38 Influence of Climate on the Fruitfulness of Plants. 



to keep them fat, and in good condition, from hay and grass alone, 

 without grain. It is there the grasses acquire a succulence, and 

 consistency enough, not only to mature animals, but to make the 

 richest butter and cheese, that contribute so much to the tables 

 of the luxurious. The grasses which do, often, in the south, grow 

 large enough, are without richness and nutriment ; in hay, they 

 have no substance ; and when green, are too washy to fatten ani- 

 mals ; the consequence is, most animals in those latitudes browse 

 from necessity, and are poor, and without size or beauty. It is 

 the same hot sun which forces them to a rapid fructification, be- 

 fore they have had time to concoct their juices. The sugar cane 

 produces, perhaps, better where it never seeds, than in the tro- 

 pics; for the juices will never ripen so as to granulate, until 

 checked by frost or fructification. In the tropics, the cane grows 

 twenty months before the juices ripen ; and then the culm has 

 contracted a woody, fibrous quality, to such a degree as to resist 

 the pressure of the mills, and yields but little juice, and that tr 

 an increased effort. In Louisiana we succeed well with the sugai 

 culture ; because, whilst the culm is succulent and tender, a whit© 

 frost checks the growth, ripens the juices, and in five months 

 gives us a culm, tender, full of juice, easy to press, and yielding 

 much grain of sugar. When Louisiana, therefore, acquires all 

 the necessary skill, she will most probably grow this article 

 cheaper than the West Indies. 



Tobacco is a southern plant, but there it is always light and 

 chaffy ; and although often well-flavoured, it never gains that 

 strong narcotic quality, (which is its only peculiar property,) un- 

 less you grow it as far north as Virginia. In the south, the heat 

 unfolds its bud or gem too soon, forces into full expansion the leaf, 

 and drives it to seed before the narcotic quality can be properly 

 elaborated. We may assert a general rule applicable to all an- 

 nual plants, that neither the root, nor the leaf, acquires any fur- 

 ther size or substance after fructification. 



The tuberose, bulbous, and other roots, cultivated for human 

 and animal subsistence, are similarly affected by climate, and 

 manifest habits in corroboration of the above principle. The 

 Irish potatoe, although from or near the tropics, will not come to 

 perfection but in northern or cool countries, or in moist, insular 

 situations, as Ireland. It is in such climates alone, that its roots 

 acquire a farinaceous consistence, and have size, flavour, and 



