The fecond time for fliitting of them is in 



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at mofc ihrce-halfpenny pots, accorJuig to the fize of 

 the pLmts ; for you mult be very careful not to over- 

 pot them, nothing being more prejudicial to thefe 



plants. 



the beginning of Auguft, when you fliould Ihift thofe 

 plants wiiich are of a proper fize for fruiting the fol- 

 lowing fpring, into two-penny pots, which are full 

 •large enough for any of thefe plants. At each of 

 thefe times of iliifting the plants, the bark-bed Ihould 

 be ftirred up, and fome new bark added, to raife the 

 bed up to the heiglit it was at firit made ; and when 

 the pots are plunged again into the bark-bed, the 

 plants {hould be watered gently all over their leaves, 

 to wafli off the filth, and to fettle the earth to the 

 roots of the plants. If the bark-bed be well ftirred, 

 and a quantity of good frefti bark added to the bed, 

 at this latter Ihifting, it will be of great fervice to the 

 plants i and they may remain in the fame tan until 

 the beginning of November, or fometimes later, ac- 

 cording to the mildnefs of thefcafon, and will require 

 but little fire before that time. During the winter 

 feafon thefe plants will not require to be watered 

 oftener than once a week, according as you find the 

 earth in the pots to dry : nor fhould you give them 

 too much at each time, for it is much better to give 

 them a little water often, than to over-water them, 

 efpecially at this feafon. 



You muft obferve never to Ihift thofe plants which 

 fliew their fruit, into other pots ; for if they are re- 

 moved after the fruit appears, it will ftop their 

 growth, and thereby caufe the fruit to be fmaller, and 



- retard its ripening, fo that many times it will be Oc- 

 tober or November before the fruit is ripe -, therefore 

 you Ihould be very careful to keep the plants in a 



■ vigorous growing ftate, from the firft appearance of 

 the fruit, becaufe upon this depends the goodnefs and 

 .fize of the fruit •, for if they receive a check after this, 

 the fruit is generally fmall and ill tafted. 

 When you have cut off the fruit from the plants, 

 whofe kind you are defirous to propagate, you fhould 

 trim the leaves, and plunge the pots into a moderate 

 hot-bed, obferving to refrefh them frequently with 

 water, which will caufe them to put out fuckers in 

 plenty ; fo that a perfon may be foon fupplied with 

 j>lants enough of any of the kinds, who will but ob- 

 lerve to keep the plants in health. 



. Tliere is not any thing which can happen to thefe 

 plants of a more dangerous nature, than to have them 

 attacked by fmall white infeds, which appear at firft 

 like a white mildew, but foon after have the appear- 

 ance of lice : thefe attack both root and leaves at the 

 fame time, and if they are not foon deftroyed, will 

 fpread over a whole ftove in a fhort time ; and in a 

 ew weeks will entirely ftop the growth of the plants, 

 by fucking out the nutritious juice, fo that the leaves 

 will appear yellow and fickly,' and have generally a 

 great number of yellow tranfparent fpots all over 

 them. Thefe infedts, after they are fully grown, ap- 

 pear like bugs, and adhere fo clofely to the leaves, as 

 not to be eafily waftied off, and feem as if tliey had 

 no life in them. They were originally brought from 

 America upon the plants which were imported from 

 thence, and I believe they are the fame infe£ls which 

 have deftroyed the fugar canes of late years in fome 

 cf the Leeward iflands. Since they have been in 

 England, they have fpread greatly in fuch ftoves, 

 where there has not been more than ordinary care 

 taken to deftroy them. They have alfo attacked the 

 Orange-trces^n many gardens near London, and have 

 done them incredible damage ; but I do not find they 

 will endure the cold of our climate in winter, fo that 

 they are never found on fuch plants as live in the open 

 air. The only method I have been yet able to dif- 

 cover for dcftroying thefe infecb, is by waftiing the 

 leaves, branches, and ftems, of fuch plants as they 

 attack, frequently with water, in which there has 

 been a ftrong infufion of Tobacco-ftalks, wliich I find 

 will deftroy the infefts, and not prejudice the plants. 

