COP 
the Feeds. In the fpring following, if thefe tubs or 
boxes are placed on a moderate hot-bed, it will bring 
up the plants very foon, and greatly forward their 
growth ; but as the fpring advances, they fhould be 
inured to bear the open air by degrees ; and in May 
they muft be taken out of the hot-bed, and placed in 
afheiteredfituation^ where they may enjoy the morn- 
ing fun, being careful to keep them clear from weeds, 
as alfoto wafer them duly in. dry weather. The fol- 
lowing winter it will be proper to remove the tubs 
near a fouth wall or pale, for the plants being very 
young, are fometimes tenderer than they will be after- 
ward. Toward the latter end of March, or the be- 
ginning of April, juft before the plants begin to fhoot, 
they fhould be carefully taken up out of the boxes ; 
and having prepared a bed or two (according to the 
quantity of plants raifed) of frefh earth in a fheltered 
fituation, the plants fhould be planted therein in rows 
about eighteen inches afunder, and about a foot dif- 
tance plant from plant in the rows. This work fhould 
be done in cloudy weather, when there is rain ; for 
in dry weather, when eafterly winds commonly blow 
at this feafon, it will be very dangerous to tranfplant 
thefe plants ; fo that it had better be deferred a fort- 
night longer, till there is an alteration of the weather, 
than hazard the plants. 'When the plants are planted, 
they fhould be watered to fettle the earth to their 
roots ; and then the furface of the ground fhould be 
covered with mulch, to prevent the fun and wind 
from penetrating to the roots of the plants; for nothing 
is more injurious to thefe plants, than to have their 
fibres dried when they are tranfplanted ; therefore 
the plants fhould not be taken out of the tubs till 
you are ready to place them in the ground, for they 
will not bear to lie out of the ground any time with- 
out great danger. 
The branches of this tree are garnifhed with flat ever- 
green leaves, refembling thofe of the Arbor Vitae ; 
and the cones are no larger than the berries of the 
Juniper, from which they are not eafily diftinguifhed 
at a little diftance ; but upon clofely viewing, they 
are perfect cones, having many cells like thofe of the 
common Cyprefs. If thefe trees are planted in a 
moift flrong foil, they make very great progrefs, and 
may, in fuch fituations, become profitable for tim- 
ber ; but however this tree may fucceed for timber, 
yet it will be a great ornament to large plantations of 
evergreen trees, efpecially in fuch places where there 
is naturally a proper foil for them ; becaufe, in fuch 
fituations, there are not many forts of Evergreen 
Trees which thrive well, efpecially in cold places, and 
by increafing the number of forts of thefe Ever- 
greens, we add to the beauty of our gardens and 
plantations. 
The third fort fends forth its branches almoft hori- 
zontally, fo that they extend to a great diftance every 
way, and the trees are generally furnifhed with 
branches from the ground upward ; but as thefe grow 
without much order, the trees have a very different 
appearance from all the other forts. This grows to be 
a large timber tree in Portugal, but the largeft tree 
which I have feen in England, has not been above fif- 
teen feet high, and the fide branches of this were 
extended more than eight feet on every fide from the 
ftem. This fort may be propagated from feeds in 
the fame manner as the common Cyprefs, and the 
plants fhould be treated in the fame manner as hath 
been dire&ed for them, with this difference only, that 
it will be proper to cover thefe plants during the two 
firft winters after they are come up, efpecially if the 
froft fhould be fevere, which might deftroy them, if 
they are expofed to it while they are young. This 
fort may alfo be propagated by cuttings, which, if 
planted in autumn, and fcreened in winter, they will 
take root ; but it is generally two years before they 
will be rooted enough to tranfplant, nor will the plants 
fo raifed thrive fo fail: as the feedlings ; therefore, 
when the feeds can be obtained, that is the bell me- 
thod to propagate this tree. The American decidu- 
ous Cyprefs may alfo be propagated by cuttings, as 
C U R 
I have feveral times tried ; fo that when feeds cannot 
be had, this method may be practifed f'uccefsfully. I 
fuppofe the common fort will alio take from cuttings* 
but this I have not experienced, fo cannot recom- 
mend it to praddee. 
