312 
THE INFLUENCE OF THE ORIGIN OF SEEDS 
in dry, warm, and clear summers, and their stalks and leaves are 
smaller, than in rainy and cloudy summers. 
From these and many other analogous observations we can de duce a 
physiological law of the greatest importance in the cultivation of plants, 
to wit;—Every thing which favours the disproportioned growth of 
vegetables, opposes or retards their propagation, or formation of fruit; 
and vice versa, the formation of fruit is hastened and forwarded at all 
times when exterior circumstances prevent the full development and 
disproportioned growth of the stalk. 
Now to apply this law to the rearing of trees, I ought, first to 
remark that, many of the phenomena which I have mentioned, are 
equally apparent in the vegetation of forest trees, although they have 
not been so much noticed. In fact, we see the greater part of our 
forest trees bear seeds sooner, more often, and in greater quantities 
with a south exposure, and in a dry and light soil, than with a north 
exposure, and on a cold stiff soil; while under the latter circumstances 
they acquire greater dimensions. 
Many trees, the birch for example, vary with regard to the time of 
budding and formation of seed, some being forward, and others late. It 
is well ascertained that those which bud late, have the hardest, heaviest, 
and in many respects the best timber : and increase more in volume 
within a certain time, than the more forward kind. It is not yet 
proved that the same phenomena may take place relative to age, i.e., 
that there may be varieties which blossom and bear seeds, and the 
growth of which, consequently, diminishes at different ages. This 
appears very probable, since we frequently see larches, firs, birches, and 
trees which had their origin in a cold and elevated country, bear seeds 
in a low, warm, and dry country, after having scarcely reached the age 
of ten or fifteen years, and ten or fifteen feet in height; and the growth 
of which afterwards becomes sensibly slower. 
From this observation we may conclude that the trees of cold climates 
produced from seeds gathered from dry and level countries will degene¬ 
rate after many years to dwarf trees, shrubs, bushes, &c., which will 
scarcely be of any value as forest trees. Every attentive cultivator of 
forest trees will have already noticed similar examples, which will 
justify this conclusion. 
From all that precedes, I deduce for the rearing of timber trees this 
general law : it is necessary to procure, as far as possible, the seeds 
from a colder climate and stiffer soil, than the climate and soil of the 
country on which you wish to rear those trees. 
Since, some time back, in France and elsewhere, the preference is 
