On the Acclimation of Tropical Exotics iti Florida. 243 



The settlers and planters, I am persuaded, are in error in 

 attempting to cultivate one plant to the square foot. The 

 plants should be three feet apart. The pitahaya, or straw- 

 berry pine apple of Yucatan, should be speedily there intro- 

 duced, together with the large and delicious sugar-loaf pine of 

 Cuba. 



The gentleman above alluded to also recommended, " as of 

 immense value, the peculiar species of fibrous Agave, culti- 

 vated in Yucatan, whose fresh leaves yield the foliaceous 

 fibres called the Sisal Hemp." A slip of this plant was in- 

 troduced some ten years since. It has now become accli- 

 mated, and is being self-propagated through various sections 

 of Tropical Florida. The plant was pointed out to me on 

 the banks of St. Lucie Sound, where it was spreading itself 

 independent of the skill and care of man. 



The same gentleman also remarked, in the same connex- 

 ion, "that the successful culture of the tea plant of southern 

 China, at Rio Janeiro, will rapidly arrive at maturity in the 

 arid sands of any tropical climate ; and that their plucked 

 leaves are speedily prepared for exportation by the most sim- 

 ple apparatus, &c." 



I received from H. E. Perrine, Esq., in November last, the 

 following statement : — " At Indian Key, (Tropical Florida.) 

 my father had a tea plant growing in the open air, which he 

 took great pride in, as it demonstrated the truth of what he 

 contended for, i. e., that the soil of Tropical Florida was 

 peculiarly adapted to its growth.'^ 



The cocoa-nut tree, I may add, I saw growing on the 

 banks of St. Lucie Sound, from three to five feet high, then 

 recently planted by the settlers. 



From the facts above stated, it may be safely assumed 

 that experiment will realize the suggestions of Dr. Perrine 

 relating to the acclimation of other fruits and plants. " Even 

 the cultivated chocolate tree will perish unless protected by 

 the shade of other trees, and can hence be propagated in the 

 marshy woods of Tropical Florida. 



" As the pimento tree of Tropical America, and the cinna- 

 mon tree of Tropical Asia are disseminated in the most ex- 

 tensive forests by birds and beasts alone, it may be safely 

 predicted that, if a single plant of each shoot comes to matu- 



