Oti the Acclimating Principle of Plants. 113 



Such plants have so much vigour, and the habit of a quick 

 and rapid grov^^th so firmly fixed on them, by a long residence in 

 the north, that when suddenly taken to the south, although the 

 season be long and ample, they continue, from habit, to grow and 

 mature quick, and obtain the name of rare-ripe ; because they 

 do not take half of the time to mature, that those of the same 

 family require, which have never been so changed. Gardeners 

 give us early corn, peas, fruit, and turnips, by getting seed from 

 places far to the north ; and cotton growers renew the vigour of 

 the plant by getting the most northern seed. This practice is 

 common in the case of most plants, and is founded on the suppO' 

 sition that plants do, and can acquire habits. 



The fact supported in the first number of the American Jour- 

 nal of Geology and Natural Science, " that plants are most pro- 

 ductive near the northern limit in which they will grow," that 

 they bear more seed or fruit, and have more vigour of constitu- 

 tion, offers much encouragement to agriculturists. This proves 

 that it is not a meagre, stinted existence, devoid of profit or pro- 

 ductiveness, that we give to plants, by pushing their culture far 

 north, but a strong and healthful growth, one that repays the la- 

 bour and attention, by a greater product than belongs to more 

 southern situations. 



Every view that we can take of this interesting subject, every 

 fact within our knowledge, whether drawn from the actual state 

 of cultivation, or from physiological investigations into the habits, 

 nature, and construction of plants, goes to show that plants do be- 

 come acclimated, both in the natural and artificial way, to a great 

 extent. Enough has been witnessed to prove that plants have a 

 physical conformation, that does accommodate itself to circum- 

 stances, and have capacities more extensive than arfe generally 

 ascribed to them : enough has been realized to encourage far- 

 ther efforts, and to give us hopes of much future benefit. 



In this enlightened age, where invention in the arts and me- 

 chanical philosophy, is changing the whole order of our social 

 economy, where new comforts and resources, unknown to our 

 fathers, are daily developed, and, as it were, created ; in this age, 

 where labour-saving machinery is redoubling the productions of 

 the arts, almost exempting man from in-door exertion, and cheap- 

 ening all the elegancies of clothing, furniture, buildings, and 

 books, until luxuries are common to rich and poor, and educa- 

 Vol. L— 15. 



