40 WINTER FIELD MEETING. 



western North America. It is common from British Co- 

 lumbia to Mexico, extending east into the Rocky moun- 

 tains of Colorado, whence it has been introduced here. 



Each of these trees and shrubs, of which we have been 

 speaking, is known to be of the same species over the 

 whole area of its distribution, even in widely different 

 climates. Yet, gradually, in each and every climate, a dif- 

 ferent constitution has been developed in the particular 

 individuals of each species which are there found. This 

 has been proved by practical experiments. 



Children inherit the characteristics of their parents, 

 and even the seeds of trees carry with them and per- 

 petuate the constitutions, delicate or strong, that the 

 region, in which they were produced, developed in the 

 parent plants. 



The climate of the Pacific states is wholly unlike that 

 of New England, being, on account of the influence of 

 the "black current" of the Pacific ocean, more like that 

 of western Europe. The climate of the Colorado region, 

 in which the Douglas Spruce grows, is not essentially dif- 

 ferent from our own eastern climate. The seeds of the 

 Douglas Spruce, from this Rocky mountain region,, pro- 

 duce trees which are as hardy here in New England, as 

 the Cedars on our hillsides ; while plants raised from 

 the seeds of the same tree, growing in the milder, moister 

 climate of the Pacific states, fail entirely to adapt them- 

 selves to our New England climate, as do all the trees 

 with hardly an exception i' from the region west of the 

 Rocky mountains. 1 



The temperature of the New England states is so vari- 

 able, and the extremes of midsummer and midwinter are 

 of such wide range, that plants must make some special 



1 This has been previously presented in a paper by the writer, read at the 

 meeting ol the Mass. State Board of Agriculture, held in Southboro, Dec., 1880. 



