Fbb.1 the hot-house. 



167 



decline, add afresh lining of hot dung, as directed for cucumber and 

 melon beds. Or these seeds may be sowed in pots, and plunged 

 into the bark-bed in the stove. 



Plant cuttings of Geraniums, Fuschias, 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 

 inspection, 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 becomes 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 Linnseus, Geoffrey, or 

 Sclueffer, 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 simi- 

 lar to it in its manner of breeding, the process of which, curious 

 naturalists have observed to be nearly as follows: The eggs which 

 are discharged from the female, are pushed forward between the 

 skin of the belly and the leaf of the plant, to which the insect 

 adheres; in consequence of this, the skin of the belly becomes less 

 distended, which enables the insect to afford a large covering to the 

 eggs already excluded. When the eggs are all discharged, the 

 skin of the belly retreats close to the back of the parent insect, 

 which then appears like a mere scale. If the insect in this state be 



