St. Vincent’s, in January, 1793, the rest went to Jamaica, 
with the exception of five plants, destined for the Royal Gar- 
‘dens at Kew, and which arrived in England the same year. 
Of the success of the plants which were sent to Jamaica, 
I have no means of knowing ; but in St. Vincent’s, under 
the® judicious management of Dr. Anperson, then director 
of the Botanic Garden, the Bread Fruit Tree began to bear 
in the following year, 1794; and it has thence been com- 
municated to the other islands, arid to the colonies of equi- 
noctial America. Several memoits on the Bread Fruit are 
given by Dr. Anperson, in the, different volumes of the 
Transactions of the Society of Arts, and by the Rev. Lans- 
Downe Guitping, in his “ Account of the Botanic Garden of 
the island of St. Vincent.” It is to this able naturalist 
that I am indebted for a splendid set of drawings * executed 
in that island, (from which most of the accompanying figures 
have been made) as well as for specimens preserved in spi- 
rits; together with valuable information respecting the 
uses and history on the Bread Fruit. ‘ How curious and 
interesting,” says this gentleman, “ to the Botanist, is the 
migration of plants, which man in his travels exports from 
the most distant lands! The Bread Fruit is now known 
from Spanish Guiana to the kingdom of New Granada : 
thus, as Humpoxpr states the curious fact, the western 
coast of America, washed by the Pacific Ocean, receives 
from a British settlement in the West Indies, a production 
of the Friendly Islands. It is not probable that its culti- 
vation will ever sup e, valuable as it is, that of the 
Plantain, (Musa pai adisai -a) and its several varieties ; which 
on the same space of ground, furnishes perhaps more nutri- 
tive matter, at least in a shorter perio of time. 
“ The improvident negro, forgetting that for three parts 
of the year the Bread Fruit Tree is loaded with ripe, or 
lately developed fruit, considers only the greater ee 
with which he may reap the produce of his Plantain, whic 
in a few months after the setting of the sucker, repays the 
owner’s pains; and the master, equally thoughtless, seldom 
plants it, even in waste and otherwise useless spots. 
The Fruit rarely exceeds eight inches in diameter. When 
ripe, the skin assumes a yellow crust, and the viscous juice 
(so common in others of the same family) exuding in tears, _ 
runs 
neni 
* Among them is a variety or monstrosity, with the female fruit occupying 
the lower part of a male catkin. 
