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List of plants recommended for observation by the Smithsonian Institution—Con.

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Laurus benzoin L (Benzoin odoriferum Spice bush; Benjamin bush.
Nees.)

265 Leucanthemum vulgare Lam

202 Linnæa borealis (Gronov) (Linnæus).

Persica vulgaris L. a.

Podophyllum peltatum L.

Pontederia cordata L

334

310

Halesia tetraptera Willd.

38

38

Hepatica triloba Chaix....

223

213

Houstonia cærulea Hook.

94

85

Hypericum perforatum L

513

516

Iris versicolor L..

319

298

Kalmia latifolia L..

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Pyrus communis L..

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Pyrus malus L.

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Pogonia ophioglossoides Nutt.

Rhododendron maximum L

Sambucus canadensis L....

Sambucus nigra L..

60 Sanguinaria canadensis L

58 Sarracenia purpurea L..

Smilacina bifolia Ker. (Maianthemum
canadense Gray.)

Ox-eye daisy; white weed.

Twin flower.

Red cardinal flower.

Foreign spurs.

Wild lupine.

Tulip tree; American poplar.

Small or laurel magnolia; sweet bay.
Partridge berry.

Reď mulberry.

Sweet-scented water lily.

Peach.

Mandrake; May apple.

Pickerel weed.

Adder's-tongue.

Common pear tree.
Common apple tree.
White oak.
Great laurel.

Red currant.
Common locust.
Clammy locust.

Blackberry.

Common elder.

Black elder.

Bloodroot.

Side-saddle flower.

Early saxifrage.

Two-leaved Solomon-seal.

166 Syringa vulgaris L. (Philadelphus Lilac.

coronarius Gray.)

Taraxacum dens-leonis Desf.

Dandelion.

Bass wood; American lime or linden.
American elm.

Sweet viburnum.

" This genus of the order Rosaceæ is not in Gray's Manual of Plants Indigenous to the United States.

Chapter XI.

ACCLIMATIZATION AND HEREDITY.

Scientific literature is full of illustrations of the natural and artificial acclimatization of plants and the influence of the annual variations of climate on the crops, all of which exemplify Linsser's general laws.

GRAPEVINE.

The following remarks and data relative to the changes of climate during the historical period, as given by Fritz (1889, pp. 266–269), will be valuable for further study and are referred to in another part of this work:

The northern boundary of vine culture in Europe extends from somewhat north of the mouth of the Loire, where the Marne empties into the Seine, to the junction of the Aar and the Rhine, north of the Erzgebirge, to about the fifty-second degree of latitude, descends along the Carpathians to the forty-ninth degree, extends on this parallel eastward, and near the Volga turns southward to its mouth, on the Caspian Sea. In the middle ages wine was made in the south of England, in Gloucester and Windsor; in the Netherlands; in Namur, Liege, Louvain; in northern Germany, in the Eifel range of hills in Sauerland (a division of Rhenish Prussia), on the slopes of the Ruhr Mountains, on the Weser as far as Raddesdorf, in lesser Waldeck (or Pyrmont); in Hesse as far as Fritzlar; in Thuringia, in Brandenburg, and in lower Lusatia; in Berlin, Brandenburg, Oderberg, Guben; in Prussia, at Kulm, Neuenburg, Thorn, Marienburg, even beyond Königsberg; in Kurland (Courland), and even in Seeland (Zealand) the vine has been cultivated in great quantities. Although we have very favorable accounts of many harvests in those times, even for the highest of the latitudes mentioned above, still one must not generalize too far. The sensation of taste is very variable and often peculiar. We frequently at the present time obtain a very sour beverage from countries reputed to produce good wine, and in the north we eat grapes which farther south are considered very sour. It must be taken for granted that in those times when there was no communication over long distances they were not very exacting in regard to wine, particularly as the best wines were unknown, as must have been the case in northern Germany, the Netherlands, and England. If the wine was harsh and sour, it was still wine, which in favorable years, and even in those latitudes where the crop did excellently well, could be made into a very drinkable beverage. In later times, and when better wines became known, when

