A lecture on the geography of plants / By John Barton.

  • John Barton
Date:
1827
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A lecture on the geography of plants / By John Barton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    73/120 (page 61)
    attain to the magnitude of trees, require, accord- ing to Humboldt, a mean annual temperature of at least 68°: the shrubby kind is cultivated with success under a mean temperature of 60° to 64°, as far as latitude 40° *. In the Old World this culture is carried on near Astracan, in latitude 46° t. The import of cotton into Great Britain has increased with extraordinary rapidity of late years. In the middle of the last century it form- ed quite an inconsiderable article of commerce: at present it exceeds, perhaps, in extent and im- portance, any branch of our foreign trade. The principal supply of this material is from North America: some is brought from the West In- dies, some from Surinam and Brazil. Since the opening of the trade with India, a considerable quantity has been imported from Bengal; and during the last four years, a large and increasing supply has been obtained from Egypt. The tree which furnishes us with mahogany \ is a native of the New* World. It grows to a large size, and produces handsome spikes of white flowers, not unlike those of the Lilac. The mahogany of best quality comes from St. Domingo; an inferior sort from Honduras, on * Prolegomena, p. 157. -f Tooke’s View of the Russian Empire, vol. iii. p 281. X Swietenia mahagoni. i