448 [Assembly 



September 4, 1849. 

 R. T. UnderhilLj of Croton Point, in the chair. Henry Meigs, 

 Secretary. 



The secretary read the following translation by him, from the recent 

 numbers of the Annales De La Societe Centrale De France, Paris. 



Historical JVotice of the Litchi of China and its Culture, by Morn. 



Br eon. 



The Euphoria Litchi is originally from China, and is one of the 

 large forest trees of that Empire. It belong to the family of Sapin- 

 dacese. It produces hardly any fruit, and those are about the size of 

 pigeon's eggs. The seed is surrounded by a little white pulp not 

 much esteemed. But the Chinese gardeners have, by means of graft- 

 ing by approach, and especially by Marcottes, [Layers,] and by good 

 culture, succeeded in quadrupling the size of the fruit, in producing 

 dwarf trees extremely small, and in obtaining from it one of the best 

 and most esteemed fruits in the world. It is now cultivated by the 

 Chinese in their smallest gardens ; and those who have no gardens, 

 plant it in boxes, and obtain an abundance of fruit. 



The Litchi was introduced into the Isle of France in 1770, by the 

 estimable Mr. Poivre, then superintendant of the Isles of France and 

 Bourbon. Mr. Cere, the Botanical Gardener of the Isle of France, 

 multiplied those trees. Their fruit became as highly esteemed by the 

 colonists as in China. The Litchi, grown from the Marcotte (Layer,) 

 has a very fine pyramidal form, grows to about twenty or twenty five 

 feet high, many of them much taller, whose fruit becomes thus infe- 

 rior. The fruit of the Litchi is spherical in form, covered with a 

 leathery bark, and is full of tubercles. When ripe, it is of a scarlet 

 red, and as large as a large nut. Under the skin is a white pulp, 

 which has the taste and odor of the ^luscat Raisin, of the Peach and 

 of the Strawberry, within this pulp is a common sized nut, globular in 

 form, and smooth exterior. Some of these fruits have abortive nuts, 

 and are more esteemed than the rest for tlieir superior taste. They 

 grow in bunches like grapes, and each branch has commonly on it fifty 

 fruits ; but sometimes one and even two hundred. 



