By William Hooker, Esq. 365 



from cold, though, during the last winter, the glazed cover- 

 ing was often frozen thickly over, and the thermometer 

 within the house was sometimes as low as 40°, and usually 

 at 43°. 



The plants were placed in the house in September 1819, 

 being then one-year old from suckers, and had been previ- 

 ously kept in frames heated by dung. The fruit of the whole 

 is as perfect in size, form, and colour, as any I have ever 

 seen, and some are particularly handsome, having the pips, 

 as they are termed, swelled to an unusual size and flatness, 

 the yellow being brighter and deeper, and the dark spots 

 more clear and distinct, than is generally seen in the Queen 

 Pine. 



The management of the dung in the chamber has been as 

 follows : when the plants were introduced into the house in 

 September 1819, a quantity of fresh horse-dung was thrown 

 on the bottom of the pit, and well watered ; in a week after- 

 wards this was piled against the front wall of the chamber, 

 so as to look like the lining of a hot-bed, and a load of 

 fresh dung was then thrown on the floor, and watered ; 

 and thus, from time to time, as heat was wanted in the 

 house, the dung which had been laid on the floor of the 

 chamber was thrown forward on the former heap, and new 

 dung introduced and watered. The quantity of dung, 

 and the intervals of its introduction, varied according to the 

 greater or less degree of heat required. The temperature 

 of the house was kept very low till January, when the actual 

 forcing commenced, and then new dung was supplied once 

 a fortnight. The dung, after it had laid some time piled 



