432 Destruction of the Mealj/ Bug and Scale. - 



the pits, or to throw any tan away, except the dust that was 

 sifted out. I have had testimonials sent me from those whom 

 I recommended to adopt the above method, all stating that 

 it had the desired effect. I am, Sir, &c. 



Wimpole Gardens, Arrington, James Dall. 



Cambridgeshire. 



PS. — The above communication, respecting the destruc- 

 tion of the above-mentioned pine insects, was written pre- 

 viously to my receiving the Eighteenth Number of the Gar- 

 dener's Magazine, and with a view of being transmitted to 

 you. The 18th Art. of that Number (Vol. V. p. 57.) gives a 

 statement, by Mr. M'Murtrie, dated Jan. 1. 1829, of a cure 

 adopted by him, eight or nine years ago, nearly the same as 

 mine. When I observed the statement of Mr. M'Murtrie, as 

 above, I hesitated, and thought that my statement, if then 

 sent, would be considered by you undeserving of notice. 



However, after maturely considering all the circumstances 

 that have attended my professional labours in the growth of 

 pine-apples, &c., I conceived, if I did not lay my statement be- 

 fore you, I should be shrinking from a duty I owed to myself and 

 to the younger branches of my family. If Mr. M'Murtrie is 

 correct in his dates, I can prove that I applied to my pines 

 my effectual cure three years before he applied his cure to his 

 pines. In proof of this my assertion, were it required, I 

 could refer to a very worthy man, with whom I have been in- 

 timately acquainted for the last twenty -two years, Mr. Joseph 

 Knight, Exotic Nursery, King's Road, Chelsea. Many others 

 I could refer to, besides the very men who executed the work 

 under my inspection ; and last, although not the least in my 

 estimation, to my noble and generous employers, the Earl 

 and Countess of Hardwicke. 



The caution which Mr. M'Murtrie says should be observed 

 in the use of camphor, and his observation, that unless the plants 

 are very much infested, camphor may be omitted altogether, 

 will, I fear, lead young gardeners wrong, and deter older people 

 from adopting his method. The contents of my communication 

 have not been altered, amended, or curtailed since my writing 

 it in the last month of 1828. My practice of pine culture 

 (Vol. III. p. 183.) can only vary with the seasons, and that 

 variation only a few days from the time stated by me for the 

 several shiftings, &c. You, no doubt, are aware that my 

 system of growing pines differs from many. I have no means 

 of giving heat, except by tan at bottom and lining of leaves 

 round the pits. With such means only, and at my own sug- 

 gestion, I have been able to send to table, or to where they 



