S%6 



ON THE CULTURE 



case the tan should heat violently. Should oak- 

 leaves be used instead of tan, as is the case at 

 Wei beck, this last caution will be unnecessary. 



The plants will require to have no water given 

 them for at least ten days or a fortnight from the 

 time of their being replaced in the hot-house, and 

 then it should be given very sparingly ; only a 

 little with a pipe, (used in hot-houses,) just to pre- 

 vent the surface of the mould in the pots from 

 drying too much, as in that case it would crack, 

 and admit the air to the roots of the plants. But 

 the plants should not be watered over their leaves 

 in less time than six weeks from their dressing. 



For a twelvemonth after the destruction of the 

 insects, I constantly kept a pound of quicksilver, in 

 a glazed vessel, at the bottom of the cistern which 

 contained the water for the use of the hot-house. 

 Whether the quicksilver impregnated the water 

 in such a manner as to be of any real use, I do 

 not pretend to say : however, this I can with truth 

 affirm, that I never saw Pine-plants grow with 

 greater vigour than those did at that time ; and, 

 as every other kind of plant in the hot-house was 

 watered at that time with the same impregnated 

 water, and as all of them were remarkably healthy 

 and vigorous, it is evident that there was nothing 

 prejudicial in the use of it. No expense attends 

 such a trial ; for the quicksilver neither decreases 

 in its quantity or value by either of the foregoing 

 experiments. 



The most eligible seasons for the dressing of the 



