tenderest to the hardiest, is as follows.  Caper, orange, palm, aloe, olive, pomegranate, walnut, fig, almond.  But this must be understood of the plant only; for as to the fruit, the order is somewhat different.  The caper, for example, is the tenderest plant; yet, being so easily protected, it is among the most certain in its fruit.  The almond, the hardiest plant, loses its fruit the oftenest, on account of its forwardness.  The palm, hardier than the caper and orange, never produces perfect fruit here.

I had the honor of sending you, the last year, some seeds of the sulla of Malta, or Spanish saintfoin.  Lest they should have miscarried, I now pack with the rice a canister of the same kind of seed, raised by myself.  By Colonel Franks, in the month of February last, I sent a parcel of acorns of the cork-oak, which I desired him to ask the favor of the Delegates of South Carolina in Congress, to forward to you.

I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect esteem and respect, Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,

Th:  Jefferson.

LETTER LXXV.—­TO JAMES MADISON, August 2, 1787

TO JAMES MADISON.

Paris, August 2, 1787.

Dear Sir,

My last was of June the 20th.  Yours, received since that date, are of May the 15th, and June the 6th.  In mine, I acknowledged the receipt of the paccan nuts which came sealed up.  I have reason to believe those in the box have arrived at L’Orient.  By the Mary, Captain Howland, lately sailed from Havre to New York, I shipped three boxes of books, one marked J. M. for yourself, one marked B. F. for Dr. Franklin, and one marked W. H. for William Hay in Richmond.  I have taken the liberty of addressing them all to you, as you will see by the enclosed bill of lading, in hopes you will be so good as to forward the other two.  You will have opportunities of calling on the gentlemen for the freight, &c.  In yours, you will find the books, noted in the account enclosed herewith.  You have now Mably’s works complete, except that on Poland, which I have never been able to get, but shall not cease to search for.  Some other volumes are wanting too, to complete your collection of Chronologies.  The fourth volume of D’Albon was lost by the bookbinder, and I have not yet been able to get one to replace it.  I shall continue to try.  The Memoires sur les Droits et Impositions en Europe (cited by Smith) was a scarce and excessively dear book.  They are now reprinting it.  I think it will be in three or four quartos, of from nine to twelve livres a volume.  When it is finished, I shall take a copy for you.  Amelot’s Travels into China, I can learn nothing of.  I put among the books sent you, two somewhat voluminous, and the object of which will need explanation; these are the Tableau de Paris and L’Espion Anglois.  The former is truly a picture of private manners in