Tfansaciio7is of the London Horticultural Society. 85 



" la the treatment on board, too much attention cannot be 

 given to exposing the plants to the open air at all times when 

 the weather will admit of it. As a general rule, it may be said 

 that the boxes should be kept shut as long as the sun is 

 above the horizon, and opened during the night, whenever 

 the weather appears steadily fine. Where the cases are 

 placed under the awning, the former precaution is less 

 necessary; and a due consideration of the changeableness 

 of weather at sea will of course direct particular attention 

 to closing the roofs, if bad weather come on. Whenever a 

 shower falls, the plants should be fully exposed to it, taking 

 care, at the same time, that too much moisture be not 

 admitted. 



" With regard to watering, it is desirable that the captain 

 should provide for each plant one pint a day ; because, 

 although in rainy weather no water is required, yet, if the 

 weather is very hot, a larger allowance than this may be ne- 

 cessary. The water should be given in such a manner that 

 the leaves and branches may be refreshed, besides the root ; 

 part should therefore be sprinkled over them, the rest poured 

 on the earth. Generally, half a pint of water should be 

 sprinkled over the plants before you shut them up in the 

 morning, and the same quantity when the cases are opened 

 in the evening ; a greater quantity will, however, of course, 

 be given in hot dry weather, than when the sky is overcast, 

 and the air moist. It has happened, in the large collection 

 brought home by myself, as well as in another which came 

 subsequently in the same ship [the Orient, Captain Thomas 

 White], that such was the vigour with which plants thus 

 treated grew, that it was frequently necessary to have recourse 

 to the knife, in order to check their luxuriance. 



" When the plants have arrived in England, they should 

 not be immediately taken from their pots, but allowed to 

 remain in them in a conservatory or hot-house, according to 

 the nature of the plants themselves, or the season of their 

 arrival. Water should be sparingly given, and the plants 

 well cleansed from the dust and other matters which may 

 have collected on their leaves during their voyage." 



The doctor concludes his valuable paper by confessing 

 that, " after all, the success of a consignment of plants de- 

 pends so much upon the good-will of the captain, and his dis- 

 position to promote the objects contemplated, that, unless 

 both interest and zea-1 concur, even the best arrangements 

 will be frustrated." Dr. Wallich was fortunate in having 

 to cooperate with Captain White, in whom were both these 

 qualities. 



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