prospect of ten or eleven months being added to their lives.
The climate of Georgia differs little from that already described of the Carolinas. The rice swamps, and the low country in general, are very unhealthy, and the planters are obliged, during the sickly season, to retire to the elevated parts of the state. A near approach to the tropical temperature is found in some portions of Georgia, where the cane, the olive, and sweet orange flourish luxuriantly. The climate of the southern part of Alabama, and of Mississippi, resembles that of Georgia and South Carolina in the same latitudes. In the thirty-first degree of latitude, the thermometer stands in spring water at sixty-nine degrees, which is nearly the mean temperature of the year. A series of thermometrical observations is mentioned by Mr. Flint, which gave the following result. The warmest part of the warmest day in April, gave eighty-two degrees; mean heat of July of the same year, eighty-six; coldest in January, fifty-four; coldest in February, forty-three; warmest in March, eighty-five degrees. In the same year, trees even in swamps, where the vegetation is most tardy, were in full leaf by the second of April; at which time peach blossoms were gone. Peas were in pod by the twelfth of April; when peaches were of the size of a hazel-nut, and the fig trees in full leaf. Green peas were on the table, and strawberries ripe by the second of May, and on the sixteenth of the same month, mulberries, dewberries, and whortleberries were ripe.
The climate of Louisiana bears a general resemblance to that of Florida. All the northern fruits come to perfection here, with the exception of apples. The pumpkin and melon tribe flourish, and the common garden vegetables are cultivated in abundance. Figs of different kinds might be extensively raised for exportation, but are much neglected. On the rich alluvial lands maize thrives wonderfully; but wheat and rye do not flourish. In the region of the sugar-cane, along the whole shore of the gulf, and on the lower courses of the rivers of Louisiana, the orange tree flourishes and bears a delicious fruit. In the year 1822, a severe frost destroyed these trees while in full bearing, but the roots have thrown out new trees. The cultivated grape, and various wild grapes abound. Berries are neither common nor good. Cotton grows to the height of six feet; and tobacco of the first quality is extensively raised.
In addition to the views of climate already given, we may add the following description of that of Mississippi Valley, for which we have been indebted to the industrious observation of Mr. Flint. ‘We may class four distinct climates, between the sources and the outlet of the Mississippi. The first, commencing at its sources, and terminating at Prairie du Chien, corresponds pretty accurately to the climate between Montreal and Boston; with this difference, that the amount of snow falling in the former is much less than in the latter region. The mean temperature of a year would be something higher on the Mississippi. The vegetables raised, the time of planting, and the modes of cultivating them, would, probably, be nearly the same. Vegetation will have nearly the same progress and periodical changes. The growing of gourd seed corn, which demands an increase of temperature to bring it to maturity, is not planted in this region. The Irish potatoe is raised in this climate in the utmost perfection. Wheat and cultivated grasses succeed well. The apple and the pear tree require fostering, and southern exposure, to bring fruit in perfection. The peach tree has still more the habits and the fragile delicacy of a southern stranger, and requires a sheltered declivity, with a southern exposure, to succeed at all. Five months in the year may be said to belong to the dominion of winter. For that length of time, the cattle require shelter in the severe weather, and the still waters remain frozen.
‘The next climate includes the opposite states of Missouri and Illinois, in their whole extent, or the country between forty-one and thirty-seven degrees. Cattle, though much benefited by sheltering, and often needing it, seldom receive it. It is not so favorable for cultivated grasses, as the preceding region. Gourd seed corn is the only kind extensively planted. The winter commences with January, and ends with the second week in February. The ice, in the still waters, after that time thaws. Wheat, the inhabitant of a variety of climates, is at home, as a native, in this. The persimon and the papaw are found in its whole extent. It is the favored region of the apple, the pear, and peach tree. Snows neither fall deep, nor lie long. The Irish potato succeeds to a certain extent, but not as well, as in the former climate; and this disadvantage is supplied by the sweet potato, which, though not at home in this climate, with a little care in the cultivation, flourishes. The grandeur of vegetation, and the temperature of March and April, indicate an approach towards a southern climate.
‘The next climate extends from thirty-seven to thirty-one degrees. Below thirty-five degrees, in the rich alluvial soils, the apple tree begins to fail in bringing its fruit to perfection. We have never tasted apples worth eating, raised much below New Madrid. Cotton, between this point and thirty-three degrees, is raised, in favorable positions, for home consumption; but is seldom to be depended upon for a crop. Below thirty-three degrees commences the proper climate for cotton, and it is the staple article of cultivation. Festoons of long moss hang from the trees, and darken the forests. The palmetto gives to the low alluvial grounds a grand and striking verdure. The muscadine grape, strongly designating climate, is first found here. Laurel trees become common in the forest, retaining their foliage and their verdure through the winter. Wheat is no longer seen, as an article of cultivation. The fig tree brings its fruit to full maturity.
‘Below this climate, to the gulf, is the region of the sugar-cane and the sweet orange tree. It would be, if it were cultivated, the region of the olive. Snow is no longer seen to fall, except a few flakes in the coldest storms. The streams are never frozen. Winter is only marked by nights of white frost, and days of north-west winds, which seldom last longer than three days in succession, and are followed by south winds and warm days. The trees are generally in leaf by the middle of February, and always by the first of March. Bats are hovering in the air during the night. Fireflies are seen in the middle of February. Early in March the forests are in blossom. The margins of the creeks and streams are perfumed with the meadow pink, or honeysuckle, yellow jessamine, and other fragrant flowers. During almost every night a thunder-storm occurs. Cotton and corn are planted from March to July. In these regions the summers are uniformly hot, although there are days when the mercury rises as high in New England, as in Louisiana. The heat, however, is more uniform and sustained, commences much earlier, and continues much later. From February to September thunder-storms are common, often accompanied with severe thunder, and sometimes with gales, or tornadoes, in which the trees of the forest are prostrated in every direction, and the tract of country, which is covered with the fallen trees, is called a ‘hurricane.’ The depressing influence of the summer heat results from its long continuance, and equable and unremitting tenor, rather than from the intensity of its ardor at any given time. It must however be admitted, that at all times the unclouded radiance of the vertical sun of this climate is extremely oppressive.—Such are the summers and autumns of the southern divisions of this valley.
‘The winters, in the whole extent of the country, are variable, passing rapidly from warm to cold, and the reverse. Near the Mississippi, and where there is little to vary the general direction of the winds, they ordinarily blow three or four days from the north. In the northern and middle regions, the consequence is cold weather, frost more or less severe, and perhaps storm, with snow and sleet. During these days the rivers are covered with ice. The opposite breeze alternates. There is immediately a bland and relaxing feeling in the atmosphere. It becomes warm; and the red-birds sing in these days, in January and February, as far north as Prairie du Chien. These abrupt and frequent transitions can hardly fail to have an unfavorable influence upon health. From forty to thirty-six degrees the rivers almost invariably freeze, for a longer or shorter period, through the winter. At St. Louis on the Mississippi, and at Cincinnati on the Ohio, in nearly the same parallels, between thirty-eight and thirty-nine degrees, the two rivers are sometimes capable of being crossed on the ice for eight weeks together.
‘Although the summers over all this valley must be admitted to be hot, yet the exemption of the country from mountains and impediments to the free course of the winds, and the circumstance, that the greater proportion of the country has a surface bare of forests, and, probably, other unexplained atmospheric agents, concur to create, during the sultry months, almost a constant breeze. It thence happens, that the air on these wide prairies is rendered fresh, and the
