1117. The greatest refinement, in culture consists in the successful formation of artificial climates for the culture of tropical plants in cold regions. Many vegetables, natives of the torrid zone, such as the pine-apple, the palm, &c., cannot be acclimatised in temperate countries. But, by means of hothouses of different kinds, they are grown, even on the borders of the frozen zone, to the highest degree of perfection : and in Britain, some of the tropical fruits, as the pine and melon, are brought to a greater size and better flavour than in their native habitations. Casting our eyes on man, and the effects of his industry, we see him spread on the plains and sides of mountains, from the frozen ocean to the equator, and every where assembling around him whatever is useful and agreeable of his own or of other countries. The more difficulties he has to surmount, the more rapidly his moral faculties are developed ; and thus the civilisation of a people is almost always in an inverse ratio with the fertility of the soil which they inhabit. What is the reason of this ? Humboldt asks. He replies-Habit, and love of the native soil.
