468 Transactions of the London Horticultural Society. 



its succeeding; and from a trial I made with a late plant of tlie Ispahan 

 melon, last summer, I have reason to think that this, and all the Persian 

 varieties, except those which are liable to crack, can be matured by the end 

 of Auo-ust, or beginning of September, and afford a supply, till the middle of 

 October, of very superior quality to any raised in close frames." 



25. On the Cultivation of Figs. By T. A. Knight, Esq., F.R.S., Pres. Read 



February 21. 1837. 



" I made, during several successive years, attempts to ripen one of these, 

 the Nerii fig, which is one of the best, if not the best, of the figs of Italy : 

 and I have ultimately succeeded ; and as the mode of management which I 

 have adopted is peculiar only, and not difficult or expensive, and nearly 

 similar to that under which the peach and nectarine will be found to acquire 

 the highest state of perfection, I have thought the following account of it 

 worth communicating. 



" I begin to heat the house in the middle of February, and continue the 

 fire till the fruit has acquired its first swelling in May. If artificial heat be 

 still applied, the first-formed fruit will fall off, and will be succeeded by other 

 fruit, which will also fall off abortively. The fruit, therefore, after it has 

 acquired its first swelling, is subjected to the influence of confined solar heat 

 only, till it begins to acquire maturity. Much air is then given ; and, if the 

 weather be not dry and bright, artificial heat is, to a small extent, again em- 

 ployed, to prevent the mature fruit becoming mouldy; and I believe, upon 

 the evidence of many friends, who are well acquainted with the merits of that 

 fruit in different southern climates, that it is rarely seen in a higher state of 

 perfection than when ripened in the manner above described. The fig is 

 naturally ripened in shade, and in southern climates the birds and insects 

 destroy, or injm-e, most of the best, before it has acquired its perfect state of 

 'maturity. 



" The peach and nectarine acquire the greatest state of perfection in the 

 climate of England (and the same treatment is, I believe, equally applicable 

 to every species of fruit which requires the aid of artificial heat), if they are 

 to a certain extent brought forward early in the spring, and subsequently sub- 

 jected to the influence of solar heat only. 



" I have succeeded in ripening the Nerii fig in a very considerable state 

 of perfection, by introducing the trees in pots against the back wall of a 

 stove in February, ami removing them to a greenhouse, out of which the 

 plants had been taken in the middle of May ; and this may be successfully 

 done, whenever the vines in the stove are confined to the rafters." 



26. Note on the Cultivation of the Cinnamon in England. Bv Mr. William 



Buchan, F.H.S. Read February 7. 1837. 



The common cinnamon is generally considered a stove plant, but Mr. 

 Buchan for several years has grown one in a green-house conservatory, 

 which he found to suit it much better, as did M. David, gardener to M. 

 Boursault in Paris. In our volume for 1830, it is stated, that at M. Bour- 

 sault's conservatory the cinnamon tree had ripened fruit, from which many 

 young plants were raised. Mr. Buchan is of opinion, that, with very little 

 protection, the cinnamon would stand the winter in the open air, in favour- 

 able situations in England ; and in order that a trial may be made in such 

 situations he has sent seeds and seedling plants from Blithfield in Stafford- 

 shire, where he is gardener, to the principal Botanic Gardens, and to various 

 gardens in Devonshire, Cornwall, and Pembrokeshire, where many of our 

 green-house plants stand the winter without any protection whatever. 



27. Explanatory Notes respecting Six netu Varieties of Fine recently introdzcced 

 from Diilihnn \Deccan). By Colonel Sykes, F.R.S. Read June 21. 1836. 



" A gentleman, lecturing to a Mechanics' Institute lately, stated that the 



