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THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL ; 



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you should also refresh them now and then with a little water; 

 but be very careful not to let them have too much, or be too 

 often watered, especially before they are rooted. When the 

 plants begin to shoot, you must give them a large share of air, 

 by raising the glasses, otherwise the shoots will draw up so 

 weak as not to be able to support themselves ; and after they 

 have taken strong root, you should inure them to the air by 

 degrees, and then remove them into the stove, where they 

 should remain, placing them near the glasses, which should 

 always be opened in warm weather, so that they may have 

 the advantage of a free air, and yet be protected from wet 

 and cold. They often require water in summer : they thrive 

 best when the heat is at the temperate point, as marked upon 

 the botanical thermometers, for if they are kept too warm in 

 winter, it causes their shoots to be very tender, weak, and 

 unsightly. Those sorts which are inclinable to grow up- 

 right, should have their branches supported with stakes, 

 otherwise their weight is so great it will break them down. 

 These plants are by most people exposed to the open air in 

 the summer season ; but they thrive much better if they are 

 continued in the stoves, provided the glasses be kept open, so 

 that they may have free air ; for when they are set abroad, 

 the great rains which generally fall in summer, together with 

 the unsettled temperature of the air in our climate, greatly 

 diminish their beauty, by retarding their growth ; and some- 

 times in wet summers they are so replete with moisture, as to 

 rot the succeeding winter; nor will those tender plants which 

 are set abroad produce their flowers and fruit in such plenty, 

 as those which are constantly preserved in the house. 



18. Cactus Opuntia ; Common Indian Fig, or Prickly Pear. 

 Proliferous-jointed, loose; joints ovate, setaceous. The joints 

 or branches of the common Opuntia, or Indian fig, are 

 ovate, compressed, and have very small leaves coming out 

 in knots on their surface, as also on their upper edges, which 

 fall off in a short time ; and at the same knots there are 

 three or four bristly spines, which do not appear unless they 

 are closely viewed ; but on being handled they enter the skin, 

 are troublesome, and very difficult to get out again. The 

 branches spread near the ground, and frequently trail upon it, 

 putting out new roots, and thus extending to a considerable 

 distance, but never rising in height ; they are fleshy and her- 

 baceous whilst young, but as they grow old become dryer, of 

 a tough contexture, and have woody fibres. The flowers 

 come out on the upper edges of the branches generally, 

 though sometimes they are produced on their sides ; the skin 

 or cover of the fruit is set with small spines in clusters, and 

 the inside is fleshy, of a purple or red colour. It flowers 

 here in July and August ; but, unless the season is very warm, 

 the fruit will not ripen in England. This sort is now found 

 growing wild on the sides of the roads about Naples, and 

 other parts of Italy, in Sicily, Spain, Portugal, the Valais, 

 the south of France, Minorca, &c. For the propagation and 

 culture, see the preceding species. 



19. Cactus Ficus Indica ; Oblong Indian Fig. Proliferous - 

 jointed ; joints ovate, oblong ; spines setaceous. The flowers 

 come out from tke upper edges of the leaves, like those of 

 the preceding species ; but they are larger, and of brighter 

 yellow colour : the fruit is also larger, and of a deeper 

 purple colour ; the outer skin is also armed with longer 

 spines. This is the most common sort in Jamaica, and 

 upon the fruit of this, the wild sort of cochineal insect 

 feeds, which is called Silvester. Dr. Houstoun, who was 

 writing a history of these insects, sent some of the plants 

 from Jamaica with the insects alive upon them, and they 

 lived three or four months after their arrival. It' the fruit 

 of this plant be eaten, it will dye the urine of a bloody colour. 



This seems to be a native not only of South America, but 

 also of the East Indies, Cochin-china, Japan, and Madeira. 

 See the seventeenth species. 



20. Cactus Tuna ; Great Indian Fig, or Upright Prickly 

 Pear. Proliferous-jointed ; joints ovate, oblong ; spines 

 subulate. This species has stronger branches than the fore- 

 going sort, and they are armed with larger thorns, which are 

 awl-shaped, whitish, and in clusters ; the flowers are large. 

 of a bright yellow colour ; and the fruit is shaped like that of 

 the foregoing species. Professor Martyn enumerates two va- 

 rieties ; the first of which grows taller, with larger and thicker 

 branches, and of a deeper green, and are armed with strong 

 black spines coming out in clusters, which are far asunder; the 

 flowers are smaller, and of a purplish colour, as are also the 

 stamina ; the fruit is of the same form with that of the com- 

 mon sort, and does not ripen here. The second variety, 

 called Opuntia Maxima, is the largest of all the sorts yet 

 known ; the joints are more than a foot long, and eight inches 

 broad ; they are very thick, of a deep green colour, and are 

 armed with a few short spines; the older branches of this 

 often become almost taper, and are very strong; it has not 

 flowered, though many of the plants were more than ten 

 feet high. It makes very strong fences ; the prickles are 

 so sharp that the cattle are afraid of coming near them ; 

 and it spreads very much, both by the joints and the seed. 

 VVheo the island of St. Christopher was to be divided between 

 theEnglishand theFrench, three rows of the tuna were plant- 

 ed by common consent between the boundaries. Dr. Smith, 

 in his very ingenious paper upon the irritability of vegetables, 

 informs us, that the long and slender stamina of the flower 

 are very irritable ; and that if a quill or feather be drawn 

 through them, in the space of two or three seconds they begin 

 to lie down gently on one side, and in a short time become 

 recumbent at the bottom of the flower. It is a native of 

 South America and Jamaica. See the seventeenth species. 



21. Cactus Cochinillifer ; Cochineal Indian Fig. Proli- 

 ferous-jointed ; joints ovate-oblong, almost unarmed. This, 

 which is supposed to be the plant upon which the cochineal 

 insect feeds, has oblong, smooth, upright branches, rising to 

 the height of eight or ten feet, having scarcely any spines on 

 them, and the few which there are, so soft as not to be trou- 

 blesome when handled. The flowers are small, and of a pur- 

 ple colour ; they do not spread open, appear late in autumn 

 with us, and the fruit drops off in winter without coming to 

 perfection. The cochineal insect feeds on many succulent 

 plants, but most commonly on the Cactus Genus. For this 

 reason the Indians propagate large quantities of the most 

 harmless species, to breed the insects upon ; Dam pier's ac- 

 count of which is as follows, " The plant on which the cochi- 

 neal insect feeds is like the prickly pear, about five feet hi^h, 

 and as prickly, only the leaves are not quite so large, although 

 the fruit is larger : on the top of the fruit there grows a red 

 flower ; this, when the fruit is ripe, falls down on the top of 

 it, and covers it so that no rain or dew can wet the inside. 

 A day or two after, the flowers being scorched up by the 

 heat of the sun, the fruit opens wide, and the inside appears 

 full of small red insects. The Indians, when they perceive 

 the fruit open, spread a large linen cloth, and then with 

 sticks shake the plant, to disturb the insects, so that they 

 take wing to be gone, but keep hovering over the plant, till 

 by the heat they fall down dead on the cloth, where they 

 let them remain two or three days to dry. The cochineal 

 plants are called toona by the Spaniards. They are planted 

 in the country about Guatimala, Cheapo, and Guaxaca, in. 

 the kingdom of Mexico." The difference in point of good- 

 ness, observable in the cochineal, is entirely owing to the 



