BOTANICAL GARDEN AT ST. VINCENT. J81 



I am grieved to inform you, that I have lost one of my 

 nutmeg trees ; unfortunately the other, which prospers 

 luxuriantly, turns out to be a male plant, consequently 

 worth nothing. I blame myself in some measure, for this 

 loss, by taking too much care of it, and not letting nature 

 take her own way. Unluckily the war precludes any cor- 

 respondence with Cayenne, or I would have replaced it i 

 from thence. The same cause has cut off all supplies from 

 other parts. Through the medium of a gentleman who 

 was here last year from Cuba, I expected to have had, before 

 now, some of the productions of Mexico and adjacent 

 parts of the continent, particularly myroxylon, or balsam 

 of Peru ; however, if I do not procure it through that 

 channel, I have found out another from whence I have 

 hopes. 



The Gomertur palm, which produces the material for Gomertur 

 cordage in the East Indies, is thriving here surprisingly, p * 

 and, I think, might be rendered a valuable production to 

 these islands. The mode of its producing the fibrous web, 

 and the guard or protection surrounding, clearly point out, 

 that nature intended it for the use of man ; one tree pro- 

 duces an astonishing quantity. I think the fibres from the 

 plants in this garden are stronger than the specimens I have 

 seen from the East Indies. A small piece of the web, with 

 its protector, I now transmit you. I have great reason to Only the sugar 

 think that but few plants have been raised by the planters can( ; attended 

 in the different islands, from the large quantities of seeds planter*. 

 I have dispersed amongst them. The fact is, that no 

 attention, except by a few individuals, is paid to any other 

 plant but the sugar cane, and no other is in estimation with 

 them. 



The bread-fruit, although one of the most valuable pro- Tliey even dis 

 ductions yet sent them, is neglected and despised, unless by ' lk ? the bread 

 a few persons. They say that negroes do not like it, and 

 will not eat it, if they can get any thing else ; but this is 

 not really the case, as I know, and can declare from 

 experience, that the very reverse is the fact, when once they 

 are a little accustomed to it. The fact is, that the planters 

 hate giving it a place on their estates, as they regard it as 

 an intruder on their cane land, and they dislike any other 

 - object 



