in the Temperature of Winter. 41 



shall we reconcile this account with the representation of 

 the climate by Lord Delaware and Sir Thomas Gates, a 

 i^w years after Virginia was first planted, A. D. 1611 or 

 12 ? In that account it is expressly stated, that " the soil is 

 •favorable for the cultivation of vines, sugar-canes, oran- 

 ges, lemons, almonds and rice — the winters are so mild 

 that the cattle can get their food abroad, and swine can 

 be flitted on wild fruits.... /S^i? Purchas, vol. v. 1758.* 

 Belknap'' s Biography, vol. ii. 39. 



If this description of the climate is just, the seasons in 

 Virginia were then just what they are now. In ordina- 

 ry winters, cattle and swine will get their living in the 

 woods ; but in severe winters, they are liable to perish. 



Perhaps Mr. Jefferson's observations refer to the inte- 

 rior and mountainous parts of the State, where by the 

 clearing of the lands, the winters may have become less 

 steady, and the snows less durable ; but this is no proof 

 of a general diminution of cold in the winter ; it proves 

 only more variable weather. The description given by 

 the first settlers about 190 years ago, is decisive evi- 

 dence that the general temperature of the climate was 

 then the same as it is now ; and that in its rude state, 

 Virginia produced the delicate tropical fruits, as far 

 north as they can be cultivated at this day. Had there 

 been a general increase of heat in our climate, the culti- 

 vation of the fig and the olive would have advanced 

 northward to Pennsylvania or New-England; but in- 

 stead of this, not a plant has advanced a single league 

 since the first settlement of the country. 



To the testimony of Lord Delaware and Sir Thomas 

 Gates, may be added that of Beverly, who in his history 

 of Virginia, written at the beginning of the last century, 

 says, " The rivers and creeks were, in many places, cov- 

 ered with fowl during the winter" — which precludes the 

 fact that they were covered v/ith ice,...j&. 134. " That 

 elks, buffaloes, deer and other game," were hunted by 

 the natives " in winter, when the leaves were fallen and 

 so dry, they would burn /" the Indians driving them into 

 a crowd, by circular fires..../?. 136. In page 252, he al- 

 ludes to the practice of letting cattle feed in the woods 

 in winter, and charges his countrymen with ill husband- 

 ry, in not providing sufficiently for them all winter. In 



G 



