CLIMATE AND ITS RELATION TO LIFE. 



319 



whose interests lay in the direction of a conceal- 

 ment of the truth. Who supposed that one could 

 start a plow almost as early there as at St. Paul ? 

 The conditions were unknown, and being unknown, 

 all prognostications failed. 



It is only recently that Europe has conceded that 

 American wheat is more nutritive than European. 

 It is harder, and has more gluten in it. Why ? Is 

 it because of the soil ? French experimenters have 

 sought without success to supply the missing quality 

 by adding chemical elements to the soil in which it 

 is grown. They will always fail, for the reason that 

 this quality comes not from braying in a chemist's 

 mortar, but from the alchemy of Nature that trans- 

 mutes the wind and the storm and the sunshine and 

 the very frosts themselves into a golden product. 

 The trend even in America of the soft wheat to the 

 hard, is from the southeast to the northwest, in the 

 face, as it were, of the blizzard. It pays to study 

 climate. 



What is the secret involved in the change of seed ? 

 It is conceded that a greater yield results from a 

 judicious change. That depends, however, largely 

 upon the kind and quality substituted, and more 

 especially upon the locality whence it came. The 

 Norway oat raised the oat crop in the United States 

 ten bushels to the acre. The best melon seeds for 

 the northern garden are said to come from the 

 south. Illustrations are so numerous in fruit and 

 flower, in forage plant and in cereals, in fiber and 

 in tuber, of the salutary effect of judicious change, 

 that it is useless further to specify. What is that 

 impulse that strews in its pathway a higher produc- 

 tion ? Does the unfolded germ bring with it a seg- 

 ment of the climate in which it grows at its best es- 

 tate ? If so, when does this impulse exhaust itself ? 

 What is the cause of seed "running out?" Does 

 it ever run out under proper cultivation ? It is said 

 that "the wheat of Egypt is the same as it was a 

 thousand years ago, and just as prolific. Is that so 

 because it is on " its native heath " and has a char- 

 acter formed — a constitution founded upon a thous- 

 and years of adaptation to the climate of Egypt ? 

 And is the reason why our seed runs out that it is 

 an immigrant as well as the man who brought it ? 

 Why was it that the Norway oat so soon lost its 

 power for increased production? Was if because 

 the climate was less conducive to bountiful yield 

 than its native one ? How far is this true of all 

 new varieties brought into different climatic condi- 

 tions ? To what extent is the Russian apple a suc- 

 cess ? How long will the Jersey cow remain a 

 Jersey cow in the United States ? Are imported 

 qualities staying qualities? It is a grave question 



whether, in the long run, there is asything to be 

 gained now by importing new varieties of grain and 

 fruit. It is thought by many that the best perma- 

 nent results will come by improving the present 

 stock, by cultivating new varieties from the indige- 

 nous fruits and grains, and from the imported that 

 have been with us so long as to be acclimatized. 

 There is generally a weak point in foreign plants 

 which has to be eliminated by culture here. The 

 plants are apt to degenerate if at first successful, or 

 to take on some disability not anticipated. 



However these questions are answered, there is 

 no doubt that our climate modifies man and beast, 

 foliage and grain, and that the best results come 

 from a proper consideration of like conditions, or 

 better conditions. The potato is a better product 

 on Lake Superior than in the Andes, its native 

 home; but while through all its journeyings since 

 it was d'^scovered it has preserved its predilection 

 for a cool, temperate climate, it has its choice of 

 climates. Migration has improved the stock. On 

 the other hand, Indian corn does not take kindly to 

 Europe, though the thermal latitude in some parts 

 would justify its culture there. It will grow there, 

 it is true, and grow well, but not with such produc- 

 tiveness as in its native home, America. It has a 

 choice of condition that cannot be decided by the 

 range of the thermometer. Not heat alone, nor 

 rainfall, nor sun exposure, nor altitude or latitude, 

 nor any single element, but rather all combined in 

 proper ratio, can safely determine where to plant, 

 when to plant and what to plant. 



In the near future, it is inevitable that the scope 

 of the work of the Department of Agriculture, in re- 

 spect especially t© climatology, will be greatly en- 

 larged. Climatology, in fact, is only one branch of 

 the all-comprehensive science, which passing events 

 indicate is to spring fsom the co-ordination of many 

 kindred branches, now studied piecemeal in the De- 

 partment of Agriculture, and which will have for its 

 purpose the better knowledge of our country's bio- 

 logical possibilities. Not long since, a beginning — 

 a preliminary test — was made by Dr. Merriam, chief 

 of the Division of Mammalogy aud Ornithology, 

 under instructions from the honorable Secretary. 

 This gentleman was sent to the San Francisco 

 mountains, in Arizona, the highest detached group 

 within our borders, and the one for this reason which 

 furnished the best opportunity for the comprehen- 

 sive study of the effect of climate upon animal and 

 vegetable life. Surrounding the apex of the parent 

 peak — an extinct volcano — he found a region, the 

 fauna and flora of which were similar to those of 



