In Korth America, the same crops are raised as in corresponding latitudes in Europe. The winters in Canada and the U. S. are much more severe than those of western Europe, while the summers are quite as hot, and far more moist, and hence arise considerable variations in the practices of A. In Canada and the northern states, wheat is the staple article of export. In all the chief exporting districts, wheat and red clover are grown as alternate crops. Betwixt lat. 42° and 39°, wheat is often grown alternately with maize, after the land has been under pasture for some years. Again, betwixt lat. 39° and 35°, the climate is better suited for maize than wheat, which becomes less productive. The best pastoral regions are in south Ohio and throughout Kentucky. Below lat. 35°, maize is much less productive, and the climate becomes suitable for cotton. This plant fur nishes the staple article of production from lat. 35° to the shores of the gulf of Mexico. Rice is the most profitable crop in the southern states; but its culture is chiefly. confined to the tidal swamps, which can be flooded by fresh water. The sugar-cane is limited to the rich alluvial lands on the banks of the Mississippi as far n. as lat. 31°. Tobacco is a principal crop in Virginia and some other states. The West India islands, surrounded by the warm waters of the gulf, are free from the cold n. winds of the American con tinent. This circumstance favors the growth of the cane, which is so suceptible of injury from frosts. The rich lands of these islands produce large crops of sugar. Coffee is also grown to a considerable extent on several of the Antilles. On the Pacific coast, the cli mate is characterized by mild winters and dry summers, so that the methods of A. must conform to those of the countries bordering on the Mediterranean.
The soil of South America appears to be much more fertile than that of North America. In the southern parts, the winters are comparatively mild, when contrasted with those on the same lat. in the British possessions. The valley of the_Rio de la Plata is admirably suited for rearing sheep and cattle, which are found in immense herds in the interior. Brazil is densely wooded, showing the abundance of the rains and the capabilities of the country for the growth of the sugar-cane. In the n., where the dry seasons are of longer duration, there are immense grassy plains called savannahs, covered with herds of wild cattle. Though no cattle were found on the continent when discovered by Europeans, it has been asserted that more cattle are now running wild in South America than the whole domesticated cattle of Europe.
China possesses a climate having a great similarity to that of the U. S., east of the Rocky mountains. The winters are cold and the summers moist and hot. Rice forms the great staple crop in the warmer-regions of the s., wherever the land can be irrigated. This plant is also cultivated to a limited extent on dry lands, along with millet and maize. The density of the population in China is an indication of the advanced state of its A. The careful manner in which all the refuse of the towns and villages is husbanded and applied to the land, while weeds are not suffered to grow among the crops, is the true secret of the productive A. of the Chinese.
The condition of A. in China shows what we might expect from enlightened policy in. the promotion of that of India. The monsoons which prevail over Hindostan during summer cause a great luxuriance of vegetation while they last; but the extreme droughts that precede and follow them parch and wither up the shallower-rooted plants. Over a large part of India, irrigation is required to produce many of the crops with certainty. In the tropical latitudes, rice is the most abundant grain-yielding plant, and forms the chief food of the people. The numerous rivers of northern India supply the means of irriga tion, and the production of food then becomes a matter of comparative certainty. Where the winters are cool, wheat and barley are grown at that season, and rice, maize, millet, etc., iu summer, just as we find in the irrigated valleys of the south of Spain. At the present time, the principal drawbacks to the better cultivation of land are the deficiency in the means of transporting the produce, and the tenure by which the land is held. The immense quantities of cotton and flax which are grown and literally lost for want of a market, is a subject that is beginning to attract attention, since our manufacturers are suffering from the scarcity of raw material.
It would be out of place to give an outline of the A. of the other intertropical countries of the world, which have contributed so little to the common civilizatidn of mankind. Where rains are abundant, the ease with which a subsistence can be got from large herba ceous plants, and trees yielding fruit at all seasons of the year, has been justly regarded as inimical to the progress of society. The productiveness of the banana and the bread-fruit tree, considering the small amount of cultivation they require, is calculated to strike natives of colder climates with astonishment. Capt. Cook eloquently remarks: " Who ever has planted the bread-fruit trees, has fulfilled his duty to his own and succeeding generations as completely and amply as an inhabitant of our rude clime who, throughout his whole life, has'_plowed -daring the rigor 'of. winter, reaped beat of summer, and not only provided his present household with bread, but painfully saved some money for his children." In the southern hemisphere, the extent of sea greatly predominates over the land. The vapors which are raised over so vast an expanse of water flow towards the equator, and are chiefly deposited there in copious rains. They are not diverted by the peninsulas of South America, south Africa, or Australia, as they are by the continents of America and Asia. Comparatively sterile regions are the result. Australia and the cape of Good Hope are sparingly supplied with rains, so that their soil is not very productive of grain. Cultivation languishes, and the agriculturist devotes his attention to the rearing of cattle and sheep. New Zealand, however, possesses a climate having considerable resemblance to that of England, and as favorable for the production of grass and grain.
Under the heads of cultivated plants, dairy, domestic animals, drainage, irrigation, implements, manures, soil, rotation of crops, lease, etc., will be mare particularly treated the systems and rationale of farm management pursued in the British islands.