FLORA OF DALMATIA. 85 
kinds of Poplar. All the Fruit-trees fail immediately, or 
quickly degenerate and die; probably on the mountains they 
would thrive better. Zndigo and cotton plants, with Phormium 
tenaz, grow well if plentifully watered at first; the former, 
especially if the season is not too dry, produces ripe seeds; 
the failure of which prevents so often its culture in more nor- 
therly districts. I have planted the Indigo sometimes at 
random in the worst soil, giving it no water, and yet it has 
thriven prodigiously: a mild climate and the sea-air being 
very congenial to this shrub, it may be expected to answer 
wellin Dalmatia. "Vegetables generally succeed, and at every 
season; though the want of rain is unfavourable to their cul- 
ture; still I have remarked, with surprise, that those which have 
been watered, from the time of setting with salt water (aqua 
grossa), thrive well, this fluid preserves them from snails, but, 
at the same time, rendering them brittle. The potatoes 
are very fine, and you have vegetables all the year round 
in the open air, but not in the autumn months, for want 
of rain. Several kinds, as Sallads, may be obtained two 
or three times in the season. ‘The propagation of ornamental 
flowers would answer well, if attended to, except the bulbous- 
rooted kinds; all the species of Pelargonium survived with me 
in the open air to the present date (December, 1829.) The 
excellence of the soil and climate is truly remarkable; every 
twig carelessly stuck into the ground takes root, and plants of 
Robinia and Acacia become, in the second year, 5 feet high. 
Mulberry-trees, Olives, and Vines, appear to thrive most in 
this climate; still their culture, though protected by Govern- 
ment, is far from being flourishing. The vineyards about 
Sebenico, Almissa, Macarna, and the Islands, produce, nearly 
Without any care, strong, fiery, and noble wines, of every kind 
and colour; but the fifth part of the harvest is yearly spoiled 
for want of a proper method of storing it; this being also the 
Cause that the liquor will not keep more than one year. It 
. Would not come within the bounds or province of this paper 
to fathom the reasons why Dalmatia is not now the paradise 
it must once have been, when Dioclesian would not have 
