654 
Climate  of  the  British  Islands 
abounding  in  organic  matter ; and  there  are  few  of  those  extensive 
bogs  under  the  height  of  1200  feet,  along  our  western  shore  but 
what  might  be  made,  if  drained,  to  grow  oats  to  the  extent  of 
eight  to  ten  quarters  per  acre,  and,  under  a rotation  of  oats,  potatoes , 
oats,  seeds,  $ c.,  amply  pay  the  expenses  incurred  by  reclaiming  them. 
Oats  will  ripen  their  seed  where  the  mean  temperature  of  two 
months  in  the  summer  rises  to  50°,  but  they  require  the  heat  of 
the  day  to  rise  to  66°. 
Leguminous  Plants,  Beans,  Peas,  $c. — The  effect  of  climate 
on  the  growth  of  the  above  plants  is  a combination  of  that  on 
wheat  and  oats,  beans,  peas,  &c.,  requiring  the  warmth  suitable 
for  wheat,  and  the  moisture  suitable  for  oats ; hence  warm 
and  moist  years  are  most  favourable  for  their  growth,  and  in 
the  warm  and  moist  year  of  1828  the  extra  crop  of  these  grains 
reduced  the  average  price  from  4 7s.  7 d.  per  quarter  in  1827 
to  36s.  8 d.  in  1829,  whilst  at  the  same  time  wheat  had  risen 
from  56s.  9 d.  to  66s.  3d.  during  the  same  time.  Beans  and 
peas  will  bear  the  late  frosts  better  than  any  of  the  other  kinds 
of  grain,  and  generally  flower  the  first  of  the  corn  crops.  They 
yet  require  a comparatively  high  temperature  to  perfect  their 
seed,  and  hence  will  not  succeed  well  where  the  average  tempera- 
ture is  too  low  for  the  cultivation  of  wheat,  neither  will  they 
grow  at  a greater  elevation,  though  as  green  food  they  may  be 
grown  in  any  place  suitable  for  artificial  grasses.  Experience 
has  determined  that  the  southern  parts  of  England  and  Ireland 
are  most  suitable  for  beans,  and  the  climate  seems  to  favour  their 
culture  at  the  level  of  the  sea  as  far  as  56°  20'  of  north  latitude, 
to  a line  from  east  to  west,  cutting  Stirling  and  Dumbarton  at 
their  northern  extremities.  They  require  a soil  to  be  strong 
loam  and  similar  to  that  for  wheat,  but  as  they  require  more 
moisture  they  succeed  better  in  the  midland  than  the  eastern 
counties.  Hence  Dorsetshire,  Hampshire,  Buckinghamshire, 
See.,  are  the  most  suitable  for  the  successful  growth  of  the  above 
plants.  I am  not  in  possession  of  a sufficiency  of  data  to  deter- 
mine the  temperature  requisite  to  perfect  the  seed  of  the  above 
plants,  but  am  convinced  by  many  experiments  they  will  not  flower 
under  a temperature  of  52J,  and  am  inclined  to  think  that  they 
require  a temperature  little  short  of  that  of  wheat  to  perfect 
their  seed. 
Of  plants  cultivated  for  their  roots,  potatoes  and  turnips  are  the 
most  important,  and  they  are  evidently  both  naturalized  in  our 
climate,  the  former  suiting  it  so  well  that  two  crops  may  some- 
times be  cultivated  in  one  year  (a  sufficient  proof  that  we  have  a 
wide  range  of  temperature  to  accommodate  the  peculiarities  of 
their  growth)  ; and  the  latter  having  their  type  growing  wild  as 
the  most  inextinguishable  of  our  weeds  in  the  wild  charlock. 
Potatoes  will  vegetate  whenever  the  temperature  of  the  ground 
