By N. Wallich, M. D. 



143 



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, that such 

 has been 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. 



Upon their arrival in England the plants should not be immedi- 

 ately taken from their pots, but allowed to remain in them in a con- 

 servatory or hot-house, according to the nature of the plants them- 

 selves, or the season of their arrival. Water should be sparingly 

 given, and the plants well cleansed from the dust and other mat- 

 ters which may be collected on their leaves during their voyage. 



Such are the most important points to which I think attention 

 should be given. In addition, I would remark that, after all, the 

 success of a consignment of plants depends so much upon the good 

 will of the Captain, and his disposition to promote the objects con- 

 templated, that unless both interest and zeal concur even the best 

 arrangements will be frustrated. The Officers of the Society are 

 fully acquainted with the unusual success that attended the two 

 large consignments above alluded to ; both arrived in the ship 

 Orient, Captain Thomas White, in a state of preservation, which, I 

 believe, has rarely, if ever, been equalled. On the first occasion, I 

 shared with him the management : on the second, he had the sole 

 care of the collection ; but such was the incessant zeal and vigi- 

 lance of this gentleman, that the success is in both cases to be 

 entirely attributed to him. 



VOL. I. 2nd series. U 