Thefe trees are fo very ornamental to gardens, that 
no large garden can be compleat without many of 
them ; and it is to thefe trees that the Italian villas 
owe a great fliare of their beauty, for there is no tree 
fo proper to place near buildings ; the pyramidal up- 
right growth of their branches affords" a pidurefque 
appearance, and obftrufts not the view of the build- 
ing, and the dark green of their leaves make a fine 
contrail with the white of the building; fo thafy 
. wherever there are temples or other buildings eredted 
in gardens; there is no fort of tree fo proper to place 
near them as thefe. In all the landfchapes of Italian 
villas, we fee many Cyprefs-trees reprefented, which 
have a very agreeable effect in the picture ; and the 
trees, when rightly difpofed in a garden, afford a no 
lefs agreeable profpedb 
The feeds of the fixth fort were fent me from the 
Cape of Good Hope, where the trees grow naturally, 
and by the account which I received with the feeds, 
the cones of the tree are black when ripe. The young 
plants which I have raifed from thefe feeds have loofe 
fpreading branches, which are clofely garnifhed with 
narrow ftrait leaves, which come out oppofite, and 
are alternately croffing each pther ; thefe are near one 
inch long, and of a light green colour ; they continue 
in verdure all the year. Thefe plants being yot g, 
are too tender to thrive in the open air in Englanu as 
yet ; but when they have obtained more ftrength, it 
is very probable they may do well in warm fituations. 
I had two of thefe plants growing in the full ground, 
which were killed in the winter 1756. But thofe 
which were placed under a frame, where there were 
no covering of glafs, and only wooden fhutters, wer© 
not injured by the cold, though the earth of the pots 
was frequently hard frozen. 
CURCUMA. Lin. Gen. Plant. 6 . Cannacorus. 
Tourn. Inft. R. H. 367. Turmerick. 
The Characters are. 
The flowers have each feveral [path a , which are fingle 
and drop off ; the flower hath one petal with a narrow 
tube, which is cut at the brim into three flegments ; it hath 
an oval-pointed nedlarium of one leaf \ which is inferted in 
the finus of the largeft fegment of the petal ; it hath five 
flamina , four of which are barren , and one fruitful » 
which is Jituated_ within the nedlarium , and hath the ap- 
pearance of a petal , having a bifid point , to which the 
fummit adheres . It hath a rotindijh germen fituated un- 
der the flower , fupportmg a ftyle the length of the fta- 
mina , crowned by a fingle ftigma. The germen afterward 
becomes a roundifh capfule , having three cells , which are 
filled with roundifo feeds. 
This genus of plants is ranged in the firft fe&ion of 
Linnseus’s firft clafs, intitled Monandria Monogynia, 
the flower having one ftamina and one ftyle. 
The Species are, 
1. Curcuma ( Rotunda ) foliis lanceolato-ovatis, nervis 
lateralibus rariffimis. Lin. Sp. Plant. 2. Curcuma with 
fpear-ffaped oval leaves , having very few nerves on the 
Jides. Curcuma radice rotunda. C. B. Turmerick with 
a round root. 
2. Curcuma {Longa) foliis lanceolatis nervis lateralibus 
numerofiffimis. Lin. Sp. Plant. 2. Curcuma with f pear - 
Jhaped leaves, having many lateral veins. Curcuma ra- 
dice longa. H. L. 288. Turmerick with a long root. 
The firft fort hath a fiefny jointed root fomewhat like 
that of Ginger, but rounder, which fends up feveral 
fpear-fhaped oval leaves, that rife upwards of a 
foot high ; thefe have one longitudinal midrib, and a 
few tranfverfe nerves running from the midrib to the 
fides ; they are of a fea-green colour ; from between 
thefe arife the flower-ftalk, fupporting a loofe fpike of 
flowers of a pale yeiiowifh colour, inclofed in feveral 
different fpath^ or fheaths, which drop off. Thefe 
flowers are never fucceeded by feeds in the gardens 
here. 
The 
