Mr Robley received three plants from Dr Ander son in June 1793, which he planted in very deep rich soil, and paid them every attention, in hopes of procuring shoots. They flourished exceedingly, produced fruit in 1795, and continued to do so un til autumn 1801, after which we have no notices re specting them. Being disappointed of obtaining suckers, Mr Robley applied to Dr Anderson, who ad vised him to lay bare some of the uppermost roots, and to wound them very deeply ; and having follow ed these directions in October 1800, they almost im mediately began to put forth shoots in abundance. In December, 120 fine plants were thus obtained, which Mr Robley placed in baskets containing about a gallon of good rich loose soil, and deposited them in the shade, in the vicinity of water. With this ele ment also they were refteshed when the weather re quired it. Baskets were preferred to pots for the plants, flrom being lighter and more easily removed. Likewise, because when deposited in the place where they were ultimately to remain, the baskets would speedily rot, and not repress the growth of the plant, which would then extend its roots. European Culti vators would do well to attend to the beneficial use of baskets, for it too often happens that a tender plant is wounded in removing it from a pot, or that the earth -surrounding it is so deranged and displaced, that no subsequent care can preserve it from destruc tion. Encouraged by the successful issue of these previous experiments, Mr Robley prepared a point of land of loose sandy sail, bounded by a salt lagoon and the sea, for receiving a large plantation. When the tide filed, brackish water was to be found every where at the depth of two feet and a half from the surfhte ; but it had been observed in some of the South Sea Islands, that bread-fruit-trees grew in fall vigour, though brackish water bathed their roots, and the point was otherwise defended from the en croachments of the sea by an artificial bank. The land being ploughed and harrowed twice, was divided into beds stretehingXernss •from the sea to the la , goon the beds were 27 feet in breadth, and the plants put into the earth in the middle of each, and at the distance of 27 feet asunder —thus leaving a large space for their vegeta tion. Mr Itobley's expectations were not disappoint ed. In August 1801, he had 153 plants in a flou ribbing condition ; and, prosecuting the object still farther, be bad, in the course of the subsequent year, 871 on the point of land, of which no less than 819 plants were in a flourishing, and some of them in a productive state. He transmitted specimens of the fruit to England preserved in vinegar, as it will not keep above two days after being taken from the tree; as also of the dried leaves and blossom. Other correspondents, nearly about the same time, sent spe cimens of cakes made from the bread-fruit converted to flour, which were extremely well flavoured; and it , seemed that a dry nutritious food, resembling Tapi oca in appearance and quality, might be prepared from it. The vegetation of this plant is very rapid. Ten of those committed to the care of Dr Anderson, in 1793, were about two feet high, and half an inch in diameter ; and he observed, that, in the year 1798, most of the trees in the Botanical Garden at St Wm cent's were above 80 feet high, and the stem two feet above the ground was from three feet to three and a half in circumference. From the remarks he was
enabled to make in this interval on the varieties of the tree in the Botanical Garden, it appeared that the fruit came out in succession during the greater part of the year, but less of it between November and March than at any other time. The number produced by a single tree was very great, being often in clusters of five and six, and bending the lower branches to the ground. According to the different varieties, the fruit was of various shapes and sizes, weighing from four to ten pounds, some smooth, others rough and tuberculated. When taken from the tree before maturity, the juice appeared of the consistence and colour of milk, and in taste some• what similar. It issued for above ten minutes in an uninterrupted stream, and thickened into a glutinous and adhesive substance. Three months were requir. ed to bring the fruit to perfection, which, ag above i remarked, is about a week before it begins to ripen. Besides the Otaheitan bread-fruit, Captain Bligh left some of the East India bread-fruit in the Botanical Garden. But this proved of infinitely inferior qua lity, and a very indifferent substitute for it. It was ill-shaped, of a soft pulpy substance, and, Ince the other, wanting seeds, and propagating itself by suck ers springing from the root.
A species offruit, bearing considerable analogy to those above described, Is found on the Nicobar Islands, but we are unacquainted with the degree of attention it has received, either for the purpose of illustrating its natural history, or for economical uses. It is not less beneficial, however, to the natives. The tree producing this fruit vegetates promiscuously with others in the woods, but preferring a humid.
soil. Its trunk is straight, thirty or thirty-five feet • in height, and from ten inches to two feet in circum ference. The roots spring from it above the sur face, and do not penetrate deep into the earth. The leaves are disposed like the large calyx of a flower; they are three feet long and four inches broad, of a, dark green hue and tenacious substance. A long time elapses before the tree produces fruit, not less than about the period of human life. It then forms at the bottom of the leaves, from which it proceeds as it is enlarged, and, when nearly ripe, it changes from green to yellowish colour. This is the proper period for gathering it, when its weight is between SO and 40 pounds. The exterior surface is cut off, and the fruit is boiled in earthen pots covered with leaves, •during several hours, on a slow fire ; when, becom ing soft and friable, the preparation is sufficient, and the fruit is then exposed to the air, and is next form . ed into a mass not unlike maize, either in taste or colour. It may be preserved a long time, but expo sure to the atmosphere occasions acidity. The plant producing this fruit, however, is not of the same ge nus as those above described, although its fruit is .converted, to similar uses, but is rather a kind of palm which it might be useful to naturalize in the eastern possessions of Britain. (a.)