FARMERS' REGISTER. 



29 



pics could be introtluced and established in the 

 poulhern extremity ot' Florida, if lo extend no far- 

 ther northward. JBut il is not diflirult to believe 

 that many such may be gradually acclimated so as 

 to be produced successlLilly through all the colton 

 country, and thus oHer many subjects of cultiva- 

 tion for profit lo that great region which now has 

 but one. All that is now asked of ihe govern- 

 ment, is, that iis action, or its neglect of" the claims 

 of policy and justice lo other interests, shall not 

 vbstruct, as now, the attainment of Dr. Perrine's 

 great object, and render perfectly nugatory all that 

 has been heretofore done with the view of aiding 

 him in that respect. — Ed. Far. Reg.] 



To the Editor of ttie Farmers Register. 



I respectfully transmit tor your serious consider- 

 ation, a brief compend of some important facts, 

 which should excite the remedial influence of the 

 enlightened agriculturists of the southern states. 



VVhile American Consul at Campeachv, the 

 government of the United States, by its ireasur}'- 

 and navy circular of the 6ih September, 1S27, 

 officially invoked my individual aid to introduce 

 tropical plants into the United States ; yet when 

 collected by me, the same government, not only 

 neglected to transport them in the proffered vessels 

 of '.lie navy — but also interposed insuperable ob- 

 stacles to my direct introduction of them into the 

 only suitable section of tlie union. Alter lour 

 years of fruitless exertions, I therefore returned to 

 the United Slates for the special object of over- 

 coming these governmental obstacles lo individu- 

 al industry, by enlisting a combination of agricul- 

 tural influence, in the form of a chartered compa- | 

 ny ; and at New York, on the 8ih November, { 

 1831, these circumstances were conmiunicated in 

 a letter lo the Hon. Secretary of the Treasury. 

 The unexpected publication by the department "of 

 said letter, incidentally conmiunicated my views 

 lo the governor of Florida, who on the 2nd Jan- 

 uary 1832, transmitted to the legislative council of 

 the territory a warm recommendation to grant a 

 charter, "although Mr. Perrine has made no di- 

 rect application," and to beslow upon the compa- 

 ny many privileges ; and hence resulted the unan- 

 imous passage of the first act to incorporate the 

 Tropical Plant Company of Florida. The go- 

 vernmental obstacles to the bare acquisition of 

 the soil of South Florida, next induced me, on the 

 6th February, 1832, to address a memorial to the 

 congress of the United States for a conditional 

 grant of a tract of land in that unsurveyed dis- 

 trict, which resulted, on the 26ih of April, in the 

 report of a " bill to encourage the introduction and 

 promote the cultivation of tropical plants in the 

 United States." As however, that bill was never 

 even called up for discussion during that very long 

 session of congress, the organization of the com- 

 pany could not be accomplished ; and 1 was hence 

 compelled, in November 1832, to return to Cam- 

 peachy to wait in painful patience for the con- 

 gressional removal of the primary obstacle of go- 

 vernmental impediment to individual acquisitiori of 

 the steril soil. 



In the spring of 1833, I had the first and only 

 gratification to know that several valuable plants 

 pf Yucatan senium the foreign port of Havana 



had finally entered the remote port of Key WesI, 

 and liad ultimately lived through their interrupted 

 and protracted route from that village to Cape 

 Florida. There they were entrusted to Ihe care 

 of John Dubose, the then keeper of tlie light 

 house on Key Biscaino; but as, in December 1835, 

 the population in ihat vicinity were murdered and 

 expelled by ihe savage Seminoies, the progeny ol' 

 said tropical plants were necessarily left to propa- 

 gate themselves. 



In 1837, ihe probable prospect of a speedy ter- 

 mination of the Seminole War induced me to 

 leave Mexico, and proceed through New Orleans, 

 Havana, and Key West, to this miniature islet of 

 Indian Key ; and as this island contained the only 

 resident population nearest to the main land, and 

 the only suitable person lo propagate my many 

 tropical seeds, I left them in the care of Charles 

 Howe esq. on ihe oih August 1837. I then pro- 

 ceeded to Charleston, S. C, where the Agricul- 

 tural Society of South Carolina manifested the 

 same enlightened interest in behalf of my enter- 

 prise which had previously been exhibited by the 

 Agricultural Society of Louisiana. Fortified by 

 the co-operation of the two principal slates of the 

 south and south-west, I proceeded thence to 

 Washington, I). C, to call up in congress, the bill 

 reported the 26lh April 1832; but the special 

 session was exclusively devoted lo the sub-treasu- 

 ry question, and hence I was obliged to wait for 

 its consideration by congress during the ensuinor 

 long session. The final result of my persevering 

 labors, wilh the accunTulaled influence of public 

 opinion, was manifested by the congressional law 

 approved the 7lh January 1838, entitled "an act 

 (o encourage ihe inlroducfion and promote the 

 cultivation of tropical plants in the United Stales." 

 To the congressional documents which accompa- 

 nied the reports of the committees on asxi'iculture, 

 I refer for m;my important details; and I espe- 

 cially invite the most serious attention of all en- 

 lightened agriculturists of the southern states, to 

 the first twenty pages of thesenale report. 



By the conditional provisions of said congres- 

 sional law, it will be perceived that it might be 

 more appropriately entitled " an act to allow pri- 

 vate individuals to make a national experiment at 

 their own expense," because, by the terms of the 

 law, if the propagation of tropical plants in South 

 Florida shall be a successful enterp.*.se, the go- 

 vernment will be benefited a thousand-fold, and 

 the nation will be benefited a million-fold ; but if 

 the domestication of tropical plants should be an 

 unsuccessful enterprise, myself and my associates 

 will be the only sufierers. 



In other words, after nearly eleven years of go- 

 vernmental obstructions lo the execution of the 

 Governmental instructions in its own circular of 

 the 6ih September 1827, on the 7lh July 1838 the 

 congress of the United States barely rendered one 

 governmental obstacle lo individual industry by a 

 lormnl permission for the conditional acquisition 

 of six miles square of land, in a desert district, 

 which government itself has always declared 

 too sickly and too steril lo warrant the trouble or 

 expense of survey or sale. A desert district which 

 is novernmentally shown to be unconquerable, nn- 

 occupable, and even unaccc.ssible, by a white army, 

 anil which is moreover governmentally denounced 

 to be unimproveable, uncullivable, and even unin- 

 habitable, by the while man. 



