276 TIMEHRI. 
upon a straight single stem, and be perpetually loaded 
with fruit from the 3rd month after planting. The 
banana, from a single eye, or stool, will in the same time 
produce from 12 to 20 perfe&t succours, each from 15 to 
20 feet high, 2 or 3 feet in circumference, and its broad 
foliage able to cover a space of 1,000 square feet. Ina 
year it has been known to produce 8 cwts. of wholesome 
and nutritious aliment. But of all other vegetables the 
bamboo and the large gourd have the quickest growth; in 
the wet season, they have frequently been known to in- 
crease a foot or 16 inches in the course of a night. 
European fruit trees grow weakly, but do not produce 
fruit. The descent of the sap to the root and its re-ascent 
after a dormant period appear to be essential to the pro- 
duétion of the fruits of temperate climates. The partial 
regurgitation of the sap, produced in the tropics by the 
changes of the moon, is not sufficient for that purpose in 
European plants transplanted to within the tropics. 
Though the deficiency of my experience has not enabled 
me toaccount scientifically for this phenomenon, I am yet 
convinced that there is a marked botanical distinétion 
between the fruits of hot climates and those of temperate 
ones, which should render a chara€teristic division ne- 
cessary beyond that of the mere Linnean distinétion, 
some particular conformation of the generative parts 
by which tropical plants essentially differ from those of 
temperate or northern regions. Most tropical fruits have 
strong evergreen leaves and a consistency and flavour 
approaching to that of the bay or laurel. Europeans in 
most fruits dete¢t a very strong flavour of turpentine, 
not perceptible to creoles and long residents. And all 
unripe fruits are so powerfully astringent, as effectually 
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