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At the seat of Sir William Folkes, a snake-melon grew to so large a size as to measure 8 feet 6 inches; and near Lord Glastonbury's, at Shillington, there was a mushroom, the circumference of which was 2 feet; diameter, 10 inches; depth, 3 inches; stalk, 6 round; and its length 6 inches. Another mushroom was gathered near Brigg, the weight of which was 29 ounces. Mr. Martell, of Southsea, Hants, cut a cucumber, 5 feet in length; Sir Mark Wood pulled a St. Germain pear, which measured 16 inches by 15; and weighed two pounds! Mr. Pleasance brought an apple to perfection, which weighed one pound one ounce, measuring 12 inches; and a currant has been reared in Cambridgeshire, the fruit of which was so large, that a single berry weighed 61 grains; measuring two inches and a half. A pumpkin was seen in the shop of Mr. Warne, Dean Street, Red Lion Square, which measured 7 feet 10 inches round; and another was grown in the garden of Mr. Hoare of Luscombe, which measured 9 feet 3 inches. In the garden of the poor-house, at Heligoland, was a horsebean, having 126 pods, containing 399 good beans. The Honourable F. G. Howard had a bunch of grapes, weighing 15 pounds; and at Hampton Court Palace, a vine in a grapehouse produced in one year 2,200 bunches of grapes, averaging one pound each. This wonderful produce reminds us of a tradition of St. John, recorded by Irenæus, where Christ is made to say, "The days shall come, in which there shall be vines, which shall have each 10,000 branches; and every of those branches shall have 10,000 lesser branches; and every of these 10,000 twigs; and every of these twigs 10,000 clusters of grapes; and every one of these grapes shall yield 275 gallons of wine a."

Many islands have lost years of strength and labour from not sufficiently attending to the adaptation of plant to climate,

quantity ever produced from one grain of rye. Mr. Crow discovered the plant early in the season, and many witnessed the phenomenon when growing. Anon. a Irenæus. B. v. c. 33.

soil, and phenomena. Thus, had St. Jago been planted with indigo, the fan-palm, and other exotics, it might, probably, have escaped the effects of many storms, to which it has been so fatally subjected. Previous to Lord Macartney's visit, little rain had fallen for three years; and the island, rendered almost as barren as a rock, was reduced to great privation and distress. In the midst of this devastation, palm-trees flourished in the sand; indigo plants were healthy; and the sugar maple in perfect verdure. The Asclepias gigantea was in luxuriant flower; the physic nut, the Adansonia, and the great fan-palm, also, flourished vigorously. The negligence in this particular is the less to be excused, since, poor as this island is in native productions, it has successfully adopted every plant, that has been introduced into it.

:

a

The laurel and the bay were supposed to be exempt from injury by storms. Pliny even says of the former, that it has a virtuous property against the effects of pestilence and venomous animals. Be these as they may, it is certain, that sycamores will grow by the sea-shore, where other trees have failed and it is no less certain, that camphor-trees generally outlive the most violent hurricanes. In 1773, there was a violent monsoon in the Isle of France, when Mr. Poiare, who had the care of the botanic garden, observed, that though every other tree was rooted up, a young camphor was left, not only uninjured, but apparently untouched. This tree is indigenous in China and Japan; and is found in those countries to be little affected either by winds or monsoons ©.

VEGETABLE EMIGRATIONS.

THE first patron of vegetable importation in Europe was “Neyther falling sicknesse, neyther dryll infest or hurt one in that place where a bay-tree is."-Lupton's Syxt Booke of Notable Things.

b Nat. Hist. lib. ix.

This tree is not the Sumatra camphor-tree, which is peculiar to that island and Borneo. It affords camphor in a concrete as well as oily state; and it is found in crystallised masses in the fissures and cavities of the tree.

Cosmo I. of Tuscany. The cork-tree, unknown in Italy in the time of Pliny, had previously been introduced from Barbary : but he imported a multitude of exotics from America, Africa, and the Levant; from whose collection many of the botanic gardens of European princes were afterwards enriched.

All the more valuable productions of the West Indies came originally from the East. The olive was known in the time of Moses round Mount Ararat: but now it is found in no country less distant than from three to four hundred miles. The Morea abounds in this plant. In ancient times it was dedicated to Minerva; because, producing oil of the best flavour, it was esteemed an act of wisdom to preserve it not only for domestic uses, but as a staple for exportation. In the time of Evander it was introduced into Italy". The Spaniards planted the olive in South America. They then interdicted its culture; but afterwards rescinded the regulation. They also introduced many European fruits and plants. Labat says, that a Spaniard seldom eats fruit in a wood, but he plants in return a stone or a pip.

b

The vine being planted in Chili, its seeds were abundantly propagated by birds. When the rose was first planted in Peru, it shot so luxuriantly, that it would not blossom®. Being, however, accidentally burnt to the ground, new shoots sprang up and succeeded. From Peru this exotic was transplanted to Chili, where it grows upon the hills, and flourishes without thorns f.

