10 Remarks on the Climate in North America, by Mr. Tatham. [Feb. t,. 
fcended the cloud-capped Peak of ‘Teneriffe 
have even there vifited the frigid zone with 
which nature hath begirt its head: and I 
myfelf have feen the mountains of Spain 
and America, both,in a ftate of contraft 
between fummer and winter ; having their 
tops covered with fnow, while the country 
furrounding their bafe has been cloathed 
with perfect foliage and verdure. 
If we may be permitted to deduce a ge- 
neral effec: from the great example of the 
AmericanContinent, there are certain phe- 
nomena conne¢ted with the pofition of a 
country, in refpeét to the effects of frof, 
which may merit the attention and expe~ 
riments of philofophers. It is a fad, 
which thoufands as well as myfelf can wit- 
nefs, in thofe weftern countries of America 
which have an high expofure to the win- 
ter’s blaft, that the northern fides of a 
ridge or mountain arrive fooner and more 
certainly at a ftate of perfect vegetation, 
than the fouth fides of the fame hills 
which are laid open to the power of the 
fun. Iaccouwnt for this phenomenon as 
follows: I apprehend, that the fouthern 
expofure to the vehement rays of the fun 
during the infant ftages of vegetation puts 
the fap in motion at too early a period of 
the fpring, before the feafon has become 
fuficientiy fleady to afford nurture and 
protection to the vegetating plant, blof- 
tom, or leaf ; and when, in this condition, 
the firft efforts-of vegetation are checked 
by the chilling influence of cold nights, 
and fuch changeable weather as the conteft 
(as it were) between winter and {pring is 
ever wont to produce in their apparent 
ftruggles to govern the feafon, I fuppofe 
the capillary tubes and ducts which per- 
form the nourifhing offices of vegetation, 
are not only impeded and choaked up by 
the means of an irregular counter-procefs, 
but that the fap is thrown into a ftate of 
acidity or fermentation, from which it 
mutt neceffarily purify itfelf by fome na- 
tural procefs, before it becomes fit to re- 
affume its funétions in the common order 
of the univerlal fyfem. 
On the other nand, the northern expo- 
fures, which are not fo early prefented 
to the vivifying influence of the fun, re- 
main, as it were, ina torpid fiate until the 
more advanced period of the {pring ; and. 
when this powerful luminary is pereeived 
to apply his coercive properties to the 
earth which has been hitherto fo fheltered, 
he will be found alfo to have attained a 
decided altitute over the receding winter. 
Another phenomenon (an effect which 
¥ fuppofe to proceed from the alternate 
influence of a fheltered fite on the one 
cunfheltered fouthern expofure. 
hand, and the tranfit of the wind overa 
frozen region, from whence the reftrictive 
properties are difpenfed over every north- 
ern expofure, on the other hand), is to be 
perceived in the quality of the foil: that 
in the northern coves or hollows of the 
mountains being generally the richett, and 
producing the moft luxuriant vegetation, 
and largeft timber (witnefs the buck-eye o¥ 
horfe-chelnut, poplar, beech, walnut, fugar- 
tree, and many others which indicate valu- 
able lands) ; while that on the fouth fide 
is perpetually impoverifhed by the powers 
of exhalation, and the parching heat of an 
I recolleét 
an early inftance (1770 to 1772) where a 
gentleman in America began to profit by 
the obfervance of this phaenomenen. C. 
Yancey, Efq. a refpeétable farmer in the 
County of Amherft in Virginia, was re- 
markabie for the management of his 
peaches, and for the excellent brandy 
which he diftilled from them; but a cir- 
cumfiance which rendered Mr. Yancey 
more generally known and beloved by his 
neighbours, was, that, whenfoever a year 
of icarcity happened in refpeét to peaches, 
he pofleffed both a plentiful fupply, anda 
difpofition to difpenfe them in bafkets fulF 
to the ufe of thofe who applied for them : 
his advantage in this refpeét was derived 
chiefly from an orchard which he had 
planted upon the northern expofure of a 
lofty mountain in defiance of cuftom; and 
which verified the folidity of his judgment 
by a bountiful crop, when many orchards 
in the valley were nipped in the bud, and 
rendered wholely unprodu€tive. 
Inthe month of November, 1777, (being 
before the Indian war of 1776 was tho- 
roughly quieted), I happened to find a de- 
ferted cottage upon the abandoned frontier 
of the Nonocluckie(vulgarly Nolockuckie) 
fettlements, where the fummer remained {o 
late and warm as to furprife me with the 
agreeable difcovery of {ome deliciouswater- 
melons among the grafs; and the fummer © 
verdure was every where perfect, with little 
er no appearance of the approach of au-- 
tumn about the fpot. I had occafion to 
travel direétly from thence an eaftern courte 
over the mountains,upon a journeyofieveral 
hundred miles into the Atlantic territories; 
having upwards of one hundred miles to 
afcend the weftern waters of the river 
Miffifippi, and to pafs the mountains in 
this route near tothatelevated part of the 
Iron Mountain, where the Allegania, the 
Apalachian, and Blue Mountains form 
their junction into one ftupendeus mafs. 
As I afcended the fouthern branches of: 
the river Holfton into a higher bir 
re 
