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TRANSMISSION OF LIVTNG PLANTS BY SEA. 



"We passed the longitude of the Cape of Good Hope in the 

 beginning of May, but in order to have the advantage of 

 westerly winds we kept well south— in lat. 38° — where the 

 thermometer ranged from 55° to 65° Fahr. This change was 

 evidently a most trying one for the plants, which, after having 

 grown rapidly when sailing through warmer climates, and 

 having filled the cases with weak, half-ripened wood, were now 

 suddenly checked by dull weather and a temperature which was 

 comparatively low. Mildew and other fungi now attacked them, 

 and most of the leaves which were in contact with the glass were 

 rotted by the damp. 



It was curious to remark the similar effects which were pro- 

 duced upon animals and plants by this change of temperature ; 

 both suffered more from comparative than from actual cold. 

 A few weeks before this, the plants began to grow most rapidly 

 in a temperature about the same as that in which they were now 

 suffering from cold ; in fact, they grew considerably then, in a 

 temperature several degrees lower. The very same effects were 

 produced upon my own feelings, as well as upon those of the 

 other passengers in the ship. We felt the heat much in lat. 33° 

 or 34° N., with a temperature of 58" and 60°, and were then 

 putting on our thin white clothing ; while with the same warmth 

 on the south side of the line we felt cold, and were obliged to 

 resume our thick, warm dresses. 



Having kept in the same degree of latitude all along from the 

 Cape until we reached the Islands of Amsterdam and St. Paul's, 

 in the Indian Ocean, we then stood northerly, in the direction of 

 Java Head. The temperature, of course, gradually increased as 

 we sailed northwards, but the excitability of the plants was, in a 

 great measure, gone, and even when we reached the Straits of 

 Sunda, where, owing to the proximity of land, it was much 

 warmer than it had been under the line in the Atlantic Ocean, 

 still they grew again in a slow and languid manner, and the 

 shoots were weak. It is these rapid changes from summer to 

 winter, and from winter to summer, which destroys so many 

 plants in a long voyage round the Cape, to or from India or 

 China. 



When we reached Hong Kong I found that most of the plants 

 were alive, although some of them were in a very exhausted 

 state. Some olive-trees which I took out were as healthy and 

 green as the day we started ; vines, pears, and figs also stood 

 the voyage remarkably well. The soil, although it had received 

 no water for four months, was nearly as moist as when we left 

 England, which proved the closeness of the cases. 



Having described what actually takes place during a long sea 

 voyage, I shall now proceed to give some instructions relating 



