a course of examinations with a view to this subject; and to adopt an extensive, liberal, and efficient system of measures for ulterior improvements to the utmost practicable extent. Considering some of the peculiar circumstances of the State, particularly with respect to its wild lands, it may be questioned whether the best time is not near at hand, or has not already arrived-indeed whether it is not already, in some respect, rapidly passing away.

CHAPTER III.

Climate.

That the climate of any country may have some influence on the productions of its soil, the pursuits of its inhabitants, and its general political economy, will not be doubted; yet, where the climate is so well known as is that of New-England, it may seem of little benefit to bestow much time upon the peculiarities of one of the component parts of a country so nearly similar throughout. There exists however, even in New-England, some considerable mistakes with regard to the climate of Maine, and this, with its relation to the subjects first suggested, will render some notice of it not wholly irrelevant in this place.

The advantages or disadvantages to which a country is subject, through the influence of its climate, are generally better understood by comparison with that of other countries; but in some degree may be known from its own positive characteristics; of which the degree and variations of temperature-fluctuations of atmospheric density and humidity-length and character of the different seasons-kinds and quantities of vegetable productions, are the chief. The relation of some of these to the means of subsistence and accumulation of wealth, and the effects of the character of the different seasons on the means of intercourse between distant parts, and on the pursuits

of the inhabitants, and their productive ability, render some observation of the climate necessary to a correct understanding of the advantages to be improved, or difficulties to be overcome, in the prosecution of many important measures of public and private utility.

The effect of the climate upon the productions of the earth will be indicated in a great measure by the degrees and means of summer temperature, and the length of the usual vegetating season. The mildness or severity of the winters however, will have an effect upon them, as it respects at least some kinds, though the temperature of the summer is much the most important. The quantity of rain may also be thought equally important; but probably this is of much less consequence than the frequency or unfrequency of its occurrence, and the proportionate quantity which usually falls at a time.

With regard to temperature, means for some knowledge of that of this State, and comparison with other States and countries, are to be found; but the quantity of rain occurring at different seasons is, as is thought, so considerably different in different parts of the State, and so few accurate observations are known to have been made or kept in this respect, that no attempt can usefully be made at this time to investigate this part of the subject.

So far as the climate affects that branch of public interest which relates to the intercourse between the different parts of the State, the transportation of commodities to the market, the improvement of the intercourse by means of roads and canals, and the navigation of rivers and lakes, the attention will naturally direct itself to the length and severity of the winters, the depth and regularity of the continuance of snow on the surface, the frequency and extent of sudden thaws, the effect of the transitions between winter and summer, &c. This subject is open to the observation of every one, and if its various phenomena, and their attendant circumstances, were accurately noted in different parts of the State, and carefully compared

for a succession of years, it might furnish data for some important political results.

The general direction and force of the winds, atmospheric pressure, and the various changes of the face of the sky, have also some bearing on the pursuits of practical science, and therefore would be entitled to some consideration; but their study is less certain, the causes and effects of their various phenomena less known; and the very limited observations, which are known to have been made of them in this State, in an accurate and scientific manner, and with a view to practical results, will necessarily exclude them from any thing more than passing notice in this place.

The staple productions which are found to succeed in the climate of Maine are Indian corn, wheat, rye, barley, oats, millet, pulse of various kinds, flax, hemp, grass, and most of the plants of northern climates. It is not known that the most, if not all, of these do not succeed as well, and in general yield as great crops, with the same cultivation, as in any other part of NewEngland. An exception perhaps may be made with respect to Indian corn, but it may be doubted whether the exception is just, or is chargeable to the climate or to accidental circumstances. The first settlement of the State began on its southern border, and by persons from more southern or milder climates, and its population and agriculture have ever since proceeded gradually north into the forest. Of course the seeds of the first plants, of the kinds usually cultivated, were brought from warmer climates, or longer seasons, and those whose habits required the whole summer to bring their fruit to maturity, would in most cases be met by the diminished temperature of autumn, before they had arrived at perfection. Still those whose seeds would ripen at all in any season would serve to propagate the species, until, in the course of successive years, the plants raised from seed grown in the country, conformed their habits to the change of climate, and were afterwards cultivated with success. As those parts of the country which

were earlier settled became populous and cultivated, and the plants first introduced into them with difficulty, became inured to the climate, other settlements were commenced farther to the north, and procuring their seed also from places farther south, had in some measure to experience the same difficulty, and wait the slow progress of natural assimilation to the climate, unless they could, as has sometimes been the case, procure their seed in the first instance directly from more northern regions. The consequence has been a popular opinion that, in some parts of the State, Indian corn, and some other plants, which require great heat and long seasons, could not be generally cultivated with success. Experience however has proved that though Indian corn, beans, and other late plants, the seeds of which were brought from more southern places, into the new settlements on the northern verge of the cultivated part of the State, would not in some instances ripen well for several years, yet by continuing to sow from the earliest ripe seed grown in the same vicinity, the species soon conformed its habits to the climate, and now succeeds as well, and produces as great crops, for ought that is known or can be judged to the contrary, as in other parts of New-England generally. The fact however may in part be owing to the effect of clearing the country generally, in lengthening the season and increasing the temperature of the summer months; and it is believed that such effects will result from this cause; but it can not yet have operated to sufficient extent in the new settlements to account wholly for the effect stated.

Besides the staple productions necessary for the sustenance of man, the climate of the State, as far north as experiments have yet been made, is favorable also to the cultivation of most of the fruits of similar latitudes which contribute to his comfort. The apple, pear, various species of plum, cherry, melons, &c. &c. are found to succeed perfectly. The peach in all its varieties has not yet been successfully raised. Some varieties have with much care been produced in some parts of

the State, and perhaps the progress of reproduction from seed gradually assimilated to the climate, may in time furnish them in plenty and with success. The same also may be the case with other fruits of the more tender kinds.

The object aimed at in these remarks is to show, that all of the most important vegetable productions of New-England, may be cultivated with success in Maine; that the impediments to the production of some of them, heretofore supposed to arise from the permanent character of the climate, may be imputed with more truth to the circumstance of their first introduction from a more southern region; and to that temporary lower state of mean temperature in summer, which is to be expected in a country just emerging from the shades of the forest, with but a very small portion of its surface exposed to the direct action of the sun's rays.

In a thickly peopled and cultivated country, much the largest portion of its surface receives the sun's direct rays, and the temperature of the earth is increased to a considerable depth. In the evening, when the temperature of the atmosphere is abated, a part of this increased heat of the earth will be given off to the air, and, unless driven off by cold winds, will preserve the temperature of the night to a higher degree than it otherwise would have been. If this description of country is extensive, this increased temperature of the night will generally continue, and thus the mean temperature of the season, stand higher than it would if the country were covered with forest. It is easy to see that the reverse must be the case in a country every where shaded by thick forests.

In a series of observations by Dr. Williams of Vermont, in the year 1789, to ascertain the difference of temperature in the earth at two places, one of which was exposed to the action of the sun, and the other shaded by trees, he found that from the 23d of May to the 16th of November, the temperature of the earth in the woods, at ten inches below the surface, was, on the average, 8 degrees below that in the open land at the same