M. D'Ogeron planted the cocoa in the French settlement of St. Domingo, in 1656. This had increased, in 1715, to

a Jefferson introduced it into the United States.

e Brackenbridge, Voy. i. p. 263.

b Antonio de Ribera. For the progress of the vine from the time of Homer, see Gibbon, i. 85. e No author, previous to Herodotus, mentions the double rose. These, with sixty leaves, and more than common fragrance, were in the gardens of Midas, in Macedonia. But Herodotus speaks of it as a rarity. Lib. viii.

f The prickles of the rose-plant proceed from the bark; but thorns proceed from the wood, as in the hawthorn.

20,000, when they all perished. Being replanted, however, their number amounted, in 1754, to 98,946. At that time, there were also not less than six millions of banana trees.

It was

The Portuguese introduced the tobacco into Japan. The culture of this plant has lately been checked in China by royal edict, on the plea, that it is not necessary to human life. The sugar-cane was found by the Crusaders near Tripoli, where it was cultivated with great care. afterwards planted in Madeira, whence it was carried to the Brazils, where, for some time, it was used only as a medicine. The quince, the apple, and the cherry, on being taken to that country, flourished so abundantly, that entire hedges are formed of them.

The only indigenous fruits at the Cape of Good Hope are the wild plum, the chestnut, and the wild almond. All others have been introduced at different times, by different persons. The camphor tree, from the East Indies; strawberries from Holland; and vines, mulberries, and peaches from France. The last of these fruits is indigenous in Japan. From Persia it emigrated through Asia Minor to Rhodes: and in the time of Claudius it was first planted in Italy.

C

The Emperor Bauber planted the first cherry-tree ©, and

* Thunberg, vol. iii. p. 85.

b Albert, p. 270.

Bougainville introduced the Otaheitan cane from that island to the Isle of France, in his return from a voyage round the world; whence, in 1788, it was introduced to Cayenne and Martinico. Lavayse seems to suppose, that it might be cultivated in Europe, where the grounds could be irrigated in dry seasons. Of the emigration of sugar-canes, vid. Journal de Pharmacie, 387. 1816. Of its transplantation into Caraccas, vid. Humboldt, Tableaux de la Nature, i. 74. Of its introduction into the Canaries, vid. Notice sur la Culture du Sucre, &c., par Von Buch.

d

May 7, 1821, cherries were sold, by a gardener in the vicinity of London, for 42s. a pound; strawberries and raspberries at 2s. 6d. per ounce; and grapes at 18s. per pound. In 1822, cherries were sold at Sydney for ninepence a dozen. In a few years they will, perhaps, be sold for less than ninepence a

bushel.

the first sugar-cane in Caubul. The former is now particularly abundant. Peter the Great introduced the vine to Astrakhan and the Tartars the mulberry near Olavato Yerik; where it bears fruit of a white, black, and pale violet colour; and is found growing among poplars, alders, dwarf elms, and plane trees. Hence some travellers have supposed it to be indigenous. Among the Caucasus wild fruit trees are abundantly scattered among shrubs and forest trees. Indeed, some believe the Caucasus to have been the original country of all the plants and animals, which Europe and Asia have in common; since all the separate climates and soils are combined there a.

Hercules brought the orange into Spain; the Moors the pistachio, the banana, and many other tropical plants. Indigo was naturalised in the municipality of Lille, in the department of Vaucluse, by M. Icard de Bataglini. Jussieu intrusted Deslieux, in 1720, with a young coffee tree, which he planted in Martinique; and that one plant became the parent of all those now in the West Indies. Mons. Louis Dupoy, a colonist of St. Domingo, introduced seeds of the cotton plant and near Dax they came to maturity. Baudin brought New Zealand flax from Norfolk Island. Cook had previously discovered it; and it is peculiarly valuable, since it unites the useful qualities of both flax and hemp.

с

FRANCE furnished England with almost all her apples and pears, if not with vines. In the reign of Henry VII. apples

a

Harpalus, Alexander's governor of Babylon, introduced many Greek trees and shrubs into that province; all of which succeeded well, except the ivy, which would not grow. Vid. Plut. in Vit. Alex.

b Some suppose that the Spaniards introduced oranges and lemons into the new world; but Humboldt thinks they were there before. Vid. Ess. Politique sur l'Isle de Cuba, t. i. 68. c Phormium texile (tenax).

d Tacitus says, in Vit. Agricol. c. 12:-The British soil and climate were adapted to all kinds of fruit-trees, except the olive and vine. The latter was introduced in the reign of Probus.-Script. August. Hist. p. 942. The Germans had no fruit-trees in the time of Tacitus.

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