the whole face and state of a country are changing, the weather and seasons will also change with them. This is an event that has already taken place in the most ancient and cultivated parts of America. When our ancestors first came into New England, the seasons and weather were uniform and regular. The winter set in about the beginning of December, old style, and continued until the middle of February. During that time the weather was generally fair, and cold, and without much change. Towards the end of February the winter generally broke up. When the spring came on, it came on at once; without repeated and sudden changes from heat to cold, and from cold to heat. The summer was extremely hot and sultry, for a month or six weeks; but it was of a short duration. The autumn commenced about the beginning of September; and the harvest of all kinds was gathered by the end of that month. A very different state of things now takes place, in all that part of New England, which has been long settled. The seasons are much changed, and the weather is become more variable and uncertain. The winter is intermixed with great and sudden thaws, and is become much shorter. The changes of weather and temperature, are great and common in the spring; and at that season there is generally an unfortunate fluctuation between heat and cold, greatly unfavorable to vegetation, and the fruits of the earth. The summers are become more moderate in respect to the extreme heat of a few weeks; but they are of a much longer duration, The autumn commences, and ends, much later than formerly the harvest is not finished until the first week of November; and the severity of winter does not commonly take place, until the latter end of December. But the whole course of the weather is become more uncertain, variable and fluctuating than it was in the uncultivated state of the country. It is in these particulars, the change that has taken place in the heat of the earth, in its wetness, in the snow, winds, weather and seasons, that the change of climate in North America has principally appeared. That this change of climate is much connected with, and greatly ; accelerated by the cultivation of the country, cannot be doubted. But whether this cause is sufficient to account for all the phenomena, which have attended the change of climate in the various parts of the earth, seems to be uncertain.* * Appendix No, H. CHAPTER V. VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS.... Forest Trees, Esculent and Medicinal Vegetables. Remarks on the Magnitude, Number, Age, Evaporation, Emission of Air, Heat, and Effect of the Trees. The WHEN the Europeans first took possession of North America, it was one continued forest, the greatest upon the earth. The country was every where covered with woods, not planted by the hand of man; but derived from, and ancient as the powers of nature. great variety of plants and flowers, the immense numbers, dimensions, and kinds of trees, which spread over the hills, valleys and mountains, presented to the eye, a most magnificent and boundless prospect. This is still the case with the uncultivated parts of the country. MUCH the largest part of Vermont is yet in the state, in which nature placed it. Uncultivated by the hand of man, it presents to our view a vast tract of woods, abounding with trees, plants, and flowers, almost infinite in number, and of the most various species and kinds. It would be the employment of many years, to form a complete catalogue of them. I shall not attempt to enumerate any, but those which are the most common and useful. FOREST TREES. · THE Trees which are the most large and common are the White Pine, Pinus Strobus. 40 Black Spruce. } Pinus Canadensis. Fir. Pinus Balsamea. White Maple. Acer Negundo. Red Beech. } Fagus Sylvatica. Fraxinus Excelsior. Fraxinus Americana. White Ash. Black Ash. White Birch. Betula Alba. Red Oak. Quercus Rubra. Chesnut Oak. Quercus Prinus. White Hiccory, or Walnut, Juglans Alba. Buttonwood. Plantanus Occidentalis. White Poplar, or Aspen. Hackmatack. Populus Tremula. Salix Alba. ESCULENT. THE following are small Trees, Shrubs or Vines, valuable on account of their salubrious and pleasant Fruit. Red Plumb. Red Cherry. } } Prunus Sylvestris. Cerasus Sylvestris. Juniper. Juniperus Sabina. Hazlenut. Corylus Avellana. Black Currant. Ribes Nigrum. Wild Gooseberry. Ribes Glosularia. Whortleberry. Bilberry. Vaccinium Corymbosum. Blueberry Chokeberry, Partridgeberry. Arbutus Viridis. Pigeonberry. Cissus. Barberry. Berberis Vulgaris. |