in Flanders and other places, they houfe their fheep 
at nights in places fpread with clean hand, laid about 
five or fix inches thick, which, being laid on frefh 
every night, is cleared out once a week ; this mixture 
of hand and dung makes an excellent dreffing for 
ftrong land, for the dung and urine of the fheep is 
a very rich manure, bears a considerable price, and is 
an excellent manure for all ihiff cold land : and Mr. 
Quinteney is of opinion, that it is the greateft pro- 
moter of fruitfulnefs in ail forts of ground. 
Others recommend hogs dung as the fattefh and moil- 
beneficial of all, forts of dungs •, and fay, that one 
load of it will go as far as two loads of other dung, 
and that it is the beft of all dungs for fruit-trees, 
especially for Pear and Apple-trees in alight foil, and 
a very rich' dung for grafs. I have often ufed this 
dung to fruit-trees when it was well rotted, and have 
found it the moil beneficial to them of any manure. 
The dung of pigeons, hens, and geefe, are great 
improvers of meadow or corn land, "the firft of thefe 
being the beft fuperficial improvement that can be 
laid on meadow or corn land : but before it is ufed, 
it ought to have lain abroad out of the dove-houfe 
fome time, that the air may have a little fweet- 
ened it, and mollified the fiery heat that is in thofe 
dungs. 
Efpecially it is good for cold, wet, clayey lands •, 
but it ought to be dried before it be ftrewed, becaufe 
it is naturally apt to clod in wet-, and it fhould be 
mixed with earth or fand to keep it from clinging to- 
gether, that it may be ftrewed thin, being naturally 
very hot and ftrong. 
Some recommend the dung of pigeons, and alfo of 
other fowls, as the beft manure for Afparagus, Straw- 
berries, or any forts of flowers ; but this fhould be 
rotted and well mixed with the earth, before it is ufed 
to flowers. 
Monfieur Gentil approves of pigeons dung, as being 
good for fuch trees whofe leaves are apt to turn yel- 
low, if they grow in free foils that are rather cold than 
hot, provided the heat of it has been abated by lying 
two or three years in the dunghill but this fhould 
be applied in autumn, and in fmall quantities. 
This being fpread about an inch thick at the foot of 
a tree, whofe leaves are yellow, and being left there 
till March, he recommends as very ufeful in cold 
and moift foils. 
The dung of poultry being hot and full of falts, 
tends much to facilitate vegetation, and is abundantly 
quicker in its operation than the dung of animals 
which feed on herbs. 
Sir Hugh Plat fays, one load of grain will enrich 
ground more than ten loads of common dung which 
if it be true, it is rational to fuppofe, that if Ample 
grain, by only infufion in the mixture of compofts, 
has a very good effed, it will be more powerful when 
it has paifed through the bodies of animals. 
Human dung is a great improver of all cold four 
lands, and efpecially if it be mixed with other earths 
or dungs to give it a fermentation. 
But there is not any fort of manure equal to the 
cleanfing of London ftreets, for all ftubborn clayey 
foils the parts of which will be better feparated, and 
in a much lels time, with this manure, than with any 
'Other compoft whatever and where it can be ob- 
tained, is extremely well worth procuring, either for 
corn, grafs, or garden land. 
DURANTIA. Lin. Gen. Plant. 704. Caftorea. Plum. 
Nov. Gen. 30. tab. 17. 
The Characters are. 
The flower hath a ■permanent empalement of one leaf 
which is erebl , and cut into five acute fegments at the top , 
and fits upon the germen : the flower is of the ringent 
kind , with one petals having a long tube , which opens at 
the top in two lips ; the upper lip is oval , erebl, and 
concave \ the under is divided into four equal fegments , 
which are round. It hath four floor t ftamina , Jiiuated in 
the bottom of the tube , the two middle being a little jhorter 
than the other, terminated by profir ate fummits ; the ger- 
men which is fituatcd under the flower , fuf ports a long 
fender flyle, crowned by a headed ftigma. The germen af- 
terward becomes a globular berry , terminated by three acut 
points , having one cell inclofmg four angular"' feeds. 
