No. 11. 



Influence of climate on the fruit fulness of plants. 



349 



near the tropics. The peach of the Caro- 

 linas is full of larvae, gum and knots, and 

 too stringy and forced to be juicy and fla- 

 voured. The apple of the south is too acerb 

 to be either eaten or preserved. The plums, 

 apricots, cherries, currants, gooseberries, &c, 

 will not even mature until we go far north. 

 All the trees which bear these delicious 

 truits, will grow luxuriantly in the south, 

 make much foliage and wood, with but little 

 pulp, and that unsavoury. The kernel in 

 the one-seeded fruit, seems to be the fiist 

 object of nature in southern climes: that 

 becomes strong, oily, and enlarged; and one 

 of the peach family has so entirely neglected 

 the pulp, that it has only a husky matter 

 around the kernel, as the almond. The 

 changeableness of the weather in the south, 

 in the spring season, throws plants off their 

 guard ; the frosts attendant on those changes, 

 destroy the young fruit; and it is only one 

 year in three, that the crop hits at all. The 

 desiccated or dried state of these fruits, en- 

 ables us to enjoy them through the year; 

 but in the south, their acidity carries them 

 into fermentation or decomposition, before 

 they can be divested of their aqueous parts. 

 The climate of the south is equally against 

 converting them into cider, or any other fer- 

 mented liquor, because the heat forces their 

 compressed juice so rapidly into an active 

 fermentation, that it cannot easily be checked 

 until it passes into vinegar. For the same 

 reason, distillation goes on badly in hot cli- 

 mates, and cannot be checked long enough 

 at the proper point to give much alcohol : 

 and whether we aim to enjoy the delicious 

 freshness of these fruits themselves, sip the 

 nectarine of their juices, refresh ourselves 

 with their fermented beverage, stimulate 

 our hearts with their brandies and cordials, 

 or feast through the winter upon the dried 

 or preserved stores of their fruits, we are 

 continually balked by the severity of a south- 

 ern climate, and for such enjoyment must 

 look to the north. 



"The melons are always affected by too 

 great a degree of heat, even though their 

 vines flourish so much in southern latitudes. 

 The forcing sun hurries them on to maturity 

 before they have attained much size, or ac- 

 quired that rich saccharine and aromatic fla- 

 vour for which they are so much esteemed. 

 The cantelope-melon will rot, or have its 

 sides baked by a hot sun, before it is fully 

 formed ; and the water-melon is always 

 woody, dry, and devoid of its peculiar sweet- 

 ness and richness, in the south. Vines have 

 been known to run one hundred feet, and 

 bear no melon. It is in Philadelphia, and 

 its neighbourhood, and in similar latitudes, 

 that the markets are loaded with delicious 



melons of all sorts, whose flavour so much 

 refreshes and delights us. It is there, near 

 their northern limit, that we cultivate them 

 with such uniform success. 



"The orange, strictly a tropical plant, is 

 more juicy, large, and delicious, at St. Au- 

 gustine (Florida.) than at Havana; and 

 fruiterers, in order to recommend an or- 

 ange, will say that it is from some place 

 out of the tropics. In the West Indies, the 

 pulp of the orange is spongy, badly filled 

 with juice, and has too much of a forced 

 flavour to be pleasant. The hot-house forcers 

 of Europe, or at Rome, anciently, at first 

 produced bad fruit; too dry, too small, and 

 without flavour; because they overacted. 

 They have lately found out that fact, and 

 now the productions of the hot-houses of 

 London, Paris, &c, astonish and delight us 

 with the quantity and excellence of the 

 fruit. They have found out that gradual 

 and uniform heat is the desideratum ; coun- 

 tervailing the cold, rather than imparting 

 much heat. Fruit thus produced, is pro- 

 nounced better than any grown in the natu- 

 ral way, however perfect the climate. 



"The juices of the grape are best ma- 

 tured for wine, n<ear the northern limit of 

 their growth. On the Rhine, in Hungary, 

 the sides of the Alps, and in other elevated 

 or northern situations, the wine is strongest, 

 richest, and most esteemed. The French 

 wines rank before the Spanish and Italian; 

 and in no southern country of Europe or 

 Africa, except Madeira, where elevation 

 makes the difference, is the wine in much 

 repute. The grapes of France are more 

 delicious for the table than those of Spain 

 or Madeira. In the southern part of the 

 United States, the excess of heat and moist- 

 ure blights the grape to such an extent, that 

 all attempts have failed in its cultivation. 

 The grape-vine, however, whether wild or 

 cultivated, grows there very luxuriantly. 

 The vinous fermentation can also be best 

 conducted in a climate comparatively cool ; 

 and all the pressing, fermenting, and distil- 

 lation of the juice of this delicate fruit can 

 be safer and more profitably managed in a 

 mild region. 



"The olive, and other oleaginous plants, 

 yield more fruit, of a richer flavour, and can 

 be better pressed, and the oil preserved, in 

 a mild climate. In France the tree is 

 healthier, and the fruit and oil better than 

 in Spain or Italy; and the Barbary States 

 are known to import their oil from France 

 and Italy. 



"Many other plants might be named, 

 whose habits would equally support our po- 

 sition. It is presumed, however, that enough 

 have been cited to call the attention of phi- 



