202 THE FORESTS OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



productions. Many plants of northern habit, such 

 as are common in the White Mountains, for example, 

 and along the northern lakes, find their southern 

 geographical limit in the mountains of this State ; 

 and quite a number of others spread from the Gulf 

 and the Mississippi Valley to the Cape Fear, and 

 even to Pamlico Sound. So that the flora of this State 

 is continental in character and range, combining the 

 botanical features of both extremes as well as of the 

 intermediate regions. 



The results of the preceding discussion of ^ the 

 climatology of the State furnish ample explanation 

 of the fact. The close connection between climate 

 and organic life, and the decisive control which meteor- 

 ological conditions 6xert over the whole character and 

 range and form of its development, render it practi- 

 cable to infer the latter from the former, at least as 

 to general outlines. 



But it happens that the botany of North Carolina 

 has received much earlier attention and a far greater 

 amount of study, and has been much more fully 

 worked out than its climatology, so that the inferen- 

 tial process has needed to be reversed, and the range 

 and character of the climate to be deduced from 

 botanical data. This is due in large part to the at- 

 tractive nature of the field to the botanical explorer, 

 which has engaged the interest and study of some of 

 the most famous botanists of both Europe and Amer- 

 ica, from the time of Bartram's tour, in 1776, and of 

 the elder Michaux, 1787, and of the younger, an 



