344 



CEREALS. 



treme points, that the comparison is not of the same value. 

 Localities of the upper Missouri permit some amount of 

 cultivation to the base of the Rocky Mountains, and to 47 J 

 of latitude. On the west of these mountains it re-appears 

 in the same latitude, and in the lower valleys of the north 

 fork of the Columbia it goes to Fort Colville, near 49 of 

 latitude This is another extreme point of range, and 

 though much the larger portion of this great elevated in- 

 terior, southward to New Mexico, admits but a partial and 

 imperfect cultivation, the climatic range is interesting at 

 least. At 120 of longitude, the growth ceases for all lati- 

 tudes on this continent, but between 97 and 120, the 

 whole continent is embraced south of the points just named, 

 in its range of growth, except the Rocky Mountains and 

 the plateau north of New Mexico. 



A brief reference to the European range will show the 

 measure of contrast between the two continents in this re- 

 spect. Africa is so entirely tropical that it has little place 

 tor Indian corn, though it is cultivated to some extent near 

 the Mediterranean. 



In Europe, Spain, a small part of the south of France, 

 Italy, the valleys of Austria, Hungary and Turkey, 

 with the islands of the Mediterranean, comprise its range. 

 In almost all these districts it is also quite subordinate to 

 other staples, though imperfect cultivation may be one 

 reason of this inferiority. Over the more densely popu- 

 lated and valuable portions of Europe, it scarcely grows at 

 all; and the little grown in France, north of the mountains, 

 and in Germany, Austria and Russia, scarcely gives it 

 any importance. The single element of greater heat 

 for one month of the summer is wanting ; and so pre- 

 cise and imperative is the requirement, in this respect, that 

 no skill seems likely to acclimatize Indian corn in the more 

 important European countries just named, and in the British 

 Islands. From a table of mean temperatures for the various 

 stations named above, it appears that this cereal is suscep- 



