138 



to be planted in 1795. The marquis thought, 

 that the Canary islands, from the mildness of 

 their climate and geographical position, afforded 

 the most suitable place for naturalising the pro- 

 ductions of the two Indies, and serving as a re- 

 pository to habituate the plants gradually to the 

 colder temperature of the south of Europe. In 

 fact, the plants of Asia, Africa, and South Ame- 

 rica, may easily be brought to Orotava ; and in 

 order to introduce the bark-tree * into Sicily, 

 Portugal, or Grenada, it should be first planted 

 a,t Durasno, or at Laguna, and the shoots of this 

 tree may afterwards be transported into Europe 

 from the Canaries. In happier times, when ma- 

 ritime wars shall no longer interrupt communi- 

 cation, the garden of TenerifFe may become ex- 

 tremely useful with respect to the great number 

 of plants, which are sent from the Indies to Eu- 

 rope ; for ere they reach our coasts, they often 

 perish, on account of the length of the passage, 

 during which they inhale an air impregnated with 

 salt water. These plants would meet at Orotava 



* I speak of the species of bark-tree (cinchona), which at 

 Peru, and in the kingdom of New Grenada, flourish on the 

 back of the Cordilleras, at the height of between 1000 and 

 1500 toises, in places where the thermometer is between nine 

 and ten degrees during the day, and from three to four during 

 the night. The oranged bark-tree (cinchona lancifolia) is 

 much less tender than the red bark-tree (c. oblongifolia) . See 

 the Memoir on the Forests of the bark-tree, which I published 

 in 1807, in the Magasin dar Naturkunde, B. i. p. 118. 



