Iviu INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 



Rieinus communis, of which you was pleased to express your 

 approbation ; since that period, I have at every leisure moment, 

 collected all the information I possibly could respecting this 

 plant ; and have ascertained by the incontrovertible fact of expe- 

 riments, the produce of oil, which on an average may be extracted 

 from its fruit ; and I now trespass on your time and patience, in 

 laying the results before you. 



As it regards the plant itself, it never has been cultivated on 

 St. Helena, but in its wild state grows in great abundance in most 

 parts of the island, with vigour and luxuriance equal, if not 

 superior to any shrub we have ; it bears a prodigious quantity of 

 fruit, which by attention may be obtained all the year round : 

 the plants yielding at the same time berries fit for gathering, and 

 unripe ones in various stages of growth. 



The situations most favourable to the palma christi, appear to 

 be those which are humid and sheltered : there are waste lands of 

 this description belonging to the Honourable Company, on 

 which, if plantations of it were formed, immense crops would 

 be produced ; for, it is to be presumed, that if the little care 

 necessary was bestowed on its cultivation, its increase would 

 be in vast proportion : the vallies in St. Helena, which are for 

 the most part well watered, are peculiarly adapted for this pur- 

 pose, and so ready is it to vegetate, that by only dropping the 

 bean on the ground, and occasionally affording it water, it will 

 speedily grow in any soil, and at any season of the year. 



The expense of cultivating this shrub, even if many plantations 

 of it were formed, would be inconsiderable ; little, if any, prepar- 

 ation of the soil is required for it ; neither cattle, sheep, goats, 

 rats, or mice (so destructive to most other plants and fruits) will 

 touch it ; fences are not therefore necessary to its preservation ; 



