Domestic J^otices. 75 



Bet their flower-buds in season, and swell them to a good size, so as al- 

 most to show color by November, the short time the plants remain in a 

 dry atmosphere before their buds expand will do them no injury, and they 

 will open freely. At some future time we shall speak of this mode at 

 lenj^th.— £f/.] 



Introduction of tropical plants. — Dr. Henry Perrine, whose laudable 

 exertions, for some time past in makinij, known the value and importance 

 of the vegetation of extra-tropical America, are well known to many of 

 us, is now, we believe, before Congress with a petition for the estal)lish- 

 ment of a ])ort of entry at Indian Key, in Florida. When this is ac- 

 complisiied, as there is good reason to believe it soon will be, great fa- 

 cilities will be afforded at that favorable locality for the thorough natu- 

 ralization and propagation of the niost valuable products of Mexico and 

 the peninsula of the Gulf. Among the.^e the far-famed Sisal hemp ig 

 not the least important. Coffee, chocolate, and many of the most valu- 

 ble vegetable products of the West Indies can also be acclimatized there, 

 and their cultivation will then probably extend much farther north. — 

 A. J. U., Botanic Garden and Nurseries, Neivtjurgh, N. Y. 



[We are highly gratified to learn that this important subject is about 

 to attract attention. We had but just sent the above notice, by our 

 corresjjondent, to press, when, as we were overlooking our agricul- 

 tural papers, our eye accidentally fell upon the letters of Dr. Perrine, 

 in the New York Farmer, to Mr. McLane, Secretary of State, in refer- 

 ence to this matter. We have been exceedingly interested and greatly 

 pleased in their perusal, and only wish that our limits would allow of 

 our extracting them entire, for the information of our readers. It is not 

 only in an agricultural point of view that the acclimization of the tropi- 

 cal plants can be looked upon as important: many of the most beautiful 

 plants, of which our stoves can boast, are natives of the tropics, anrl if the 

 more useful, as affording commodities for the comfort and sustenance of 

 life, can be successfully cultivated, they may also be introduced for the 

 beauty and ornament of the garden. We have often wished that some 

 enterprising individuals would undertake the experiment of naturalizing 

 the tropical plants to the extreme southern portions of the Union; once 

 introduced there, they miiiht gradually become inhabitants of a slightly 

 cooler climate, and, ultimately, the Carolinas, Georgia, and other South- 

 ern states, miirht be enriched with the splendid productions of the West 

 Indies, flourishing with vigor in their naturalized situation. In this view 

 it is important to the horticulturist. But the acclimization of the staple 

 products of the tropics will be of immense benefit to the whole country. 

 With a climate embracing every variety of temperature, and a soil, 

 from the richest to the most sterile, we have no reason to doubt of the 

 accomplishment of these objects. Dr. Perrine has shown, conclusively, 

 that it can be done; he states that the banana and the cocoa palm, the 

 most tender of all tropical plants, are now flourishing in tropical Flori- 

 da. In the commencement of his letter Dr. Perrine remarks, that he 

 wishes to show, " not only that the cultivation of tropical staples is 

 practicable in our territory, — but, also, that it is absolutely necessanj for 

 home consumption — is positively jorq/i/n6/e for the foreign n)arket — and 

 is hiiMily desirable, in other resjjects, to promote the peace and pi'osperi- 

 ty of the Union." We have but little sjjace for extracts, but we cannot 

 refrain from quoting the following commencing and concluding portioria 

 of his letters: — 



'^ The practicability of cultivating tropical productions in general, he 

 has manifested, with the fact, that the peculiar climate of the tropics 

 extends beyond the astronomical boundarj^, several degrees north, into 

 our peninsular territory; and that the best plants of the tropics arc ac- 

 tually flourishing in the southern portion of that peninsula, at Cupe 



