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in years. We greybeards however fhould be loth to venture upon the Author's noftrum, on his fingle example, or authority though we have a much better opinion of his other recipe for old age-of giving occafionally a kind of filip to nature,' of a very different kind from the preceding, in now and then exceeding in the ufe of good wine, of a proper age.'

The reader who has been amufed by thefe fpecimens of the character of his prefent Bath Guide,' or by his recommendations of young girls, and old wine, will probably receive further amufement from him on the various other fubjects on which he has chosen to inftruct as well as entertain him. Thefe fubjects, which are difcuffed without any rigid adherence to method, are -the Bath Waters and their analyfers, Apothecaries, Phyficians, Bathing, Surgeons, Bilious Diforders, Mufic, Dr. Bacher's Cure of the Dropfy, hot Rolls and burnt Butter, Gall-ftones, &c. together with fo many ftories, and goffiping anecdotes interfperfed, as induced us to infer-whatever the young maidens may think that he furely muft be confiderably turned of fixty.

ART. V. A Treatise on the Culture of the Pine Apple, and the Management of the Hot-house; together with a Defcription of every Species of Infect that infefts Hot-houses; with effectual Methods of defroying them. By William Speechley, Gardener to the Duke of Portland. 8vo. II. I s. Almon. 1779.

OF

F the various arts by which human life is embellished and adorned, or which administer to its comfort and conveniency, there are few that furnish it with more elegant and blameless luxury than horticulture. This luxury is by no means confined to the palate; it extends itself to the gratification of the mind. In cultivating the various productions of nature, and in attending to the progrefs of vegetable life, the fancy meets with continued recreation and amufement, and every seafon brings to us a new fource of pleasure.

Perhaps there is no part of the gardener's art more capable of gratifying the contemplative mind than that refined branch of it which gives, to the natives of a warmer region, an atmosphere congenial to their own. By means of the modern invention of ftoves, there are few plants, remarkable for use or beauty, but have been naturalized, and are become objects of attention to the curious, in this useful and entertaining study. There is perhaps no tropical plant that has been cultivated with more affiduity, and, we may add, fuccefs, than that which is the fubject of the prefent treatise.

One of the principal difficulties that have attended the management of this valuable exotic, has been, to destroy the infects which infeft it. Of thefe Mr. Speechley enumerates three Species-The brown turtle infect, the Coccus Hefperidum of Lin

næus;

næus; the white fcaly infect; and the white mealy crimsontinged infect: the two laft have been hitherto unnoticed by all former entomologifts. For which reafon, as well as because they are the most pernicious, the prefent Writer has been particularly accurate in the defcription of them. The methods that have been formerly in ufe for extirpating thefe noxious vermin, have been, to fhift the plants into freth pots, at the fame time cleansing their leaves and roots, which is ufually ftiled a dreffing.

Decoctions, continues he, made from tobacco, wormwood, walnut-leaves, henbane, and other herbs of a bitter or poifonous quality, are generally used on this occafion; and, by fome, fnuff, fulphur, and pepper are added: but none of these prove to be of a nature fufficiently penetrating. There are infects always between the leaves in the centres of the plants, fixed fo low as to escape unhurt; and as they increase, the pine plants are foon reduced to the very fituation I have juft defcribed, which perplexes and gives the gardener everlafting vexation. Befides, it is evident that this unfeasonable bufinefs of fhifting and dreffing the plants, will confiderably retard their growth, and bring upon them a fickly appearance, efpecially in their laft ftage, viz. their fruiting feafon.'

