80 Sketch of the Tropical Fruits likely to be worth 



Society are chiefly destined ; and if I should be so fortunate 

 as to have contributed to the successful cultivation of a single 

 good fruit, I shall be amply recompensed for the trouble I 

 have taken. 



To this day the cultivation of the fruits of Tropical coun- 

 tries has received a very slender share of attention in Europe. 

 But a small proportion of them has been introduced to its 

 gardens : and of those which have been brought to perfection 

 the number is still more inconsiderable ; yet the means of pro- 

 curing them are generally so entirely within our reach, and 

 the few attempts which have been made to cultivate them 

 have so completely succeeded, that it is quite wonderful that 

 they should have been prosecuted no further. Not to men- 

 tion our Pine Apples, which are said to surpass in flavour 

 those of the West Indies, the Longan is recorded in the 

 Second Volume of the Transactions of this Society to have 

 ripened its fruit at Mr. Knight's, of Lee Castle, near Kid- 

 derminster, in 1816; the fruit of the Loquat has repeatedly 

 been perfected in England ; at Wynnstay, the seat of Sir 

 Watkin Williams Wynn, the Banana frequently produces 

 its bunches of yellow fruit ; and the Chinese Guam and 

 Yellow Jambu regularly bring forth their crops in Mr. Catt- 

 ley's conservatory at Barnet. 



I, therefore, cannot refrain from expressing a hope that 

 these instances of success will induce such Members as may 

 have the opportunity and means, to persevere in attempts 

 so happily begun, of adding the rich fruits of the East 

 and West Indies to the delicacies of our desserts. Those 

 who still feel doubtful as to the event, I must remind, 

 that of all the fruits which adorn the garden even of an 



