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IV. On the Cultivation of the Madeira Vaccinium, in the 

 open Air. In a Letter to the Secretary. By Mr. 

 William Foulk, Gardener to Sir Everard Home, 

 Bart. F. H. S. 



Read December 7th, 1824. 



Sir, 



By the desire of Sir Everard Home, I send you the fol- 

 lowing account of the Vaccinium, cultivated in his garden 

 at Ham. 



This plant was introduced into this country from Madeira, 

 and has been considered as a green-house plant, from which 

 circumstance its fruit has been little known ; nor, I believe, 

 till now, considered an article of luxury at the table. 



In the year 1819, it was planted in Sir Everard Home's 

 flower garden at Ham, among the American plants, and 

 stood the winter very well, bearing fruit in the following and 

 every subsequent year. In the winter of 1820, it was cut a 

 good deal by the frost, the thermometer having been as low as 

 within 2° of zero, and seldom above the freezing point, during 

 the nights of January, February, and March ; but still it bore a 

 small quantity of fruit in the subsequent October, which has in- 

 creased in quantity till this year, when the crop was so abun- 

 dant that the experiment was made of bringing it to table 

 baked in a tart ; its flavour is very delicate, and was preferred, 

 by some of the company who partook of it, to the American 

 Cranberry. The plant is of luxurious growth, and succeeds 

 well in bog earth ; the fruit is ripe early in October, so as 

 to come in succession to Currants and Raspberries. 



