1832.] 
CHINA. 
365 
fifteen hundred to two thousand years have been passed in this 
process of acclimation. 
Why should we undergo this long process, when a few thou- 
sand dollars may introduce them among us ? 
It is well known, that among other plants, the sugarcane may 
be gradually introduced into a climate which was at one time in- 
congenial to it. The Otaheite has been introduced into Louisiana. 
What a gain it would be to our country if a variety could be 
procured which could be raised one degree farther north than 
the Otaheite ! The advantages from this single plant alone would 
a thousand times compensate for all the expenses of such an ex- 
periment. For the introduction into this country of the various 
fruits and vegetables which such a country as China must pro- 
duce, might be attended with advantages almost incalculable. 
We have already received from China one animal, the benefits , 
of which to our country surpass a thousand times the expenses 
which might accrue in setting on foot the proper inquiry in rela- 
tion to this matter. The Chinese hog is the animal to which we 
allude. A long series of years devoted to the selection of animals 
having a propensity to fatten, could alone have produced the breed,, 
which has added so much to the wealth of our farmers, and to 
the pleasure of our epicures who admire a nice ham. What 
would our gardeners think of the immense piles of headed lettuce,, 
described by travellers in China as heaped up at the gates of the 
cities, preparatory to entering and being distributed among the 
morning markets ? We have nothing of the kind in the United 
States or Europe. We cannot have, unless by hundreds of years 
of persevering industry and care. 
These things are more particularly of importance, because they 
are those in which the great mass of the community are directly 
and principally interested. They add to the comfort of the poorest 
as much as they do to that of the richest. All are benefited, and 
none could complain of any expenditure which all acknowledge 
is for the benefit of all classes, and all sections. If there be any 
section that may be more benefited than another, it is from lati- 
tude 32° south. 
The introduction of one single vegetable, the turnip, into Eng- 
land, changed the whole face of a large district of country, and 
