THE MAGAZINE 



OF 



HORTICULTURE 



SEPTEMBER, 1847. 



ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 



Art. I. On the Importance of the Cultivation of the Oak and 

 other valuable Timber Trees ; icith Observations on the 

 Preservation of Ship Timber, and the Process of Decay 

 in Wood. By A. Mitchell, M. D., Portland. In a Let- 

 ter to the Hon. H. A. S. Dearborn. Communicated by Gen. 

 Dearborn. 



My dear Sir, — The following article was communicated 

 by me to Gen. Joseph M. Hernandez, of St. Augustine, Fl., 

 and published in the Florida Herald. You will probably 

 recollect that this gentleman has been, for many years, ex- 

 clusively devoted to the science of Agriculture, and is one of 

 the best systematic planters in that State. An Essay written 

 by him on the Culture of the Tobacco Plant has been consid- 

 ered to be one of the most elaborate articles ever published on 

 that subject. 



Reasoning from analogy on the soil and productions of the 

 southern portion of our Union, we may attribute to Florida, 

 as having within its domains as many natural advantages as 

 any of the tropical regions in the cultivation of those plants 

 that are indigenous to those countries, presenting an exten- 

 sive surface, which as yet remains imperfectly explored — rich 

 in the spontaneous growth of many esculent plants for the 

 support of man, and the growth of domestic animals, and offer- 

 ing a wide field for the cultivation and introduction of many 

 more for exportation and home consumption. Such are the 

 tea-plant, cojffee, tobacco, sugar cane, Turkish poppy, olive- 

 tree, cotton, indigo, saffron, grape, fig, &c. As we shall 



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