Vol. 1.— No. 41. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



32it 



THK KRAKEN. 



This sea monster, according to the Norwegian 

 accounts, was as large as one mile in circumfe- 

 rence. It was one immense polypus; had arms 

 or feelers, which it could raise as high as the mast 

 of a ship. It was dangerous for vessels to 

 pass over these fish, for they would rise, and 

 with their arms destroy the vessels ; and it would 

 be as fatal for vessels to be in their vicinity, be- 

 cause, when they sank down to trie bottom, when 

 such an event happened, the roaring of the sea, 

 and the lashing of the waves were awful, creating 

 such a whirlpool as to draw down every thing 

 with it to destruction. These accounts are detailed 

 at large, in the translations of the Norwegian 

 Hist. Soc. 



In 1808, a monster was seen on the coast of 

 Coll, which is also recorded in the preceding* of 

 the same Munchuasen work. This was like an 

 immense serpent, 70 or 80 feet in length ; another 

 thing was seen, which had a head as large as a 

 small boat, and an eye as large as a plate ! 



The great kraken described by Pontoppidan, is 

 is supposed by Dr Leiber, to have been a floating 

 island. The serpent described by McLean might 

 have been a grandfalher to those notable sarpents, 

 which have filled New England with gossip for 

 years. 



One of the great New England water snakes, 1 

 was caught, and it proved to be a horse mackerel, 

 which was about 11 feet long ! 



Dr. Mitchell was a partial believer in the kraken 

 He, however, did not believe in its immense size, 

 but that i] was a sul stance of but little animation, 

 of the polypus genus. 



(From the Monthly American Journal of Geology 



and natural Science.) 

 INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE ON THE FRUITFUL- 

 NESS OF PLANTS. 

 (Concluded from pagi 317.) 

 The sallail plants are in like manner af- 

 fected by tl e cl:mate, and ghe furthei proofs 



of cur assumption. Cabbages, lettuces, en- 

 dive, celery, spinage, plants whose leaves ' m ss and richness in the south 



will grow luxuriantly in the south, make 

 much foilage and wood, with but little pulp, 

 and that unsavory. The kernel in one seed- 

 ed fruit, seems to be the first object of na- 

 ture in southern climes : that becomes 

 strong, oily, and enlarged ; and one of the 

 peach family has so entirely neglected the 

 pulp, that it has only a husky matter around 

 the kernel, as the almond. The changea- 

 bleness of the weather in the south, in the 

 spiing season throws plants ,ff their guard ; 

 the frosts attendant on those changes, des- 

 troy the young fruit; and it is only once in 

 three years ihat the crop hits at all. The 

 desiccated or dried state of these fruits ena- 

 bles us to enjoy them through the year; but 

 in the south, iheir acidity carries them into 

 fermentation or decomposition before they 

 can be divested of their aqueous parts. The 

 climate of the south is equally against con- 

 vening them into cider, oi any other fer- 

 mented liquor, because the heat forces then 

 compressed juice so rapidly into an active 

 fermentation, that it cannot easily be check- 

 ed until it passes into vinegar. For the 

 same reason distillation goes on badly in hot 

 climates, and cannot be checked long e- 

 nongh at the proper point to give much al- 

 cohol ; and wnetlier we aim to enjoy the de- 

 licious (ieslmess of these fruits themselves, 

 sip the nectarine of their juices, refresh our- 

 selves witn their fermented beveiage, stimu- 

 late our hearts with their brandies and cordi- 

 als, or feast ihrougb the wintei upon the 

 dried or preserved stoics of their fruits, we 

 are continually baulked by the severity of 

 a southern climate, and for such enjoyment 

 must look to the north. 



The melons are always affected by too 

 great a degree of heat, even though their 

 vines flourish so much in southern latitudes. 

 Tue forcing sun hurries them on to maturi- 

 ty before they have attained much size, or! 

 acquired that rich sacchaiine and aromatic 

 flavor for winch they are so much esteemed. I 

 The cantelope melon will rot, or have its 

 sides baked by a hot sun, befoie it is fully 

 formed; and the watermelon is always 

 woody, dry, and devoid oi us peculiar sweet- 

 Vines have 



are only eaten, to protect their germs from been known to run 100 feet, and bear no 

 cold, (through a kind of instinct, J wrap them [melon, li is in Philadelphia and its neigh 



up in leaves, winch form heads, and render 

 many of their other parts tender and crisp 

 for use. These leaves, thus protected, are 

 not only tender, but more nutritious, because 

 their growth has been slow and their juices 

 well digested. In the soutii, Ja relaxing sun 

 lays open the very buds >>f such plants, gives 

 a toughness and thinness to the leaves, and 

 they are too unsubstantial for animal sup- 

 port, because of such quick and rapid devel- 

 opment. 



