6n the JORCINQpHOUSES of the ROMAN*. I^^. 



less elongation; and J n these we may observe a »\ow and 

 feeble inclination toward the light. Lastly, plants furnished 

 with vessels, and of thes^ plants the stems, in which vessels 

 most abound, exhibit this inclination most forcibly, 



I conceive therefore I have proved, by this combination 

 of facts, that ;he hitherto unexplained phenomenon of the 

 inclination of the stems of plants toward the light is rea- 

 dily reducible to the known laws of etiolation. 



XVI. 



On the Forcing-houses of the Romans^ with a List of Fruits 

 cultivated by them ^ now in our Gardens. E if the Right 

 Kon, Sir Joseph Banks, Bart. K. B, P. R. H. ^c. * 



R. A. Knight was the first person among us members The K 

 of the Horticultural Society, vvho observed, in reading *iad forcing- 

 Martial, strong traces of the Romans having enjoyed the °"* ' 

 luxury of forcing-houses. I shaiJ cite the principal passages 

 upon which he has founded this observation, the truth, of 

 which is not likely to be controverted, and add such re- 

 liiarks as present themselves upon the Roman hot-houses, 

 with a few words on the subject of our own. 

 The first epigram is as follows ; 



Pallida ne Cilicum timeant pomaria brun;am. Proofs of thi«* 



Mordeat et tenerum fortior aura nemus , 

 Hibernis objecta notis specularia puros * 



Admittunt soles, et sioe fsece diem, &c. 



Martial; lib. viii, 14, 



Qui Corcyraei vidit pomaria regis, 



Rus, Entelle, tiiee prseferat 11 le domus. 

 Invida purpureos urat ne bruma racemos, 



Et gelidum Bacchi munera frigus edat ; 

 Condita perspicua vivit vindemia gemma, 



Et tegitur felix, nee tamej;;t^uva latet. 



* Trans, of thejiort Soc. ▼ol.I, p. 147. 

 ' ' L 9 Foemineuta 