 But ti;is metliod cannot be pradiled on the Ananas 

 plants, becaufe the infecU will fatten theinfclves fo 



A N 



low between the leaves, that it is impoffible to conic 

 at them with a fpongc to wafti them off; fo that if 

 all thofe which appear to fight are cleared off, they 

 will foon be fucceeded by a frefti fupply from below, 

 and the roots will be alfo equally infefted with them. 

 Therefore, wherever thefe infeds appear on the plants, 

 the fafeft method will be, to take the plants out of 

 the pots, and clear the earth from the roots ; then 

 prepare a large tub, which ftiould be filled with v/ater, 

 in which there has been a ftrong infufion of Tobacco- 

 ftalks ; into this tub you ftiould put the plants, placing 

 fome fticks acrofs the tub, to keep the plants im- 

 merfed in water. In this water they fhould remain 

 twenty-four hours ; then take them out, and with a 

 fponge wafli off all the infefts from the leaves and 

 roots, which maybe eafily effedled v/hen the infefts 

 are killed by the infufion -, then cut off all the fmall 

 fibres of the roots, and dip the plants into a tub of 

 fair water, wafhing them therein, w^hich is the moft 

 .effedual way to clear them from tlie infeds. Then 

 , you ftiould pot them in frcfh earth, and having ftirred 

 up the bark-bed, and added fome new tan to give a 

 frefti heat to the bed, the pots fnould be plunged 

 again, obferving to water them all over the leaves (as 

 was before directed) and this fhould be repeated once 

 a week during the fummer feafon ; for I obferve thefe 

 infedts always multiply much fafter where the plants 

 are kept dry, than in fuch places where the plants are 

 fometimes fprinkled over with water, and kept in a 

 growing ' ftate. And the fame is alfo obferved in 

 America, for it is in long droughts that the infefts 

 make fuch deftruftion in the fugar canes. • And in 

 . thofe iflands where they have had feveral very dry 

 feafons of late, they have increafed to fuch a degree, 

 as to deftroy the greateft part of the canes in the 

 iflands, rendering them not only unfit for fugar, but 

 poifon the juice of the plant, fo as to difquahfy it for 

 making rum, whereby, many planters have been 

 ruined. 



As thefe infects are frequently brought over from 

 America on the Ananas plants which come from 

 thence, thofe perfons who procure their plants from 

 thence, fhould look carefully over them when they 

 receive them, to fee they have none of thefe infefts 

 on them; for if they have, they will foon be propa- 

 gated over all the plants in the ftove where thefe are 

 placed : therefore, whenever they are obferved, the 

 plants fhould be foaked (as was before direded) be- 

 fore they are planted into pots. 



It was formerly the common practice of thofe perfons, 

 who cultivated this fruit in Europe, to build dry 

 ftoves, in which they kept their plants in winter, pla- 

 cing the pots on fcaffolds (after the manner in which 

 Orange-trees are placed in a green-houfe), and in the 

 fummer to place them in hot-beds of tanners bark 

 under frames. This was the method praftifed in Hol- 

 land for raifing this fruit, which by Monfieur Le 

 Cour's gardener was firft taught thofe perfons, 

 whom his mafter was fo kind as to fend the plants. 

 But as the culture of thefe plants have fince become 

 general in England, there has been great improve- 

 ments made, not only in the contrivances of the 

 ftoves, but alfo in the culture of the plants. For by 

 the former method, the plants were kept upon fhelves 

 at leaft four or five months, whereby the extreme 

 fibres of their roots became dry and hard ; for if the 

 plants were too often watered, it occafioned their rot- 

 - ting; fo that during the winter feafon, when the plants 

 fhould be preparing their fruit for the next fummer, 

 they were at a ftand, making little or no progrefs, 

 whereby the fruit did not appear early enougli in the 

 fpring to ripen in fummer, nor were the fruit fo 

 large. 



Therefore, to remedy this inconvenience, it is now 

 the praftice of thofe perfons who are defirous to pro- 

 pagate the fruit, to ered low ftoves, with pits therein 

 for the hot-bed, in the manner hereafter defcribed and 

 figured; thefe are built in different ways, according 

 to the fancy of the contriver. Some peifons build 

 them with upright glaftes in front, about four feet 



high, 



