—And Cocoa
The folk of Trinidad have doubtless an eye for beauty, but these flaming trees were imported from the continent of South America and the neighbourhood of the Equator for strictly commercial reasons. They are to the cocoa trees what belts of trees or high " bullfinch " hedges are to the hop gardens of England. As these give shelter from wind, the immortelles give shade. A high wind is less generally feared than a hot and glaring sun. The immortelles have the habit of our blackthorn and many another tree: they flower before they come into leaf, hence the unqualified splendour of the blossoming ; and by this virtue they give the cocoa trees their place in the sun when they desire it and their place in the shade when the light and heat become a burden. Nor does this exhaust their qualities. They grow very fast to a good height, so that the sunshade has a long enough handle, and they are easily multiplied both from seed and by cuttings. What a happy accident is this " unearned increment " of beauty! But we are used to this accident, if such it is. Does any sight more truly please the eye than a field of ripening wheat or the nose than a field of beans or clover?
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