158 
INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE ON PLANTS. 
extremely likely that the capacity of plants for withstanding cold, varies exceed- 
ingly according to the temperature of the climate in which the seeds from which 
they are raised were ripened. This hypothesis, however vague it may seem, is 
certainly a rational one, and is confirmed by analogy, as well as by the experience 
of many intelligent cultivators. It is, doubtless, generally known that plants 
growing in elevated or exposed sites are more hardy, and far more capable of 
bearing with impunity a transference to a colder country, than those which are 
luxuriating in every species of atmospheric condition most congenial to their 
habits. Nor, we imagine, are any ignorant that the longer those of the former 
class remain in such positions the more hardihood they acquire. The normal 
organization of the germ being constituted under certain circumstances, it is, by 
one of the wise laws of nature, adapted for development beneath similar circum- 
stances. 
These facts tend greatly to the establishment of the theory in question ; since, 
if individual plants thus differ, the seeds of the hardier specimens must partake of 
the character of the parent. When germinated, the young plants produced from 
them will, from that incident, have a yet more robust habitude than their proge- 
nitors originally possessed ; and, by consequence, will be fitted for more extensive 
alterations in their capacities, and the endurance of greater climatic rigours. 
Within our own knowledge, plants that were once confined to the greenhouse, 
or even to the stove, have been made to adorn the flower-garden during the 
summer months ; and, in some instances, have also, with a trifling protection, 
stood through the winter in the open air. Some may attribute this to the well- 
known fact, that scarce and valuable plants are almost invariably kept in too high 
a temperature on their first reception in this country, and from thence argue, that 
they would have , been equally hardy at that period, had their capabilities of 
sustaining cold been thoroughly and properly tested. But while we grant 
qualifiedly the truth and force of this train of reasoning, we cannot coincide 
in it to the extent it is here carried. There appears to us no doubt that such 
ability to endure the changes of our clime is due to the circumstance of many of 
the plants alluded to having been raised from seed ripened in Britain. In every 
instance, the habits have indisputably been modified, as may be seen by importing 
and exposing specimens of the same species, which would inevitably be destroyed. 
Were the correctness of this theory fully demonstrated, — and we venture to 
predict that it only needs due investigation to place it beyond dispute, — it would 
afford most valuable assistance to the cultivator in his endeavours to acclimatize 
exotic plants. We recommend all individuals of this class to institute imme- 
diately a course of experiments with this definite object in view ; and however 
gradual and protracted may be the process by which a plant is thus brought to 
accommodate itself to our flower-borders, if it should ultimately succeed an ines- 
timable advantage will be gained, and it is impossible to say to what extent the 
practice may eventually be carried. Collectors should also have this in constant 
