176 THE HOT-HOUSE. [FEB. 



your frames, and lay eight or ten inches of good fresh tan even over 

 the bed ; if that cannot be conveniently had, lay on six inches of dry 

 eacth ; when the bed comes to its heat, sow your seeds separately in 

 pots, and plunge them into the tan or earth ; some of these will not 

 vegetate for a long time, and others frequently lie in the ground a 

 whole year. When the heat of the bed is on the decline, add a fresh 

 lining of hot dung, as directed for cucumber and melon beds. Or 

 these seed may be sowed in pots, and plunged into the bark-bed in 

 the stove. 



Plant cuttings of Geraniums, Fuchsias, Myrtles, Hydrangeas, and 

 other green-house plants in small pots, one or more in each, and 

 plunge them into a hot-bed; they will now freely strike root and be 

 fine early plants ; these when they begin to grow must have plenty 

 of air occasionally, and be carefully protected at night and in severe 

 weather. ' . 



THE HOT-HOUSE. 



As most hot-houses are frequently infested with various kinds of 

 insects, which do very considerable injury to the plants, it may be 

 of some importance to give a description of these, and also the most 

 effectual methods of destroying them. 



OF THE SPECIES OF INSECTS THAT INFEST THE PINE-APPLE PLANTS. 



1. THE BROWN TURTLE INSECT. Coccus hesperidum of Linn. 

 This species is not only found upon the pines and most other plants 

 which grow in hot-houses, but also upon many plants which are in 

 green-houses. These insects, after they are arrived at a certain age, 

 fix themselves immovably to the leaves of the plant ; but, before that 

 time, though they generally appear motionless, yet on a close inspec- 

 tion, in a very warm day, many of them, and especially the smaller 

 ones, may be perceived to move to different parts of the plant, being 

 in appearance much like a turtle in miniature. 



A sweet glutinous matter issues from these insects, this soon turns 

 mouldy, and in time become quite black, which causes the plants to 

 appear very unsightly. But as these insects do not, in any other 

 respect, injure the pine-plants, I shall pass over them, and proceed 

 to those of a more pernicious nature. 



2. THE WHITE SCALY INSECT. This insect, as far as I can learn, 

 has hitherto remained undescribed; neither Linnaeus, Geoffrey, or 

 Scheeffer, seem to have known it. 



This species is very nearly allied to the former, both of them being 

 Cocci, and of the oviparous kind ; it seems to be exactly similar to it 

 in its manner of breeding, the process of which, curious naturalists 

 have observed to be nearly as follows: The eggs which are dis- 

 charged from the female, are pushed forward between the skin of 

 the belly and the leaf of the plant, to which the insect adheres; in 



