UNITED STATES, 



the diversity of levels, aspects, and even of latitudes, 

 which here vary more. For instance, if Cincinnati 

 be not so forward as Gallipolis, it is because it lies a 

 little farther north, and in addition is less sheltered 

 from the winds from that quarter, and less open to 

 the south : if the valley of the Kanhaway, though at 

 a higher elevation, be still more early, it may be 

 owing to its closeness, the effect of which is to con- 

 centrate the heat, which in fact is found greater 

 there than in other places: and in our gardens we 

 have proofs of this efFectj of different aspects, since 

 our espaliers ripen the same kinds of fruit at dif- 

 ferent periods eight or ten days apart, according as 

 they have an east, west, or south exposure, and 

 likewise according as they are sheltered from the 

 winds, or affected by reverberation from other walls. 

 It is not the less true, that the law of elevations is 

 generally observed in the line described, and that 

 there is a remarkable coincidence in the time of har- 

 vest at Kaskaskias and Monticello, both in the same 

 latitude, and at an elevation which 1 conceive to be 

 Hearly the same. 



Still I am far fron) denying, that in the western 

 country, several phenomena of temperature and 

 Tegetation occur, which neither the elevation nor 

 the aspect is sufficient to explain. Among the first 

 in rank of these phenomena is one observed within 

 these few years by botanists, which every day con- 

 firms: on comparing the places in which certain 

 trees and plants grow spontaneously on the east and 

 on the west of the Alleghanies, they have discover- 

 ed, that there is a general and uniform difference 

 equivalent to 3 deg. of latitude in favour of the basin 



