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THE TROPICAL FRUIT STOVE. 



We are informed by the late Josepli Sabine, Esq., in a communication 

 published in the Transactions of the London Horticultural Society, 

 vol. V. p. 439, that the cultivation of tropical fruit was one of the subjects 

 to which it was purposed, on the first establishment of the Society, that 

 its attention should be directed, and that the various collectors employed 

 in its service were particularly instructed to attend to the discovery of 

 new fruits, and to embrace every opportunity of procuring the most 

 accurate information in regard to thek cultivation. How far this Society 

 has succeeded in enlightening our darkness on this subject is not for us 

 at present to inquire into. Some private individuals, however, have 

 turned their attention to this subject, and an epitome of the success of 

 their endeavours will occupy a part, in conjunction with our own practice 

 and observations, in the following remarks on the subject of Tropical 

 Fruit culture. 



For such as have the means, and a taste, for the cultivation of Tropical 

 Fruits, we would recommend a trial, as being both useM and agreeable. 

 " It seems," says Mr. Loudon, in speaking on this subject, to deserve 

 the attention of retired persons of solitary habits, aged or inactive, by 

 presenting an end to be attained : it may serve as a gentle stimulus to 

 such as, from indolence or bihous complaints, are apt to sink into a state 

 of torpid, unenjoyed existence." 



The natui'al habits of the pine, when first introduced into this country, 

 and recommended as a fruit-bearing plant, were much less known than 

 the habits of most Tropical Fruits are at present, and the science of artifi- 

 cial gardening was much less perfectly understood at that time than it is 

 at present. Yet we know what progress has been made in the culture of 

 tliat fruit, also a native of the tropics, within the space of less than a 

 century, and it would not surprise us to see, in less than a quarter of that 

 time, the Mango, the Mangostein, the Plantain, the Banana, and the 

 various Guavas, as common in the markets of the British metropolis, as 

 the Pine and the Melon are at present. 



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