After relating what fuggefted to him the method of cure which he now recommends, he then gives the receipt: but for that, as well as for feveral curious particulars relative to the experiments that have been made with it, we muft refer to the book itself. To thofe who have hot-houses, the receipt will not be thought dearly purchased at the price of the book, which indeed is valuable on other accounts alfo. With respect to the general management of pine-apple plants, Mr. Speechley has thrown out many ufeful and ingenious hints. Of this clafs perhaps is the following:

Whenever the pine plants are removed after they are grown large, it will be of fervice, before they are taken out of the tan-bed, to mark the fide of the pots which stands next the fun; for it is obfervable, that the centres of the plants generally tend that way fo that the plants when replaced, may ftand as they did before they were removed. I do not mean that it is at all neceffary for the plants to be put into the very identical places in which they ftood before, but in point of pofition it will be proper, and the plants will be benefited by being fo placed. This may as eafily be done as placing them in a random manner, which is the common method.'

This rule, however, though ingenious, is by no means original. With respect to the pofition of tranfplanted trees, it is of very ancient date. Theophraftus fays exprefsly, "HUTEρ xar ἕνια τῶν δένδρων τὰ πρὸς βοῤῥαν, καὶ τα προς ἕω, καὶ τα προς sonulpixv. Columella is equally circumftantial: Cum de fe

A a 2

minario

minario eximuntur, rubrica notetur una pars, quæ nos admoneat, ne aliter arbores conftituamus, quam quemadmodum in feminario fteterint. Plurimum enim refert, ut eam partem cœli fpectent, cui ab tenero confueverunt. We meet with the fame precept allo in Virgil, who, in directing the removal of vines from the nursery into the vineyard, obferves, with his usual accuracy and precifion, that the curious in this branch of agriculture not only attend to fimilarity of foil,

Quin etiam cœli regionem in cortice fignant:

Ut quo quæque modo fteterit, qua parte calores
Auftrinos tulerit, quæ terga obverterit axi,

Reftituant: adeo in teneris confuefcere multum eft. Fanciful as this notion has, in general, been deemed by thofe who fuperficially examined it, Mr. Speechly, we apprehend, is convinced, from actual experiment, that it is founded in truth.

In our account of Memoires concernant l'Hiftoire, &c. des Chinois, vol. lix. p. 523, we took notice of a method in use among that ingenious people, of raifing an artificial dew in their hothoufes, by means of boiling water. Mr. Speechley's method we fhould apprehend to be fuperior, both in fimplicity and effect.

Befides the watering of the pine plants in the manner recommended, it will be of great ufe to them during the fummer, if the walks and flues of the hot-house are frequently watered this fhould conftantly be done in warm weather, and always late in the evening; the glaffes fhould be immediately clofed. The great heat of the hot- houfe will exhale the moifture, and raise a kind of artificial dew, which will foon ftand in drops on the glaffes; the leaves of the pine being fucculent, they will imbibe the watery particles, to the great benefit of the plants. It will alfo be of great ufe to give the top of the tanbed frequent waterings during the fummer, in order to keep it in a moift ftate; for when the tan becomes dry and husky, the pine plants never make any great progrefs. The water may, with great eafe, be put upon the tan between the pine pots, by the help of the watering pipe. When the tan is in a moist ftate, it not only affords a more generous warmth to the plants, but (the pots being porous) their roots alfo imbibe a conftant moisture, which is far preferable to any waterings that can be given them.

Though it might injure Mr. Speechley in the emoluments of his publication even to hint at the nature of his fecret for deftroying the infects which infeft pine-apple plants, yet we think neither he nor our readers will be offended at our inferting the following note, which, befides the useful information it contains, will ferve alfo as a fpecimen of the skill and abilities of this ingenious and philosophical artist:"

⚫ Soap

Soap-fuds effectually deftroy the different fpecies of infects' that infeft fruit-trees growing againft walls; of these infects the aphis is the most common as well as the most destructive. It generally attacks, with great violence, the peach, cherry, and plum: the aphides are univerfally known by the appellation of lice.

The acarus, though not fo fatal to plants growing in the open air as when under glafs, is alfo very prejudicial to the above trees when planted against walls.

