VOL. XXXV.l PHILOSOPHICAL TKANSACTIONS. 251 



cocoa-nut, with the success of each ; which has led him to a sure method for 

 raising such seeds as have hard coats, or shells, surrounding them ; and have 

 been judged very difficult, if not impossible to be raised in England. 



In the year 1724, Mr. Miller had a parcel of fresh cocoa-nuts given him, 

 which were brought over from Barbadoes : from part of these nuts he stripped 

 off their outer coat, or husk : and the other part he left entire as he received 

 them. He planted both these parcels in large pots, filled with good fresh 

 earth, and plunged the pots into a hot-bed made with tanners-bark ; giving 

 them gentle and frequent waterings, as the earth in the pots seemed to require; 

 but had not one, out of the whole number, which made any attempt to shoot, 

 as he could perceive ; and on taking them out of the pots, he found they were 

 rotten. 



About 4 months after, Mr. M. received another fresh parcel of cocoa-nuts 

 from Barbadoes, which he treated in another manner : from part of these he 

 cut off the outer coat or husk, and the other part he left entire as before : but 

 supposing it was owing, to planting the other parcel in pots, that they did not 

 succeed, he made a fresh hot-bed with horse-dung, and covered it over with 

 fresh earth, about 18 inches thick, in which he planted the nuts : observing as 

 before, to supply it with convenient moisture, as also to keep the hot-bed in an 

 equal temperature, by a thermometer graduated for the use of hot-beds : but 

 with all his care he had no better success than before ; not one of the nuts 

 making the least shooting. 



at Chelsea to the Company of Apothecaries, in which place his son succeeded him. He raised him- 

 self, by his merit, to a degree of eminence but rarely attained by a gardener. It is not uncommon 

 to give the name of botanist to any man who can recite by memory the plants in his garden. Miller 

 was above this class. To the knowledge of the theory and practice of gardening, he added that of 

 the structure and characters of plants, and was early and practically versed in the methods of Ray and 

 Tournefort. Habituated to the use of these from his youth, it was not without reluctance that he 

 embraced the system of Linnaeus, but was persuaded at length by the arguments of Sir William 

 Watson and Mr. Hudson. To his superior skill the curious owe tlie culture and preservation of 

 many fine plants, which, in less able hands, would have failed at that time to adorn the conser^^a- 

 tories of England. His attention was not confined to exotics ; few have been ever more acquainted 

 with our indigenous plants, the most rare species of which he cultivated with success. He was ad- 

 mitted not only a fellow of the Royal Society of England, but also of the Botanical Society at 

 Florence : he had an extensive correspondence in foreign countries, and was sometimes by foreigners 

 stiled Hortulanorum Princeps. Of his dictionary Linnaeus has said, " Non erit Lexicon Hortu- 

 lanorum, sed Botanicorum." He has also stiled Miller, " Hortulanus omnium Doctissimus." 

 Mr. Miller, a short time before his decease, resigned, on account of his increasing infirmities, his 

 place at Chelsea, and died Dec. 18, 1771, in the 80th year of his age. His capital work, which, as 

 is well known, has passed through a great many editions, (the last of which by professor Martyn of 

 Cambridge, is unrivalled in its kind) is his Gardener's Dictionary, which has been translated into 

 various languages, and which will ever secure his reputatioa as a scientific cultivator of plants. 

 K K 2 