the culture of the vine was carried to greater perfection in southern Germany and wine could more easily be carried into northern Germany, the cultivation of the vine must have been given up in regions where favorable years were only the exception. When the first decade of the nineteenth century proved very unfavorable to vine cultivation, a number of vineyards were suppressed even in the best situations, such as Rhenish Hesse and Rheingau, which were afterwards restored with the return of better times, namely, after 1834 and 1835. With the present facilities for communication and the competition in the wine business resulting therefrom vine culture is no longer profitable in many places where thirty years ago it was so; in many places even grain cultivation is declining, because the grain can be procured from a distance cheaper than the cost of cultivation, as is especially the case in Alpine countries. No one would conclude that this is owing to the deterioration of the climate, and with equal right one can not attribute the decline of vine culture in high latitudes, where it is now no longer profitable, to change of climate.

Herodotus describes the fertility of Assyria, notwithstanding that it seldom rains there. No one, he says, could bring himself to believe in its productiveness who was not convinced of it by seeing for himself. At present the fruitfulness of that region is very limited. But Herodotus also describes the excellent irrigation of that country in his time, and Alexander the Great is said to have found on the Scythian frontier an inscription dedicated to Semiramis (2000 B. C.): "I forced the streams to flow where I willed, and I willed only what was useful; I made the dry earth fruitful by watering it with my streams." At the present day the countries in question produce only very meager crops, with the exception of the regions on the Tigris, near Bagdad; in Mesopotamia, near Urfa; in northern Syria, near Aintab, and Messir and other places, where recently irrigation canals have again been laid and magnificent cultivation thereby revived. No change of climate has taken place; human energy alone has altered. Similar changes are seen in Palestine, in Arabia, in Sicily, and many other countries. Should the Chinese in many portions of their country neglect irrigation for even short periods they would quickly see only deserts where now garden cultivation reigns, while the climate would not change in the least. No one acquainted with the true cause would attribute to change of climate the increased productiveness of Lombardy since the restoration of its excellent system of canals and irrigation, or the great decrease of grain culture in Switzerland. Without this knowledge only perverted and false conclusions would be derived.

The diminution of forests in the extreme north of Europe, in Iceland, and in the high Alpine regions is more simply to be explained by the partial deforestation done by the hand of man, rendering the remainder sparser and less capable of resistance to wind and weather than by hypothesis of change of climatic conditions.

At the same time it will not be denied that by irrigation and drainage, by important changes in the system of cultivation, by various natural phenomena of nature, etc., many changes of a climatic character take place. These changes, however, are only local and disappear as soon as the causes which produced them are removed. Besides, there is in climatic conditions only a moderate stability,

subject to steady and in all probability periodic variations and interchanges, which are difficult to recognize in consequence of the manifold combinations of the numerous effective factors. Climatic changes, extending over long periods of time, are indicated by geological periods, which latter themselves demonstrate again only the gradual and not any sudden alterations of climate. Sudden, and even very moderate slow changes of climate cause the destruction of the vital organism.

The comparison of the climatic conditions of individual years, the differences in the yield of fruits of various kinds, as already mentioned above, the unfavorable years in central Europe at the end of the sixteenth and eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth centuries, and the very favorable seasons for grain and wine in the last quarter of the seventeenth and at the beginning of the eighteenth century and in the first third of the nineteenth century, together with the recurring failure under similar conditions of crops, particularly of wine, in 1847 and 1881, caused by the cool weather at the end of summer and beginning of autumn, in spite of the hot summer which had preceded it, etc., and furthermore the exact numerical researches based on results of observations of the meteorological elements, all show a variability of climate such as is accomplished within a century, or even within the lifetime of a man, and which can be most positively recognized from year to year, from decade to decade. To find the causes of these changes belongs to those who have devoted themselves to researches in the laws of meteorology, and particularly to discovering the methods by which to prognosticate the conditions of weather for long periods in advance.

Distribution of good and poor wine crops, by decades, since 1600.

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