The thrips are fometimes very numerous on peach and nectarine trees, but they are lefs hurtful than either of the former fpecies: befides the above, there are two or three forts of Cocci that are very common upon fruit-trees; but as they adhere very close to the branches, they are not fo confpicuous, and confequently lefs known. However, trees that are much infested with Cocci are, in the fummer, very diftinguishable, as wafps conftantly attend thefe infects to feed on the fweet matter that iffues from them. When the muscle-fhaped Coccus has been very numerous, I have known hive-bees frequent the trees in great abundance.

In the spring, the Aphis, the Acarus, and Thrips are few in number, in comparifon to what they are in the fummer: however, I have conftantly obferved the two former fpecies on the buds of the trees, before they break into leaf, especially on fuch trees as have been much infefted with them the preceding fummet.

It is most probable that the infects that furvive the winter, in whatever ftate, are concealed during that period either under the branches of the trees, or in the fhreds that faften them to the wall; elfe in the nail-holes or crevices of the wall; in all these fituations the foap-fuds have fully anfwered my most fanguine expectations. The operation is far from being either troublesome or expenfive; and the method is practicable at any season, but more efpecially between the fall of the leaf and the time the bloffom-buds are near ready to open. Proceed thus:

Take any quantity of foap-fuds after a common washing; but when they are thick and ftrong, they fhould be lowered with water. A perfon on a ladder fhould pour them from a watering-pot over both trees and walls, beginning at the top of the wall, and bringing it on in courfes from top to bottom; the fuds when used fhould be many degrees warmer than new milk, especially in the winter; and when plentifully and properly applied, every part of the wall will appear of a pale red colour, not in the leaft disagreeable.

• Moft large families, in the course of a few months, make a quantity of the above liquid fufficient to wash a great extent of wall.

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• Befide the advantage of destroying infects, the fuds appear to be productive of other good effects. When applied juft after the fall of the leaf, they contribute much to preferve the wood of the delicate and tender kinds of peaches. I account for it thus: It is allowed that our fummers are, in general, too fhort to perfect the wood of the tender kinds of peach and nectarine trees without artificial means, and when the wood of these trees is imperfectly ripened, it is very fubject to the canker, efpecially if, in the fucceeding winter, there happens a fucceffion of rain and froft. This the nursery man, as well as the gardener, often woefully experiences.

I conftantly have obferved that the canker originates at, or clofe adjoining to, the buds of the last year's wood. The caufe feems to be this. Wood imperfectly ripened is always foft and spongy, and therefore admits of imbibing a large por tion of moisture in rainy weather. The bud and the fine capillary veffels adjoining it being furcharged with moisture in a wet evening, when the froft comes at night, it freezes the moilture in the veffels, and caufes it to expand; which, by tearing the veffels afunder, brings on a decay of the parts. Now the foap-fuds feem to leave a gloffy kind of coat or covering on the branches, and the oily particles contained in the fuds, by penetrating them, prevent their being overcharged with moisture.

But here it may feem ftrange that oil fhould act this friendly part, when it is well known to be fo highly pernicious to plants in general. That it is fo, in its genuine ftate, is proved by daily experience. The general and received opinion of wool being poifonous to plants, is from no other caufe than from the oil contained in it.

But notwithstanding that oil has this pernicious effect on plants, when in its original and genuine ftate, ftill, when made mifcible, perhaps nothing is more nourishing and friendly to them. This brings me to confider foap-fuds as a manure to the borders, for it is evident that by the rains and dews, the principal of it does terminate there at laft; and this important confideration alone is fufficient to recommend the practice. It may feem unneceffary to obferve, that foap-fuds contain a larger portion of oily particles after a common washing, than in the original state.

I fhall conclude this digreffional note with obferving, that foap-fuds keep trees clear of mofs, and render the bark clear and healthy.'

The branch of gardening which has of late received the greatest improvements, is that which relates to the management of hot-houfes, hot-walls, and hot-beds. A general treatife on thefe fubjects, explaining the particular modes of cultivating the various plants that are raised or brought to perfection by

thefe

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