76 Domestic Aw/ices. 



Florida, He hr.s not only shown that, below 28°, Southern Florifla 

 enjoys the drj' warm winter — the wet refreshing summer — the breeze 

 by day from the sea, and by nii^ht from the liiud, — and the trade winds 

 from the east, which are commoji to troj.ical couutiies in general; 

 but he hiis also proved, by its narrow level surface stretching south- 

 eastwardly, — by the hot ocean river running north-westwardly. along its 

 eastern shores, and by the greater steadiness of the westwardly winds in 

 those latitudes; that tropical Florida is even superior to the elevated 

 islands of the West Indies, and to the broad })eninsiila of Yucatan, in that 

 uniformity nf temperature, which is the most favorable for vegetalile 

 growths, animal health, and physical enjoyment. He has, moreover, not 

 merely shown that in this superior climate of the tropics, are already 

 growing various common vegetables of the tropics, ijut he has lurther 

 announced the flourishing condition of the tenderest and jet most pro- 

 ductive plants of the torrid zone, — the banana plant, and the cocoa 

 ))alm, which are universally pronounced to be the greatest blessings of 

 Providence to man; and it may, hence, be considered experimentally de- 

 monstrated, that it is practicable to cultivate all tropical productions in the 



soil of the southern portion of the peninsula of East Florida." 



******** 



"Our moral obligations to improve the condition of our country, are 

 based on the unparalleled combination of advantages with which it has 

 been favored by Providence. With the most favorable form of govern- 

 ment, and the n'ost productive varieties of the best sj)ecies of the human 

 race, we have all the soils and climates of the earth, and the consequent 

 ability to cultivate, most profitably, all the most valuable varieties of the 

 best species of the vegetable race. It hence becomes our duty to com- 

 bine within our territory the creation of the greatest possible amount 

 and variety of cultivated vegetable products, for the physical enjoyment, 

 not merely of our own citizens, but also of the inhabitants of all extra- 

 tropical countries, and probably even the natives of the torrid zone itself. 

 It has been demonstrated, that with a natural equality of soil in even 

 our extra-tropical climates, our slave labor can create cultivated tropical 

 products much more abundantlj' and cheajdy than either the free or 

 slave labor of the colored natives of inter-tropical climates; that many 

 articles of tropical cidture, instead of deteriorating, become more pro- 

 ductive beyond their native zone; that we may ultimately ap))Iy the still 

 more productive free labor of our white citizens to the cultivation of 

 tropical staples; and that such laborers, under such institutions, cannot 

 be devoted to tropical agriculture in anj' other part of the world. The 

 great equatorial current of the ocean, after cutting oti" New Holland 

 from Asia, wearing its way round Southern Africa, and being reflected 

 by tropical America, brings to our shores, under the name of the Gulf 

 Stream, the accumulated heat of the torrid zone, to encourage our cul- 

 tivation of the valuable vegetables of that unproducing belt of the globe. 

 The white population on its borders will soon be forced to embark on 

 its bosom for the United States. Once entirely abandoned by tlie skill 

 and capital of the white species, the colored species \\ ill not furnish an 

 adequate quantity of even uncultivated ])roducts ibr extra-tropical con- 

 sumption. Even logwood, mahogany, and other wW\ materials for the 

 arts, arc diminishing every day. The Peruvian bark, sarsaparilla. and 

 other spontaneous medicines, are also vani.-hing, and noxious substitutes 

 are exporteil, to kill, instead of cure, our fellow-citizens. If, therefore, 

 ■we do not speedily naturalize all useful tropical jilants in tropical Flori- 

 da, they will soon disappear from the surface of the world." — Ed.'] 



Seckel pear. — I noticed, in the last number of your Magazine, that 

 statement from the Neio Haven Herald, that the Seckel pear is found in 

 the woods of Connecticut. The storv is too absurd to require contra- 

 diction.— Fours, J. A. T., Hartford,' Conn., Nov. 15, 1837. 



