106 



from 22° to —2°, in every place where the tempe- 

 rature of summer is above 9° or 10°. We know 

 the minimum of heat requisite to ripen wheat, 

 barley, and oats ; we are less certain in re- 

 spect to the maximum, which these species of 

 grain, accommodating as they are, can support. 

 We are eveii ignorant of all the circumstances, 

 which favour the culture of corn between the 

 tropics at very small heights. La Victoria and 

 the neighbouring village of San Matheo yield an 

 annual produce of four thousand quintals of 

 wheat. It is sown in the month of December, 

 and the harvest is reaped on the seventieth or 

 seventy-fifth day. The grain is large, white, 

 and abounding in gluten : it's pellicle is thinner 

 and not so hard as that of the wheat of the very 

 cold table-lands of Mexico. An acre * near Victo- 

 ria generally yields from three thousand to three 

 thousand two hundred pounds weight of wheat. 

 The average produce is consequently here, as 

 at Buenos Ayres, three or four times as much 

 as that of northern countries. Nearly sixteen 

 times the quantity of the seed is reaped ; while, 

 according to Lavoisier, the surface of France 

 yields on a mean only five or six for one ; or 

 from one thousand to twelve hundred pounds 

 per acre. Notwithstanding this fecundity of 



* An arpent des eaux et for&s, or legal acre of France, of 

 which 1*95 zz f hectare. It is about 1| acre English. 



