206 



IIISTORy OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



sion of tlie temperate zone. In the southern 

 ))arts of Norway and Sweden, in Denmark, in 

 districts bordering on tlie Baltic sea, and in the 

 north of Germany, r3re forms the principal ohject 

 of cultivation, barley being raised in those coun- 

 tries, as with us, only for the purpose of brew- 

 ing, and the use of oats being limited chiefly to 

 the feeding of horses. In all these last men- 

 tioned places wheat is also grown ; but its con- 

 sumption is limited, and the principal part is 

 made an object of internal trade. 



The Norwegian summer, though short, is ge- 

 nial, and the sun is but a very few hours absent 

 during the shoi-t night. Barley is here gene- 

 rally 'sown and reaped within the short space of 

 sixty days, sometimes even six weeks are found 

 to suffice for fulfilling the hopes of the husband- 

 man. The Norwegian agriculturist is, however, 

 occasionally visited by seasons throughout which 

 the sun appears to lose its genial power, and ve- 

 getation is stunted, blossoms indeed appear, but 

 are unsucceeded by fruits, and the straw yields 

 nothing but empty ears. This calamity is hap- 

 pily of rare occurrence, and unless when checked 

 by a premature frost, the harvests of Norway are 

 for the most part abundant and excellent. 



In Sweden agriculture is pursued in a syste- 

 matic and scientific manner, by which means 

 the natural barrenness of the soil is in a consi- 

 derable degi'ee remedied — the province of Goth- 

 land producing barley, oats, rye, and wheat, as 

 well as pease and beans. In these climates the 

 transition of the seasons is alwaj^s abrupt. Ve- 

 getation, when it has once commenced, proceeds 

 with a rapidity unknown in these more tempe- 

 rate regions ; and the interval which elapses be- 

 tween committing the seed to the soil and gath- 

 ering the ripened harvest, is scarcely greater in 

 Sweden than is experienced in Norway. Some- 

 what farther to the south rye in a gi-eat measure 

 disappears, and wheat becomes the principal 

 grain used for human food. 



France, England, the southern part of Scot- 

 land, part of Germany and Hungary, and the 

 lands of western and middle Asia, fall within 

 this description. In most of these countries the 

 vine is also successfully cultivated, and wine 

 forming a substitute for beer, the raising of bar- 

 ley is consequently much neglected. Still far- 

 ther southward wheat is found in abundance ; 

 but maize and rice are also produced, and enter 

 largel}^ into the constituents of human food. 

 Portugal, Spain, that part of France which bor- 

 ders on the Mediterranean sea, Italy and Greece, 

 are thus circumstanced. Still farther to the 

 east, in Persia and northera India, Arabia, Nu- 

 bia, Egypt, and Barbary, wheat is indeed found; 

 but maize, rice, and millet, form the principal 

 materials for human sustenance. On the plains 

 near the Caspian sea, in the province of Georgia, 

 rice, wheat, barley, and millet, are raised abun- 



dantly, and with little culture. In the more 

 elevated parts of those districts rye is sometimes 

 cultivated ; but oats entirely disappear, the 

 mules and horses being fed on barley. 



The mode of culture followed at the present 

 day in Egypt is exceedingly simple, and calls but 

 for a small amount of labour. All that is re- 

 quired for raising barley and wheat is, wlien the 

 inundation of the Nile has subsided, to throw 

 the seed upon the mud. If this should be thought 

 too hard and stiff, the grain is lightly ploughed in, 

 and no farther care or culture is then required 

 until the ripening of the produce, which usually 

 happens from the beginning to the end of April. 

 In Nubia, and particularly above the great cata- 

 ract, the banks of the river are so high as seldom 

 to admit of the overflowing of the waters ; and 

 the Nubian cultivators are consequently obliged 

 to employ sakies, or water wheels, for the pur- 

 pose of irrigating the fields during the summer. 

 This practice prevails as far as Sumcar. The 

 principal vegetable productions of Nubia are 

 barley and dliovrra, or Indian millet. The use 

 of wheat is confined to the more wealthy inhabi- 

 tants. 



In China and Japan rice is the prevailing grain. 

 This arises more from the peculiar tastes of the 

 people than from climate, for in the Japanese 

 islands, and in a considerable part of the Chinese 

 empire, all the other grains might be advantage- 

 ously raised. The dense population in China, 

 and their restricted foreign trade, renders them 

 so entirely dependent on their agriculture, that 

 it is fostered in every way by their government. 

 Thus we learn from their annals, that one of their 

 greatest and wisest emperors was taken from Iiis 

 plough to ascend the tlirone. Another of their 

 rulers is celebrated for having discovered the art 

 of draining low lands, of collecting the water in 

 canals, and of converting it from a noxious im- 

 pediment to the useful purpose of irrigation. 

 Their emperor Ven-li, who reigned one hundred 

 and seventy-nine years before Christ, is said to 

 have incited his subjects to the more zealous cul- 

 tivation of their lands by ploughing with his 

 own hands the land surrounding his palace, which 

 example being followed by his ministers and 

 courtiers, influenced in turn those who moved in 

 a less exalted sphere. 



Of the tropical countries Asia adopts princi- 

 pally the use of rice, while maize is more used 

 by the Americans. This may arise from these 

 substances being respectively indigenous to the 

 two regions. In Africa the two grains are 

 used nearly in equal proportions. Wheat is oc- 

 casionally found within the tropics ; but its scar- 

 city and high price renders it more an object of 

 luxury than common consumpt. In the upper 

 provinces of British India, the wheat, though of 

 a smaller grain than that used in Britain, is of 

 excellent quality. Barley is also grown in the 



