coat of wool. 

 The cotton wool, like the fur of animals, is, 

 perhaps, designed for protection ; and will 

 be thick and fine in proportion as the cli- 

 mate is warm or cool. Another reason is 

 to be found in the providence of the Deity, 

 who aims to preserve races rather than in- 

 dividuals, and multiplies the seeds and eyes 

 of plants, exactly as there is danger of their 

 being destroyed by the severity of the cli- 

 mate, or other causes. When, therefore, 

 the cares and labours of man counteract the 

 destructive tendency of the climate, and 

 guaranty their preservation, they are, of 

 course, more available and abundant. 



"The lint plants, flax, hemp, &c, are cul- 

 tivated through a great extent of latitude, 

 but their bark, in the southern climates, is 

 harsh and brittle. A warm climate forces 

 these plants so rapidly into maturity, that 

 the lint does not acquire either consistency 

 or tenacity. We must go far north in Eu- 

 rope, even to the Baltic, to find these plants 

 in perfection, and their products very mer- 

 chantable. Ireland is rather an exception 



as to latitude ; but the influence of the sun 

 is so effectually counteracted there by moist- 

 ure and exposure to the sea air, that it is 

 always cool : hence, the flax and potato 

 arrive at such perfection in that region. 



" It holds equally true in the farinaceous 

 plants. Rice is a tropical plant; yet Caro- 

 lina and Georgia grow the finest in the 

 world; heavier grained, better filled, and 

 more merchantable, than any imported into 

 Europe from the Indies. The inhabitants 

 of the East Indies derive their subsistence 

 almost exclusively from rice; they must be 

 supposed, therefore, to cultivate it with all 

 skill and care, and the best contrivances for 

 irrigation. Such is, however, the forcing 

 nature of their climate, that the plant grows 

 too rapidly, and dries away before the grain 

 be properly filled. Indian corn, or maize, if 

 not a tropical plant, was originally found 

 near the tropics; and although it now occu- 

 pies a wide range, it produces the heaviest 

 crops near the northern limit of its range. 

 In the West Indies it rises thirty feet in 

 height; but with all that gigantic size, it 

 produces only a few grains on the bottom of 

 a spongy cob, and is counted on only as 

 rough provender. In the southern part of 

 the United States, it reaches a height of 

 fifteen feet, and will produce thirty bushels 

 to the acre ; in the rich lands of Kentucky 

 and the middle States, it produces fifty or 

 sixty bushels to the acre ; but in New York 

 and New England, agricultural societies 

 have actually awarded premiums for one 

 hundred and fifty bushels to the acre, col- 

 lected from stalks only seven feet high. 

 The heats of a southern sun develope the 

 juices of this plant too quickly. They run 

 into culm and blade, to the neglect of the 

 seed, and dry away before fructification be- 

 comes complete. 



"Wheat is a more certain crop in New 

 York, the northern part of Pennsylvania, 

 and Ohio, and in the Baltic regions of Eu- 

 rope, than in the south, either of Europe or 

 America. In the north, snows accumulate, 

 and not only protect it from the winter 

 colds, but from the weevil, Hessian fly, and 

 other insects that invade it; and in the 

 spring it is not forced too rapidly into head, 

 without time to mature fully, and concoct 

 its farina. 



'A cold climate also aids the manufac- 

 turing of flour, preserving it from acidity, 

 and enables us to keep it lprig, either for a 

 good market, or to meet scarcities and emer- 

 gencies. Oats grow in almost every coun- 

 try; but it is in northern regions only, or 

 very moist or elevated tracts, that they fill 

 with farina suitable for human sustenance. 

 Rye, barley, buckwheat, millet, and other 



