West London Gardeners' Association. 4-73 



praiseworthy cause they had taken up, and having pointed out the emulation 

 which companionship in study calls forth, Mr. Leyton pointed out the neces- 

 sit}' of using soft and pure water for the more delicate botanical productions ; 

 showing how it was reasonable to suppose that mineral waters would injure 

 plants in various degrees, according to the circumstances in wiiich they were 

 placed ; and giving it as his decided opinion that mineral waters would be 

 poisonous to vegetables, unless the mineralising portion of them could be proved 

 to be a necessary ingredient in the plant to which they were applied. He then 

 showed the distinction between rain water, sea water, and mineral water ; and, 

 by means of prepared waters, and various chemical tests, he practically ex- 

 plained how any substance, hitherto found in mineral waters, could be de- 

 tected and recognised. He also showed experimentally that, at most, not more 

 than eight of the various substances he had enumerated, and produced tests 

 for, could exist in any one water at the same time, on account of the several 

 double decompositions which they cause amongst one another, by which some 

 of their component parts would be precipitated in the shape of insoluble 

 compounds. After the lecture, the meeting was addressed by Mr. Keane, 

 Mr. Caie, and others, with respect to the motives and usefulness of the 

 institution. 



March 27. 1837. — A letter was read from Mr. Alton, stating the impossi- 

 bility of his being present to give his essay upon the cultivation of the pine- 

 apple; when it was resolved that the subject should nevertheless be discussed. 

 Mr. Fish opened the discussion, by referring to the importance of gardeners, 

 when cultivating tropical fruits, proportioning the temperature to the pre- 

 sence of light, as the effects of heat upon a plant would.be very different, when 

 growing in our stoves in winter, to what it would when the same plant was 

 exposed to heavy dews at night, and the full influence of a tropical sun by 

 day. He detailed some experiments, some of which haJ been unsuccessful, 

 but the results of which convinced hmi that if, in the winter months, the roots 

 of pine-apples were kept in a temperature of 50" or 60°, the top of the plant 

 would receive no injury at 40°, provided the leaves were kept dry. In con- 

 nexion with this, he also referred to the great saving of time, and expense for 

 fuel, that was the result of keeping a low temperature at night, and a high 

 temperature, with little air, during the day. He also adverted to the different 

 methods of supplying heat. The varieties which he recommended for cultiva- 

 tion were, the queen, Otaheite, and Providence, for summer; and the black 

 Jamaica, and globes, for winter. The soil, fresh loam, or a year old, but never 

 turned previously to being used ; mixing sand and leaf-mould when too ad- 

 hesive, and old mushroom dung if not rich enough. He also adverted 

 to the system of propagating fi-om old stools, and the different methods of 

 shifting, before placing the plants in the fruiting pots; preferring keeping 

 the best of the roots of nursery and succession [ilants, after shaking the eartli 

 from them, to either potting them with balls entire, or cutting all the roots 

 awa}'. 



Mr. Russel corroborated the leading ideas of Mr. Fish, but considered one 

 great point had been overlooked ; namely, the means of destroying insects, 

 and he gave the recipe which he had found most effectual; viz. the pouring of 

 boiling water on two ounces of quicksilver, in a six gallon pot, and using it 

 when milk-warm. He, however, mentioned a gardener who was very success- 

 ful in growing good pines, and yet whose plants were foul, and who had never 

 tried to make them clean. Mr. Ayres approved of the general statements 

 advanced ; recommended the true Montserrat, as the best pine for winter 

 fruiting ; ridiculed the prevalent notion of black pines being so long in fruit- 

 ing; detailed an instance, in which the fruit being taken from the plant in 

 autumn, the suckers were removed from tlie stools in February, and brought 

 excellent fruit in November following ; and also an instance, in which a few 

 good queens were cut in six months after being moved from the parent plant. 

 He attached little importance to insects, contending that, under good cultiva- 

 tion, they would soon disappear ; and asserted that the remedy proposed by 



