202 THE PLANT WORLD 



pletely fulfil his duty to his own and future generations as the native of 

 our less temperate climate can do by ploughing in the cold of winter 

 and reaping in the summer's heat, as often as these seasons return ; even 

 if, after he has procured bread for his present household, he should con- 

 vert a surplus into money and lay it up for his children." 



It was through such indiscriminately bestowed praise that the English 

 were led to send expeditions into the Pacific to obtain the plant for the 

 West Indian colonists, with the resulting reward of disappointment in its 

 qualities. 



CULTURE. 



The tree grows best in hot countries having a considerable amount of 

 atmospheric moisture and reaches its highest development in the 

 tropical islands of the Pacific and in the Malay Archipelago, the original 

 home of the fruit. Hawaii is the northern limit of cultivation in the 

 Pacific, the tree growing there in abundance, but with little of the luxuri- 

 ance attained in the southern islands, while on nearly the same level of lati- 

 tude in the Presidency of Bengal in India, all efi'orts at cultivating it have 

 been defeated by the stunting of the summer growth by the frosts of 

 winter. Even in Madras, about a hundred miles farther south, the tree 

 has not become thoroughly acclimated after years of cultivation. The 

 West Indian climate is also not considered ideal for its culture, although 

 it is likely that portions of the moist northern slope of Porto Rico are 

 well adapted to the commercial growth of the breadfruit. The islands 

 of the lesser Antilles and the shores of Central and South America border- 

 ing on the Caribbean Sea seem to afford congenial localities, but it is in 

 Brazil that its highest development in the New World is attained. It is 

 not out of the range of possibility that the fruit was brought by the Portu- 

 guese to their South American dependencies before the French and 

 English supplied their West Indian colonies by importations from the 

 east, as in Brazil a longer series of uses was developed than in any other 

 part of America, and mention has already been made of its entry by 

 Pearson under the name of ' ' Brazilian bird lime. ' ' The mango was also 

 brought to Brazil some years before it reached the West Indies. The 

 cultivation of the tree in these regions, however, does not extend much 

 beyond the coast, being restricted to the warm, moist coastal plains or 

 inland places with similar climatic conditions. 



The tree grows sparsely in our own country in Florida, where the fruit 

 can scarcely be had in sufficient quantities to justify its culture for com- 

 mercial purposes, although a few cases of successful wintering in the open 

 air have been reported as far north as Manatee. 



[to be concluded.] 



