THE GRAMINEjE. 



207 



more northern districta of India ; but it, too, is 

 of a diminutive size. Tlie variety thus culti- 

 vated is the Mgg of this country. Its cheapness 

 renders it a common food for tlie native popula- 

 tion, wlio make it into cakes. 



The agriculture of the Hindoo Ryots is of a 

 very primitive description. Tlieir ploughs are 

 scarcely deserving of the name, being merely a 

 sharp pointed piece of wood, which scratches but 

 does not turn over the soil ; after the grain is 

 scattered in, a branch of a tree serves as a har- 

 row to cover it over. In seasons of drought, 

 liowever, they have recourse to irrigation. 



In America there is great diversity in the cul- 

 ture of the cerealia, corresponding to the diver- 

 sity of climate in tliat continent. In the 57° 

 and 58^' of north latitude, barley and rye are 

 brought to maturity ; on the eastern coast, the 

 same cultivation rarely succeeds higher than 50° 

 or 61°. In the United States wheat and rye 

 grow as in the more temperate regions in Europe; 

 and it is perhaps owing to faulty methods of til- 

 lage, occasioned by tlie great abundance of land 

 and the dearness of labour, that the produce bears 

 a small proportion when compared with that ob- 

 tained from cultivating the same extent of land 

 in Europe. Great improvements in this respect 

 have already been introduced ; and when popu- 

 lation shall be found, as in older settled countries, 

 pressing against the means of subsistence, there 

 is no reason why the lands should not be made 

 as productive generally as they are in the care- 

 fully cultivated districts of this country. Maize 

 is very extensively raised in the United States; 

 and in the southern parts of the Union rice is 

 also very largely cultivated. 



Canada produces wheat in sufficient abundance 

 to supply its own population, and to make large 

 occasional shipments to the mother country, 

 where this produce is received upon more advan- 

 tageous terms, as regards the duty payable on im- 

 portation, than wheat the produce of any part of 

 the continent of Europe. In proportion as the 

 lands of Canada are cleared of their timber, it is 

 to be expected that a large amount of grain will 

 be spared by that province for consumption in 

 Europe, unless the tide of emigration should con- 

 tinue to set more and more strongly towards that 

 quarter,, so as to call for a proportionately in- 

 creased quantity of grain for the sustenance of 

 the settlers. 



Humboldt, in his account of New Spain, has 

 given a very interesting view of the agriculture 

 of South America. In the lower latitudes of the 

 Mexican republic, the cereal grains of Europe, 

 comprehending under this denomination wheat, 

 barley, oats, and rye, are never cultivated at a 

 lower elevation than from 2500 to 3000 feet above 

 the level of the sea. It is well known that the 

 habitation of plants is determined in a very de- 

 cided manner by the elevation of different re- 



gions. On tills subject Do Candolle calculates, 

 that in France every 640 feet of vertical eleva- 

 tion is equivalent to a receding of one degree 

 from the equator; while Humboldt estimates 

 every rise of 396 feet to be equal to the same ad- 

 vance to the north in tropical countries. On 

 the declivity of the Cordilleras, between Vera 

 Cruz and Acapulco, wheat cultivation does not 

 in general commence at a lower level than 4000 

 feet. Sometimes, as in the immediate vicinity 

 of the city of Xalapa, wheat is sown not for the 

 sake of the grain, which indeed it there never 

 produces, but because the straw and succulent 

 leaves furnish excellent fodder for the cattle. It 

 does not appear, however, that the degree of 

 latitude and the amount of elevation are the only 

 circumstances that determine tlie fructification 

 of wheat, since in Guatemala, which is nearer to 

 the equator, and at a much lower level than 

 Xalapa, that grain comes to full perfection. 

 Humboldt offers a reason for this variance from 

 the usual rule, the exposed situation of the dis- 

 trict, and the prevalence of cool winds, which 

 serve to modify the otherwise unfavourable in- 

 fluence of the climate. I have seen, says this 

 traveller, in the province of Caraccas, the finest 

 harvests of wheat, near Victoria, at 1640 to 

 1968 feet of absolute elevation ; and it appears 

 that the wheaten fields which surround tlie 

 Quatre Villas, in the island of Cuba, have a still 

 smaller elevation. At the Isle of France wheat 

 is cultivated on a soil almost level with the ocean. 

 Circumstances altogether unconnected with 

 climate must be taken into account in determin- 

 ing the relative agiicultmal capabilities of Mex- 

 ico, where the absolute absence of rain through- 

 out a large portion of the time when the plant is 

 in. the ground, must be in a high degree detri- 

 mental to wheat husbandry, unless artificial 

 means were resorted to, as in Nubia, for supplj-- 

 ing the natural deficiency of moisture. Through- 

 out a great part of the temperate regions of New 

 Spain the farmers are compelled to adopt the 

 system of artificial irrigation. This is effected 

 by the agency of canals and reservoirs, which are 

 supplied from the rivers, and which are so con- 

 structed that the water maybe dispersed at plea- 

 sui'e over any and every part of the farms. In 

 districts where the system of artificial watering 

 is fuUy adopted, the fertility of the Mexican 

 farms is extraordinary, far beyond any thing ex- 

 perienced in the richest soils of Europe; the 

 wheat harvest being commonly thirty-five and 

 forty to one, and some considerable estates yield- 

 ing even fifty and sixty measures for one mea- 

 sure of seed. In similar localities, and witli land 

 of equal quality, but where no opportunity has 

 been provided for watering the fields, the annual 

 return does not exceed more than fifteen or 

 twenty for one. Maize is also very extensively 

 cultivated in Mexico, and from the genial na- 