The delicious and pulpy fruits are, in a 

 still more striking way, illustrative of our 

 principle. The peach nectarine, plum, ap- 

 ple, cherry, currant, "gooseberry, apricot, and 

 many other such families a e not in perfec- 

 tion in the south. It is in Pennsylvania, 

 Virginia, Mai viand. Jersey, and in the north 

 of Europe, that we enjoy them, although, 

 originally, they came from place* near the 

 tropics. The peach ol the Carolinas is full 

 of larva, gum, and knots, and too stringy 

 and forced to be juicy and flavored. The 

 apple of the south is too aceib to be either 

 eaten or preserved. The plums, apricots, 

 cherries, currants, gooseberries, ke, *ill not 

 even mature until we go farther north. All 

 the trees which bear these delicious fruits 



horhood, and in similar latitudes, that the 

 markets are loaded with delicious melons 

 of all sorts, whose flavor so much refreshes 

 and delights us. It is there, near their north- 

 ern limit, ihat we cultivate them with such 

 uniform success. 



The orange, strictly a tropical plant, is 

 more juicy, large, and delicious, at St. Au- 

 gustine, (Florida,) than at Havana; and 

 fruiterers, in order to recommend an orange, 

 will say that it is fiom some pis; e out of the 

 tropics. In the V\ est Indies, the pulp of 

 the orange is spongy, badly filled with juice, 

 and has loo much of a forced flavor to be 

 pleasant. The hot house forcers of Europe, 

 or at Rome, anciently, at first produced bad 

 fruit ; too dry, too small, and without tl ivor ; 

 because they overacted. They have lately 

 found out that fact, and now the productions 

 of the hot houses of London, Paris, k.c. as- 

 tonish and delight us with the quantity and 

 excellence of the fruit. They have found 

 out that gradual and uniform heat is the de- 

 sideratum ; countti vailing the cold, rathei 

 than imparting much heat. Fruit thus pio- 

 duced, is pronounced better than any grown 

 in the natural way, however perfect the cli- 

 mate. 



The juices of the grape are best matured 

 for wine near the northern limit of their 

 growth. On the Rhine in Hungary, the 

 sides of the Alps, and in other elevated and 

 northern situations, the wine is strongest, 

 richest and most esteemed. The French 

 wines rank befoie the Spanish and Italian; 

 and in no southern country of Europe or Af- 

 rica, except Madeira, where elevation makes 

 the difference, is the wine in much repute. 

 The grapes of France are more delicious for 

 the table than those of Spain or Madeira.— 

 In the Southern part of the United States, 

 the excess of heat and moisture blights the 

 grapes to such an extent, that all attempts 

 have failed in its cultivation. The grape 

 vine, however, whether wild or cultivated, 

 grows there very luxuriantly. The vinous 

 fermentation can also be best conducted in a 

 climate comparatively cool; and all the 

 pressing, fermenting, and distillation of the 

 juice of this delicate fruit, can be safer and 

 more profitably managed in a milder region. 



The olive, and other oleaginous pants, 

 yield more fruit, of a richer flavor, and can 

 be better pressed, and the oil preserved in a 

 mild climate. In France, the tree is heal- 

 thier, and the fruit and oil better than in 

 Spain or Italy ; and the Barbary states are 

 known to import their oil from France and 

 i Italy. 



Many other plants migh be named, whose 

 habits would equally support our position.— 

 i It is presumed, however, that enough has 

 ] been cited to call the attention of philoso- 

 phy to this curious subject and enable us to 

 | give proper attention to it. in all the practi- 

 cal operations of agricultural pursuit.— 

 : Much time and expense might be saved, and 

 profits realized, if this were more generally 

 'understood. 



We have already observed, that the heat 

 of the sun in southern climes forces plants to 

 a false maturity, runs them on too rapidly to 

 fructification, and renders dry and woody the 

 culms, stalks, and leaves of the plants, 

 where these parts are used. Hence the 

 chaffiness of the leaf, tne dryness of the 

 culm, the lightness ol the grain, and the un- 

 savory spongy quality of the pulp of tlu 

 plants in those latitudes. Hence the diffi 

 culty of fermenting their juices, distilling 

 their essences, and preserving for use the 

 fruit, juice, or blades of such plants. The 

 prevalence of insects is another bar to the 

 pioduotiveness of southern plants; swarms of 

 them invade and strip the leaves, bore the 

 fruit, and lead to blight and decomposition ; 

 and just in proportion as the labors of man 

 have rendered plants succulent, and their 

 fruits and seeds sweef and pleasant, do these 

 insects multiply on them, devour their crops, 

 and defeat the objects of husbandry. 



The labor of man too is more conservative 

 in northern climates, because his arm is bet 

 ter nerved for exercise, his health and spirits 

 more buoyant; and instead of saying, 'go 

 to work.' he says, 'come and work;' treads 

 with a cheerful heart upon his own soil, and 

 assists in the cultivation, collection and pre- 

 servation of his own. It is in temperate cli 

 ma es that man can be most familiar with 

 nature ; and it is there he has the best oppor 

 tunities of observing the guarantees which 

 nature has for the preservation of her am 

 mals and plants against the devastation of 

 the elements; he sees an apparent neglect of 

 individuals, but a constant parental care of 

 races. In every thing he sees the wisdom 

 and benevolence of God. W 



