I. Influence of Climate, in respect to Fruits, culinary Plants, Flowers, Timber Trees, and horticultural Skill
956. The gardening of every country must vary according to the climate ; and the practice of the art in one country cannot be applied to any other, unless that other greatly resemble the former in climate. ' Useful hints,' Neill observes, ' may, no doubt, be occasionally drawn from observing the modes in other countries. But it is scarcely necessary to remark, that, in warm climates, the practice must differ very widely from that which prevails in the temperate or the cold. In the former, the plants which require to be fostered in our stoves either grow spontaneously, or are cultivated in the open fields; while the greater part of our common pot-herbs refuse to flourish in sultry regions. Again, the far northern countries of Europe, Sweden, Norway, and Russia, possess peculiarities of climate ; snow covers the soil throughout the winter, and the summers are uninterruptedly bright and warm. Even in Britain, such is the difference of climate between the favoured counties of the south-west of England, and that part of the island which lies to the north of the Cheviot Hills, that the same rules cannot be applied to both, without very considerable modification. The horticulture of the north of France, of Belgium, Holland, and Denmark, may in general be considered as approaching to that of South Britain ; and these countries may frequently afford mutual lessons to each other, each availing itself of the other's discoveries, and adopting its improvements.'
