282 ESSAYS AND OBSERVATIONS 



" am, et fteriles Arabiae defertae Campos 

 " urentibus, ventis ; ingens nitrofi pulve- 

 " ris fublata vis, abunde cacumina pal- 

 " marum vegetat. — Meminique fie onu- 

 " ftum fuifle datflylis fliis unicum race- 

 " mum, tit eum attoUere a terra prae 

 *' pondere vix fuftinerem*." And Alpi- 

 nus himfelf is obliged to own, that the 

 fruitfulnefs of the palm-trees in the delerts 

 of Arabia, is not owing to any artificial 

 culture, but to the winds carrying the 

 duft and flowers of the male to the fe- 

 male f. Is it probable, that nature has 

 left the fertilifing of fo ufeful a tree to 

 the uncertain'motions of the air? 



Besides, that great and curious bo- 

 tanift Tournefort, after mentioning the 

 opinion of Theophraftus,Alpinus, and o- 

 thers, concerning the male palm-trees, 

 adds, * Cum in Hifpania Baetica, palma- 

 " rum feraci, a prudentioribus viris de 

 " hac re fcifcitarer, certum nihil accipere 

 " potui. De lupulo certius loquor. In 



" horto 



* VeQing in Alpin, c. 7. p. 11. 

 I V. Alpin, depiuxii JLg. p. 25. 



