92 UK. V. MARTIUS 



stages, namely: l.the incipient stage; 3, the formation of the 

 infloresceuce ; 3, the expansion of the flower from its bud, and 

 its anthesis ; and, lastly, 4, the production of fruit and seed. On 

 the three first stages light exercises a powerfully promoting 

 influence ; on the last, this is the case only in some plants, while 

 the fruits of others are indifferent to light, or even hurt by it^ 

 Of the powerfully beneficial influence of heat and light on fruit, 

 the Mango, to me the most delicious of all, affords a striking 

 instance. The tree is densely leafy and shady. Those of its 

 large fruits which are produced on the outside of the crown of the 

 tree, being exposed to the direct solar power, possess a nobler 

 aroma than the others placed in comparative shade, and thus may 

 a great variety of nuances be discovered among the produce of 

 one and the same tree, as regards sweetness, acidity, aroma, resin, 

 .&c.* The same applies to other fruit-trees. 



A botanic garden may be considered as an observatory (specula 

 botanica) in which the different plant-houses form the principal 

 parts. We have now to consider what are the plants to be cultivated 

 in these, for the mode of cultivation is only a secondary object of 

 my present enquiry. In the first place the principal types of the 

 vegetable world ought to be found in the houses, and the more 

 judicious and complete tlie selection is in that respect, the more 

 is the intention of the institution realised. But this is a 

 matter of great difiiculty ; and hence, the richest gardens, such 

 as those at Paris, Kew, Ber'lin, and Vienna, are still far from the 

 mark. Some families of plants do not admit of being brought 

 into cultivation, or only to a very limited extent, such as 

 Xyridese, Eriocaulese, Burmanniaceae, Gilliesiaceae, Taccacese, 

 Brunoniacese, Chlaenaceae, Dipterocarpefe, Ehizoboleae, Vochy- 

 siacete, Alangiacete, Olacineae, Podostemaceae, and Lacistemacese. 

 It is not simply the actual rarity of certain plants in their native 



* My heart warms in this gloom of long continued confinement from 

 indisposition, at the distant recollection called forth by the above just 

 picture of the far-famed fruit, which I and other old Indians might very 

 properly call our Mango food, because, when in season, it is truly the daily 

 food, morning, noon, and evening, of genuine amateurs. Nothing can be 

 more correct, than what the eminent author says concerning the striking 

 influence of strong solar heat and light, on the produce of those trees. 

 While the fruits of some favourite and choice individual, most intensely 

 exposed to those influences, are exqui«itely balsamic, sweet and delicious, 

 the rest become gradually less so, participating more or less of the vulgar 

 uneducated Mango, graphically and not inappropriately assimilated in its 

 flaypur to a carrot steeped in turpentine. A Crab-mango, if I may use the 

 term, is indeed veiy kh'arab (which means bad or vile in Hindustani). — 

 Translator. 



