THE PINE APPLE. 81 



the air among them was from 55 to about 65 ; and 

 I do not recollect of having any of the plants die 

 for want of heat. 



Insects. By many experiments which I made, it 

 is evident, I think, that in the process of managing 

 and cultivating the Pine Apple, all injurious insects 

 may be destroyed, and prevented from breeding on 

 them, by a judicious application of the elements 

 necessary, though in a less degree in regard to heat, 

 for the production of any vegetables or fruits what- 

 ever. That this is true, may be proved by a refer- 

 ence to the state of fruits and vegetables growing, 

 either spontaneously or assisted by cultivation, in 

 every part of the kingdom, without the aid of arti- 

 ficial heat or impregnated air. For instance, the 

 strawberry, the raspberry, and some other fruits, 

 which grow naturally in some parts of this country, 

 and peas, beans, cabbage, and cauliflowers in gar- 

 dens, and the different sorts of corn and grass in 

 the fields. These, in unkind seasons, we see affect- 

 ed by blights and by insects of various kinds, which 

 prevent them from coming to good maturity, and 

 make them less productive than we wish them to 

 be. But in propitious seasons, the earth being re- 

 freshed occasionally by showers of rain, they are 

 preserved from the inroads of insects and from 

 blights, and are enabled to produce abundant crops, 

 for the use of man and beast." 



Mr. M'Phail has thus the merit of being one 

 of the first practical gardeners who freed them- 

 selves from the trammels of receipts and secrets for 



G 



