The fruit of the Melon is greatly influenced by slight differences in culture
and climate. Hence it is generally a better plan, according to Naudin, to
improve an old kind than to introduce a new one into any locality. The seed of
the Persian Melon produces near Paris fruit inferior to the poorest market
kinds, but at Bordeaux yields delicious fruit. (23/13. Naudin 'Annales des Sc.
Nat.' 4th series, Bot. tome 11 1859 page 81. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1859 page
464.) Seed is annually brought from Thibet to Kashmir (23/14. Moorcroft
'Travels' etc. volume 2 page 143.) and produces fruit weighing from four to
ten pounds, but plants raised next year from seed saved in Kashmir give fruit
weighing only from two to three pounds. It is well known that American
varieties of the Apple produce in their native land magnificent and brightly-
coloured fruit, but these in England are of poor quality and a dull colour. In
Hungary there are many varieties of the kidney-bean, remarkable for the beauty
of their seeds, but the Rev. M.J. Berkeley (23/15. 'Gardener's Chronicle' 1861
page 1113.) found that their beauty could hardly ever be preserved in England,
and in some cases the colour was greatly changed. We have seen in the ninth
chapter, with respect to wheat, what a remarkable effect transportal from the
north to the south of France, and conversely, produced on the weight of the
grain.]
When man can perceive no change in plants or animals which have been exposed
to a new climate or to different treatment, insects can sometimes perceive a
marked change. A cactus has been imported into India from Canton, Manilla
Mauritius, and from the hot-houses of Kew, and there is likewise a so-called
native kind which was formerly introduced from South America; all these plants
belong to the same species and are alike in appearance, but the cochineal
insect flourishes only on the native kind, on which it thrives prodigiously.
(23/16. Royle 'Productive Resources of India' page 59.) Humboldt remarks
(23/17. 'Personal Narrative' English translation volume 5 page 101. This
statement has been confirmed by Karsten 'Beitrag zur Kenntniss der
Rhynchoprion' Moscow 1864 s. 39 and by others.) that white men "born in the
torrid zone walk barefoot with impunity in the same apartment where a
European, recently landed, is exposed to the attacks of the Pulex penetrans."
This insect, the too well-known chigoe, must therefore be able to perceive
what the most delicate chemical analysis fails to discover, namely, a
difference between the blood or tissues of a European and those of a white man
born in the tropics. But the discernment of the chigoe is not so surprising as
it at first appears; for according to Liebig (23/18. 'Organic Chemistry'
English translation 1st edition page 369.) the blood of men with different
complexions, though inhabiting the same country, emits a different odour.
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