THE WHEAT CTJLTUEIST. 



13 



erallj deteriorate ; those brought from the South are 

 generally improved by the transfer. In the process of 

 vegetable acclimation, nature indicates that plants 

 should emigrate toward the fields and gardens of 

 northern cultivation, rather than that northern cultiva- 

 tors should emigrate toward south-born plants. The 

 process, indeed, is slow, but it is sure. Tropical plants, 

 which once could hardly exist beyond a vertical sun, 

 have, by acclimation, been transferred to temperate lati- 

 tudes, and made to yield larger and better fruits than 

 they ever were capable of yielding in their native 

 soils. 



"In general it is true that all cidtiv ate d plants yield 

 the greatest products^ and these of an hnjpTOved quality^ 

 near the narthernnfiost limit in ivhich they vjill ripen. 

 This is true of all the farinaceous plants, such as rice, 

 maize, wheat, rye, oats, barley, and millet ; of all tuber- 

 ous and bulbous roots, as potatoes, carrots, beets, turnips, 

 parsnips, and radishes ; of all lint plants, as cotton, hemp, 

 and flax ; of the salad family, as cabbage, lettuce, endive, 

 and spinach ; of all the grasses, from timothy and red- 

 top to lucern and the clovers, red and white ; of all the 

 gourd family, from pumpkins and squashes to cucumbers, 

 gherkins, and musk and water melons ; of all delicious 

 and pulpy fruits — as apples, pears, peaches, nectarines, 

 grapes, plums, cherries, currents, gooseberries, and straw- 

 berries. It is also equally true of sugar cane, sorgo, and 

 tobacco. Each and all of these most important products 

 of the earth are improved by northern acclimation, and 

 when brought as far into the high latitudes as they can 

 be made to grow and mature, are found to produce in 

 the greatest perfection and of a more excellent quality. 

 TJio reason is this : the hot sun of a southern sky forces 



