TEN 



injure tlic iced, though ex])ol'cd in the open air to its fevered 

 influenco ; but a perennial lias to encounter frofts with its 

 buds and annual (hoots, that have fometimes h&in i'o fevere 

 with us, as to rend afunder the trunks of our indigenous 

 forell -trees, as ftatcd by Miller. 



It is fuggefted as probable, tliat wheat, our principal 

 food corn at prcfent, did not bring its feed to perfeftion 

 in this climate, until hardened to it by repeated fowings. A 

 few years ago, fome fpring-wheat from Gu/erat was, it is 

 faid, fown with barley in a fmall cultivated field : it rofe, 

 eared, and blofibmed, with a healthy appearance, but many 

 ears were, when ripe, wholly without corn, and few brought 

 more than three or four grains to perfeftioii. 



In the year 1791, fome feeds of zizaniaaquatica were, it is 

 faid, procured from Canada, and fown in a pond at Spring- 

 Grove, near Hounfiow ; they grew, and produced itrong 

 plants, which ripened their feeds ; and thofe feeds vege- 

 tated in the fucceeding fpring, but the plants they produced 

 were weak, /lender, not half fo tall as thofe of the firft genera- 

 tion, and grew in the fhalloweft water only ; but the feeds 

 of thefe plants produced others the next year fenfibly ftronger 

 than their parents of the fecond year. In this manner the 



plants proceeded, fpringing up every year from the feeds of during which this valuable root has been a fubjedt of culti- 

 the preceding one, every year becoming vifibly ftronger and vation. It is certain that this imperfedt naturalization has 

 larger, and rifmg from deeper parts of the pond, until the been the refult of the common pratlite of propagating by 

 year 1804, when feveral of the plants were, it is faid, fix the tubers, to the almoft total negleft of the feeds. It ts 

 feet in height, and the whole pond was in every part true that feeds have been occalionally fown, and new varie- 

 covered with them, as thick as wheat grows on a well- ties thus produced ; but the experiment has ftopped in the 

 managed field. firfl ftage, having been always undertaken for the mere pur- 



Here, it is thought, we have an experiment which proves pofe of producing thefe varieties, without any regard to that 

 that an annual plant, fcarcely able to endure the ungenial much more important objcti, the produdlion of a plant fuf- 

 fummer of this country, has become, in fourteen genera- ficiently hardy to bear at leaft the fu-ft frofts of winter. In 

 tions, as ftrong and as vigorous as our indigenous plants are, the fouthern parts of our ifland, it is not a defideratum of 

 and as perfeft in all its parts as in its native climate and much importance, it is faid, as the tubers are in general fully 

 fituation. formed before the plant is killed by the froft ; but in 



It is fuggefted too in the above paper, that the fettle- the northern parts it is an objeft of great confequence, tlie 

 mcnt lately made at New Holland gives a large fcope for plant being frequently killed long before the roots have at 



TEN 



It is ftated farther, that an economical objeft which de- 

 pends on this property of plants remains yet to be nuticcd. 

 Tliis, wiiich is ftill more in our power, is probably of more 

 confequence tliaii either of thofe mentioned above ; what is 

 meant is the pcrftft naturalization of the vine. It is well 

 known, that from many of tiie ordinary varieties cultivated 

 in this country, we can always infure a crop of grapes, but 

 not always a crop of ripe ones. From two or three of 

 thefe, the chance of ripening out of doors is coiifidtr.ibic ; 

 from many others, it is hopekfs. It is not improbable, that 

 by fucceffive lowings of feeds, other varieties might be pro- 

 duced, ftill more certain of ripening than thofe which fuc- 

 ceed beft witli us, viz. the miller and the fweetwater. Wc 

 fhould thus acquire pofleflion of an article of cultivation of 

 great importance, by which a ufeful aildition would be made 

 to the agricultural proceeds of land in particular fituations, 

 and by which we fhould be enabled to fabricate wines of a 

 quality fufficiently good to compete with thofe of foreign 

 growth. 



A ftill more important objeft is, it is thought, the per- 

 feft naturahzation of the potatoe, an effciS as yet but 

 very partially obtained, notwithftanding the length of time 



experiments of this kind : many plants have been brought 

 from thence which endure our climate with very little pro- 

 teftion, and fome of thefe arrive at puberty at an early pe- 

 riod : we have already three, it is faid, from the fouth 

 point of Van Diemen's ifland, where the climate cannot be 

 wholly without froft ; mimofa verticillata, encalyptus hirfuta 

 and obliqua. 



In contributing ftill further to the elucidation and accom- 

 plifhment of this new, very ufeful, and important objeft of 

 the above arts, the account which has been given by Dr. 

 Maccullock, of fome delicate plants which are cultivated 

 in the open air in the illand of Guernfev, with the hints on 

 the means of naturalizing tender exotics, inferted in the 

 firft volume of the " Memoirs of the Caledonian Horti- 

 cultural Society," may alfo be found higlily uLful and 

 interefting. 



It is certain, it is conceived, that neither the thermometric 

 ftate of a given country, nor any meteorological condition 

 which we have yet been able to obferve, is competent to 

 eitfplain the peculiar affeftion of plants for particular regions 

 of the earth. The obfervations of M. Ramond, in the 

 " Annales du Mufeum," which have been tranllated by 

 Mr. Sahfbury, fliew this, it is faid, in a ftriking point of 

 view. From thefe we fee the perfevering regularity with 

 which certain plants affeft peculiar elevations, apparently 

 unconnefted with the nature of the foil, but bearing a rela- 

 tion alone to particular ftates of the atmofphere, u hich we 

 have no means of appreciating. Similar fafts are familiar to 

 botanifts in our own country, in the very limited zones of 

 elevation affefted by our alpine plants. 

 Vol.. XXXV. 



tained maturity. In the Highlands of Scotland, in particu- 

 lar, where a froft will frequently occur early in September, 

 the crop is often prematurely deftroyed, and the ufes of this 

 vegetable are in confequence materially Hmited. It is plain, 

 that it would be neceffary to fow the feeds of fucceffive 

 generations many times before the requifite degree of hardi- 

 nefs could be expefted, and that the procefs would demand 

 both patience and time. Yet if it fhould require more of 

 thefe than we can expe£l from the ordinary cultivator, it is 

 an experiment which we may at leaft recommend to thofe 

 public bodies, which fo laudably exert themfelves in amelior- 

 ating the agriculture and horticulture of this country. The 

 difficulty of procuring feeds from feedling plants, could 

 doubtlefs, it is thought, be obviated, in fome meafure, by 

 depriving the young plant of its tubers, and thus compel- 

 ling it to dirett its energies to the other and more common 

 mode of propagation, with which nature has provided ajl 

 plants. 



The writer cannot, however, conclude the fuggeftions 

 in refpeft to this objeft or fpeculation, without noticing a 

 formidable objeftion which ftands in the way of our attempts 

 to naturalize particular plants. In every cafe where the 

 ufeful varieties have been the refult of cultivation in a warmer 

 climate from a bafe and ufelefs parent, it is to be feared, it 

 is faid, that the procefs followed in naturalization, would 

 again throw the plant back to its original ftate. This ob- 

 jeftion apphes, it is fuppofed, chiefly to thofe fruits, fuch a« 

 the peach, the apple, and the grape, which, in their prcfent 

 cultivated ftate, arc almoft entirely tlie produce of art. For 

 this reafon, it is not improbable, that all attempts to nalural- 



U u izc 



