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Influence of climate on the fruit fulness of plants. Vol. VII. 



culmiferous plants, might be adduced lo il- 

 lustrate the above principle; for all their 

 habits require a more northern latitude than 

 is necc-sary to their mere growth. 



"The grasses are proverbially in perfec- 

 tion, only in northern and cool regions, al- 

 though they will grow everywhere. It is 

 in the north alone, that we raise animals 

 from meadows, and are enabled to keep them 

 fat and in good condition, from hay and grass 

 alone, without grain. It is there the grasses 

 acquire a succulence and consistency enough, 

 not only to mature animals, but to make the 

 richest butter and cheese, that contribute so 

 much to the tables of the luxurious. The 

 grasses which do often, in the south, grow 

 large enough, are without richness and nu- 

 triment ; in hay, they have no substance ; 

 and when green, are too washy to fatten 

 animals ; the consequence is, most animals 

 in those latitudes, browse from necessity, 

 and are poor, and without size or beauty. It 

 is the same hot sun which forces them to a 

 rapid fructification, before they have had 

 time to concoct their juices. The sugar- 

 cane produces, perhaps, better where it 

 never seeds, than in the tropics; for the 

 juices will never ripen so as to granulate, 

 until checked by frost or fructification. In 

 the tropics, the cane grows twenty months 

 before the juices ripen; and then the culm 

 has contracted a woody, fibrous quality, lo 

 such a degree as to resist the pressure ofi 

 the mills, and yields but little juice, and 

 that to an increased effort. In Louisiana, 

 we succeed well with the sugar culture;! 

 because, while the culm is succulent and 

 tender, a white frost checks the growth, 

 ripens the juices, and in five months gives 

 us a culm, tender, full of juice, easy to press, 

 and yielding much grain of sugar. When 

 Louisiana, therefore, acquires all the neces- 

 Bary skill, she will most probably grow this 

 article cheaper than the West Indies. 



"Tobacco is a southern plant, but there it 

 is always light and chaffy; and although 

 often well flavoured, it never gains that 

 strong narcotic quality which is its only pe- 

 culiar property, unless you grow it as far 

 north as Virginia. In the south, the heat 

 unfolds its bud or gem too soon, forces into 

 full expansion the leaf, and drives it to seed 

 before the narcotic quality can be properly 

 elaborated. We may assert a general rule 

 applicable to all annual plants, that neither 

 the root, nor the leaf, acquires any further 

 size or substance after fructification. 



"The tuberose, bulbous, and other roots, 

 cultivated for human and animal subsist- 

 ence, are similarly affected by climate, and 

 manifest habits in corroboration of the above 

 principle. The Irish potato, although from 



or near the tropics, will not come to perfec- 

 tion but in northern or cool countries, or in 

 moist, insular situations, as Ireland. It is 

 in such climates alone, that its roots acquire 

 a farinaceous consistence, and have size, fla- 

 vour, and nutriment enough to support, in 

 the eminent way in which they are suscep- 

 tible, animal life. In the south, a forcing 

 sun brings the potato to fructification before 

 the roots have had time to attain their pro- 

 per size, or ripen into the proper qualities 

 for nourishment. In Ireland the plant grows 

 slow, through a long and cool season, giving 

 time for its juices to be elaborated and 

 properly digested ; hence that fine farina 

 and flavour which characterize them. The 

 sweet potato produces larger, better fla- 

 voured, and more numerous roots in Caro- 

 lina, where it never flowers, than in the 

 West Indies. In the latter place this plant 

 runs wild, covers the whole face of the earth 

 with its vines, and is so taken up in making 

 foliage, that the root becomes neglected, and 

 is small and woody. In order to have the 

 onion in perfection, it must grow through 

 two years, swelling all the time its bulbs. 

 In the south, however, it seeds in one year, 

 and before it has made much bulb. Beets, 

 carrots, parsnips, turnips, radishes, and other 

 roots, are equally affected by a hot sun, and 

 scarcely woith cultivating far to the south. 

 They all fructify before they have formed 

 perfect roots, and make foliage at the ex- 

 pense of their bulbs; hence they will al- 

 ways be articles of commerce ; the south 

 will have to depend upon the north for 

 them. 



"The salad plants are in like manner af- 

 fected by climate, and give further proofs of 

 our assumption. Cabbages, lettuces, endive, 

 celery, spinage, plants whose leaves only are 

 eaten to protect their germs from cold, through 

 a kind of instinct, wrap them up in leaves, 

 which form heads, and render many of their 

 [other p;irts tender and crisp for use. These 

 i leaves, thus protected, are not only tender, 

 [but more nutritious, because their growth 

 | has been slow and their juices well digested. 

 t In the south, a relaxing suri lays open the 

 very buds of such plants, gives a toughness 

 and thinness to the leaves, and they are too 

 unsubstantial for animal support, because of 

 such quick and rapid development. 



"The delicious and pulpy fruits are, in a 

 still more striking way, illustrative of our 

 principle. The peach, nectarine, plum, 

 apple, cherry, currant, gooseberry, apricot, 

 and many other such families, are not in 

 perfection in the south. It is in Pennsylva- 

 nia, Virginia, Maryland, Jersey, and in the 

 north of Europe, that we enjoy them, al- 

 though, originally, they came from places 



