Inf,uence of Climate on the Fruitfulness of Plants, 41 



flavour so much refresh and delight us. It is there, near their 

 northern hmit, that we cultivate them with such uniform success. 



The orange, strictly a tropical plant, is more juicy, large, and 

 delicious, at St. Augustine, (Florida,) than at Havana ; and fruit- 

 erers, in order to recommend an orange, will say that it is from 

 some place out of the tropics. In the West Indies, the pulp of 

 the orange is spungy, badly fdled with juice, and has too much 

 of a forced flavour to be pleasant. The hot-house forcers of 

 Europe, or at Rome, anciently at first produced bad fruit; too 

 dry, too small, and without flavour; because they overacted. 

 They have lately found out that fact, and now the productions 

 of the hot houses of London, Paris, &c. astonish and delight us 

 with the quantity and excellence of the fruit. They have found 

 out that gradual and uniform heat is the desideratum ; counter- 

 vailing the cold, rather than imparting much heat. Fruit thus 

 produced, is pronounced better than any grown in the natural 

 way, however perfect the climate. ^ 



The juices of the grape are best matured for wine near the 

 northern limit of their growth. On the Rhine, in Hungary, the 

 sides of the Alps, and in other elevated or northern situations, the 

 wine is strongest, richest, and most esteemed. The French wines 

 rank before the Spanish and Italian ; and in no southern country 

 of Europe or Africa, except Madeira, where elevation makes the 

 difference, is the wine in much repute. The grapes of France 

 are more delicious for the table than those of Spain or Madeira. 

 In the southern part of the United States, the excess of heat and 

 moisture blights the grape to such an extent, that all attempts 

 have failed in its cultivation. The grape vine, however, whether 

 wild or cultivated, grows there very luxuriantly. The vinous 

 fermentation can also be best conducted in a climate compara- 

 tively cool ; and all the pressing, fermenting, and distillation of 

 the juice of this delicate fruit, can be safer and more profitably 

 managed in a mild region. 



The olive, and other oleaginous plants, yield more fruit, of a 

 richer flavour, and can be better pressed, and the oil preserved, 

 in a mild climate. In France the tree is healthier, and the fruit 

 and oil better than in Spain or Italy ; and the Barbary States 

 are known to import their oil from France and Italy. 



Many other plants might be named, whose habits would 

 equally support our position. It is presumed, however, that 

 Vol. I.— 6 