This genus of plants is ranged in the fecond fedion 
of Linmfcus’s fourteenth clafs, intitled Didynamia 
Angiofpenma, the flower having two long and two 
fliorter ftamina, and the feeds being included in a 
capfule. 
The title which was firft given by father Plumier to 
this genus, was Caftorea, in memory of Caftor Du- 
rant, a phyflcian of Rome, who publifhed a hiftory 
of plants in Italian, which was, printed at Rome in 
1585. Dr. Linnaeus has now altered the title of the 
genus, and inftead of the chriftian name, he has given 
it the furname of the fame perfon. 1 
The Species are, 
1. Durantia ( Plumeiri ) fpinofa. Lin. So. Plant. 637. 
Prickly Durantia. Caftorea repens fpinofa. Plum. 
Nov. Gen. 30. Creeping prickly Caftorea. 
2. Durantia (Racemofa) inermis. Lin. Sp. Plant. 637. 
Durantia without thorns. Caftorea racemofa fiore cae- 
ruleo, frudu croceo. Plum. Nov. Gen. 30. Branch- 
ing Caftorea with a blue flower and Saffron-coloured 
fruit. 
3. Durantia ( Erebta ) caule eredo fpinofo, foliis ova- 
tis integerrimis, floribus racemofis. Durantia with an 
upright prickly flalk, oval entire leaves, and flowers grow- 
ing in long bunches. Jafminum folio integro, obtufo, 
floie caeruleo racemofo, frudu flavo. Sloan. Cat. 
Jam. 169. Jafmine with entire obtufe leaves, bins flow- 
ers growing in bunches, and a yellow fruit. 
The firft fort hath many trailing branches, which are 
armed with hooked thorns at every joint, and are 
garnifhed with oblong leaves, which are placed with- 
out order, and are (lightly lawed on their edges ; the 
flowers come out from the fide of the ftalks in pretty 
long bunches, like thofe of the common Currant j 
they are of a pale bluifln colour, and fucceeded by- 
brown berries not unlike the fruit of the Hawthorn ; 
thefe have one cell, and inclofe four angular feeds. 
The fecond lort hath a branching woody (talk, which 
rifes feven or eight feet high ; the branches are gar- 
nifhed with oval fpear-fhaped leaves three inches 
long, and one and a half broad in the, middle they 
are fawed on their edges, of a lucid green colour, and 
ftand oppofite. The flowers are produced in long 
bunches at the end of the branches thefe are blue, 
and fucceeded by pretty large, round, yellow berries, 
which contain four angular feeds. 
The third fort rifes with a ftrong woody ftem to the 
height of ten or tv/elve feet, covered with a white 
bark, dividing into many branches, which are armed 
with fharp thorns on their fide ; thefe are garnifhed 
with oval ftiff leaves one inch long, and three quar- 
ters broad. The flowers come out in long bunches 
from the end of the branches, which are blue, and are 
fucceeded by fmall, round, yellow berries, which con- 
tain four angular feeds. I received this from the late 
Dr. Houftoun, who found it growing in Jamaica. 
The plants are natives of warm countries, fo they re- 
quire a ftove to preferve them in England ; they are 
propagated by feeds, which fhould be fown in fmall 
pots, and plunged into a hot-bed of tanners bark ; 
and when the plants are fit to remove, they muft be 
planted each into a feparate fmall pot filled with light 
earth, and plunged into the hot-bed again, obferving 
to fhade them till they have taken new root, then they 
muft be treated in the fame manner as other plants 
from the fame country. 
The fecond fort may be propagated by cuttings, 
which may be planted in any of the fummer months 
but thefe fhould be plunged into a moderate hot-bed, 
and fhaded from the fun till they have taken root, 
then they may be treated in the fame manner as the 
feedling plants. This fort is not fo tender as the other 
two, fo may be placed in the open air in funlmcr ; 
and if they are kept in a moderate temperature of 
warmth in the winter, they will thrive better than in 
great heat. I kept fome of the plants of this fort 
three winters, in a dry warm glafs-cafe without fires, 
6 and 
