Jardim de Aclimação

The Austrian botanist Frederico Welwitsch proposed on September 23, 1852 the creation of two acclimatization gardens, one in S. Paulo de Luanda, and another in Funchal. 'The Funchal garden,' said the botanist, 'would form a subtropical garden, receiving tropical plants already accustomed to a certain regular culture, naturalizing them there, in order to be able to cultivate them with better results in less hot climates, as well as acclimating the plants sent from colder countries to vegetate at a higher temperature, thus adapting them to not feeling so strange in their culture in tropical regions... The scientific gardens of Lisbon, Coimbra, and Porto would receive from the Funchal garden the tropical and subtropical plants acclimatized there, and would send useful plants from colder countries to acclimatize there.' The acclimatization garden of Funchal was never created, despite the great advantages that would result not only for our island, but also for Portugal and several foreign countries.