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jjeds, containing three or four comprefied roundifti 
feeds. | 
Thefe plants are all of them propagated by feeds, 
which fhould be fown early in the fpring, upon a good | 
hot-bed. If the feeds are good, the* plants will appear 
in a fortnight or three weeks, when they will require 
to be treated with care, for they mull not have much 
wet till they have acquired ftrength , nor Ihould they 
be drawn too weak, fo that frelh air Ihould be admit- 
ted to them at all times when the air is temperate. In 
about a fortnight or three weeks after the plants come 
up, they will be fit to tranfplant, efpecially if the bed 
in which they were fown, continues in a proper degree 
of heat •, then there Ihould be a frelh hot-bed pre- 
pared to receive them, which Ihould be made a week 
before the plants are removed into it, that the vio- 
lent heat may be abated before the earth is laid upon 
the dung, and the earth Ihould have time to warm 
before the plants are planted into it. Then the plants 
mull be carefully railed up from the bed to preferve 
the roots entire, and immediately planted in the new 
bed, at about three or four inches diftance, preffing 
the earth gently to their roots ; then they Ihould be 
gently fprinkled over with water, to fettle the earth to 
their roots ; after this they mull be lhaded from the 
fun till they have taken new root, and the glalfes of 
the hot-bed fhould be covered every night to keep up 
the heat of the bed. When the plants are ellablifhed 
in their new bed, they mull have frequent, but gentle 
waterings ; and every day they mull have free air ad- 
mitted to them, in proportion to the warmth of the 
feafon, to prevent their being drawn up weak ; but 
they mull be conftantly kept in a moderate degree of 
heat, otherwife they will not thrive. In about a 
month after the plant will beltrong enough to remove 
again, when they Ihould be carefully taken up, pre- 
ferving as much earth to their roots as poffible, and 
each planted in a feparate fmall pot, filled with good 
kitchen-garden earth, and plunged into a hot-bed of 
tan, carefully fhading them from the fun till they have 
taken new root •, then they mull be treated in the fame 
manner as other tender exotic plants from very warm 
countries. 
The forts which grow upright and tall, will foon 
rife high enough to reach the glalfes of the hot-bed, 
efpecially if they thrive well ; therefore they Ihould 
be fhifted into larger pots, and removed into the Hove, 
and if they are plunged into the tan-bed there, it will 
greatly forward them. The firft fort will often flower 
here, if the plants are raifed early in the fpring, and 
brought forward by their removal from one hot- bed 
to another ; and two or three times I have had their 
feeds ripen, but this can only be expeded in very 
warm fealons. 
The perennial forts will live through the winter, if 
they are preferved in a warm Hove, and the following 
iu turner they will produce flowers and ripen their 
feeds. Some of thefe may be propagated by laying 
down their branches, which will put out roots, and 
then may be feparated from the old plants ; and I 
have fometirues propagated them by cuttings, but 
the plants which rife from feeds are preferable to either 
of thefe. 
There is no particular management which thefe plants 
require, different from others of the fame warm 
countries ; the great care muff be to keep them in a 
proper temperature of heat, and not to give them too 
much water, efpecially in cool weather; nor fhould 
they be kept too dry, for many of the forts require 
frequent waterings, as they naturally grow in moift 
places. There fhould alfo be care taken that they 
do not root into the tan-bed, for they foon put out 
their roots through the holes at the bottom of the 
pots, which, when they ftrike into the tan, will caufe 
the plants to grow very luxuriant •, but when they are 
removed, and thefe roots are cut or broken off, the 
plants feldom fur-vive it ; therefore the pots Ihould be 
frequently drawn out of the tan, and if any of the 
roots are beginning to get through the holes at the 
bottom, they fhould be cut off clofe ; and when the 
roots are very clofely matted together, they fnould 
be turned out of the pots, and pared round to reduce 
them, and tnen potted again, either in pots of the 
fame fize, or if the plants require, in pots one fize 
larger •, but they muff not be over-potted, for then 
the plants will not thrive. 
Some of thofe forts whofe ftalks fpread near the 
ground, may be turned out of the pots in the mid- 
die of June, and planted in a very warm border, where, 
if they are covered with bell or hand-glaffes, they will 
live through the fummer ; but thele will not prow 
very large, and upon the approach of cold in the au- 
tumn, they are foon deftroyed : however, thofe who 
have not conveniency of ftoves or tan- beds, may raife 
the plants on common hot-beds in the fprino- ; an d 
when they have acquired ftrength, they may be'treated 
in this manner, whereby they will have the pleafure 
of thefe plants in fummer, though not in fo great per- 
fection, as thofe who have the advantages before- 
mentioned : but thefe plants will not thrive in the 
open air in this country, nor will they retain their fen- 
fibility when they are fully expofed to the air. 
It would be to little purpofe to trouble the reader 
with the feveral idle ftories related of thefe plants by 
travellers, nor to infert what has been faid by others, 
who have attempted to account for the motion of the 
leaves of thefe plants on their being touched, fince 
there has not been any thing wrote on this fubjed, 
worthy of being noticed, that I have yet been; I ffial! 
therefore only mention what I have myfelf obferved in 
thefe plants, for more than forty years that I have 
cultivated them. 
The firft is, that they are more or lefs fufceptible of 
the touch or preflure, according to the warmth of 
the air in which they grow ; for thofe plants which are 
kept in a warm ftove, contrad their leaves immedi- 
ately on being touched, either with the hand, a flick, 
or any other thing, or by the wind blowing upon 
them : fome of the forts only contrad their fmall 
leaves, which are placed along the midrib ; others 
not only contrad their fmall leaves, but the foot- 
ftalk alfo declines downward on being touched : the 
firft are called Senfttive, and the fecondHumble Plants ; 
but when thefe plants are placed in a cooler fituation, 
they do not move fo foon, nor contrad fo clofely, as 
thofe which are in a greater warmth •, and thofe which 
are entirely expofed to the open air, have very little 
motion, but remain in one ftate, neither expanded 
nor clofed, but between both, efpecially in cool wea- 
ther •, nor do thefe fhut themfelves at night, as thofe 
do which are in a warm temperature of air. 
The fecond is, that it is not the light which caufes 
them to expand, as fome have affirmed, who have had 
no experience of thefe things ; for in the longeft days 
of fummer, they are generally contraded by five or 
fix in the evening, when the fun remains above the 
horizon two or three hours longer ; and although the 
glaffes of the ftove in which they are placed, is cover- 
ed clofe with fhutters to exclude the light in the mid- 
dle of the day, yet if the air of the ftove is warm, 
the leaves of the plants will continue fully expanded, 
as I have feveral times obferved. Nor do thefe plants 
continue ffiut till the fun rifes in the morning, for I 
have frequently found their leaves fully expanded by 
the break of day in the morning •, fo that it is plain 
the light is not the caufe of their expanflon, nor the 
want of it that of their contradion. 
I have, alfo obferved, that thofe plants which are 
placed in the greateft warmth in winter, continue vi- 
gorous, and retain their faculty of contrading on 
being touched; but thofe which are in a moderate 
warmth, have little or no motion. 
When any of the upper leaves of thefe plants are 
touched, if they fall down and touch thofe which are 
below them, it will occafion their contrading and 
falling, fo that by one touching another, they will 
continue falling for fome time. When the air of the 
ftove in which thefe plants ftand, is in a proper tem- 
perature of warmth, the plants will recover themfelves, 
and their leaves will be fully expanded in about eight 
or 
