[ 24 ] 



Eaft Indies, may be examined when the fhip 

 arrives at St. Helena ; and fome of them which 

 appear in a ft ate of vegetation, mould be fown 

 in cafes or tubs of earth kept as fecure as poflible 

 from fea water ; fome holes fhould be cut in thefe 

 cafes or tubs, and covered with baft-mats or 

 fail- cloth, which will admit fufiicient air. 



More of the fame feeds may be alfo fown 

 after the Ihip has palfed the tropic of Cancer, 

 near the latitude of thirty degrees north. Plants 

 or fhrubs that are to be tranfported, muft be 

 taken out of the ground with a quantity of the 

 foil covering the roots, which mould be wrap- 

 ped in wet mofs, and furronnded with a baft- 

 mat, or dry plantain leaves, and put into the 

 cafes or tubs, with the precautions above-men- 

 tioned. 



In whatever method our feeds have been 

 preferved, it fhould be a conftant precaution to 

 low them as foon as they have been expofed to 

 the external air, otherwife they probably will 

 never vegetate. 



In the firft edition of this work, plafter of 

 Paris was recommended, as a proper fubftance 

 for preferving feeds in a ftate of vegetation ; this 

 was tried upon acorns by the ingenious naturalift 

 already refered to, and kept for three months 

 (from January n. to April 2. 1772.) When 

 thefe acorns were examined, they were found 

 dry, and as hard as horn. This fubftance there- 

 fore, as well as clay, is very improper for pre- 

 ferving feeds, &c. as it abforbs their moifture, 

 and thereby deftroys their vegetative power (0). 



(e) See alfo Philofophical Tranfa&ions, Vol. 51. part 1. 

 page 206. 



4 When 



