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VIII. A Sketch of the principal Tropical Fruits which are 

 likely to be worth cultivating in England for the Dessert. 

 By Mr. John Lindley, F. H. S. $e. 



Read December 18, 1821, and January 1, 1822. 



.The wish expressed by the Society that some account 

 should be submitted to it of the various edible fruits which 

 are produced in the warmer countries of the world, and 

 which may possibly be brought to maturity in England, has 

 induced me to offer the following sketch to the notice of 

 its Members. On such a subject nothing new can be ex- 

 pected from one who has to derive the whole of his know- 

 ledge from the information of others ; to some indeed, it is 

 probable that all the materials he has been able to collect 

 may appear too well known to be even amusing. Never- 

 theless it is possible that many of those who are likely to be 

 particularly interested in the subject may in a great measure 

 be ignorant of the sources from which the necessary infor- 

 mation is to be derived ; that yet more may be unable or 

 unwilling to devote their time to the search after them ; and 

 finally, that several of the works I have cited are, to the 

 generality of readers, inaccessible, either from their rarity, or 

 from the languages in which they are written. For these 

 reasons I feel persuaded that a collection into a single paper 

 of such matter illustrative of the subject, as is dispersed 

 through the writings of various authors, cannot be otherwise 

 than useful to those for whom the Transactions of this 



