- B R O A 
fuckers and crowns muff be laid to dry in a warm place 
for four or five days or more, according to the moifture of 
the part which adhered to the old fruit ; for if they are 
immediately planted they will rot, efpecially the crowns. 
The certain rule of judging when they are fit to plant, is 
by obferving if the bottom be healed over and become 
hard ; for, if the fuckers be drawn off carefully from the 
old plants, they will have a hard Ikin over the lower part, 
and need not lie fo long as the crowns, or thofe whofe 
bottoms are moift. But whenever a crown is taken from 
the fruit, or the fuckers from old plants, they (hotild be 
immediately divelted of their bottom leaves, fo high as to 
allow depth for their planting ; fo that they may be tho¬ 
roughly dry and healed in every parr. If they are taken 
off late in the autumn, or during the winter, or early in 
the fpring, they fhould be laid in a dry place in tlie ftove, 
for a fortnight or three weeks; but in the fummer feafon 
they will be fit for planting in a few days. As to the 
earth in which thefe fhould be planted, if you have a rich 
good kitchen-garden mould, not too heavy, fo as to detain 
the moilture too long, nor over light and fandv, it will be 
very proper for them without any mixture ; but, where 
this is wanting, you fhould procure fome frelh earth from 
a good pafture; which fhould be mixed with about a third 
part of rotten neats’ dung, or the dung of an old melon 
or cucumber bed, which is well confumed. Thefe fhould 
be mixed fix or eight months at lead before they are ufed, 
but if it be a year it will be the better; and fhould be 
often turned, that their parts may be the better united, 
as alfo the clods well broken. This earth fhould not be 
fcreened yery fine, but only cleared of the great hones. 
You fhould always avoid mixing any fand vvith the earth, 
unlef's it be extremely If iff', and then it will be neceffary 
to have it mixed at leaf! fix months or a year before it is 
ufed ; and it mull be frequently turned, that the fand may 
be incorporated in the earth, Co as to divide its parts; but 
you fhould not put more than a lixth part of fand, for too 
much is very injurious to thefe plants. In the fummer 
feafon, when the weather is warm., the plants muff be fre¬ 
quently w atered, but you fhould not give them large quan¬ 
tities at a time ; you muff alfo be very careful that the 
moiflure is not detained in the pots by the holes being 
flopped, for that will loon deltroy the plants. In very 
warm weather they fhould be watered twice or three times 
a-week, but in a cool feafon once a-week w ill be often 
fenough; and, during the fummer feafon, you fhould once 
a-week Water them gently all over their leaves, which will 
wafh the filth from off them, and thereby greatly promote 
the growth of the plants. There are fome perfons who 
frequently fhift thefe plants from pot to pot, but this is 
by no means to be practifed by thofe who propofe to have 
large well-flavoured fruit; for unlefs the pots be filled 
w ith the roots, by the time the plants begin to fhow their 
fruit, they commonly produce final! fruit, which have ge¬ 
nerally large crowns on them, therefore the plants will 
not require to be potted ofte.oer than twice in a feafon ; 
tfie firff time fhould be about the end of April, when the 
fuckers and crowns of tiie former year’s fruit (which re¬ 
mained all the winter in thofe pots in which they were firfl 
planted) fhould be fhifted into larger pots, i. e. thofe 
which were in halfpenny or three-farthing pots, fhould be 
put into penny or at mod three-halfpenny pots, according 
to the fize ot the plants; for you mud be careful not to 
over-pot them, nothing being more prejudicial to thefe 
plants. The fecond time for fhifting them is in the be¬ 
ginning of Augufl, when you fhould fhift thofe plants 
whidh are of a proper fize for fruiting the following 
fpring, into two-penny pots, which are full large enough 
for any of thefe plants. At each of thefe times of fhift¬ 
ing the plants, the bark-bed fhould be (lirred up, and 
fome new bark added, to raife the bed up to the height 
it was at fir ft made ; and, when the pots are plunged agdin 
iiv6 the bark-bed, the plants fhould be watered gently all 
over their leaves, to wafn off the filth, and to fettle the 
earth to the roots of the plants. If the bark-bed be well 
ELIA. 427 
ftirred, and a quantity of good frelh bark added to the bed, 
at this latter fhifting, it will be of great fervice to the 
plants; and they may remain in the fame tan until the 
beginning of November, or fometimes later, according to 
the mildnefs of the feafon, anti will require but little fire 
before that time. During the winter feafon thefe plants 
wiil not require to be watered oftener than once a-week, 
according as you find the earth in the pots to dry; nor 
fhould you give them too much at each time, for it is 
much better to give them a little water often, than to 
over-water them, efpecially at this feafon. You muft ob¬ 
serve never to fhift thofe plants, which fhow their fruit, 
into other pots; for, if they be removed after the fruit ap¬ 
pears, it will (fop the grow th, and retard its ripening, fo 
that many times it will be October or November before 
the fruit is ripe; therefore you fhould be very careful to 
keep the plants in a vigorous growing (fate, from the firft 
appearance of the truit, becaufe upon this depends the 
goodnefs and fize of the fruit; for, if they receive a check 
after this, the fruit is generally fmall and ill-tafted. When 
you have cut off the fruit from, the plants, whofe kind you 
are defirous to propagate, you fhould trim the leaves, and 
plunge the pots into a moderate hot-bed, obferving to re- 
frefii them frequently with water, which will canl’e'them 
to put out fuckers in plenty; fo that a perfon may be foon 
fupplied with plants enough of any of the kinds, who will 
but obferve to keep the plants in health. 
There is not any thing which can happen to thefe plants 
of a more dangerous nature, than to have them attacked 
by fmall white infects, which appear at firft like a white 
mildew, but foon after have the appearance of lice ; thefe 
attack both root and leaves at the fame time, and, if they 
be not foon deftroyed, will fpread over a whole flove in a 
fltort time ; and in a few weeks will entirely flop the growth 
of tire plants, fo that the leaves will appear yellow and 
fickly, and have generally a great number of yellow trans¬ 
parent (pots all over them. Thefe infects, after they are 
fully grown, appear like bugs, and adhere fo clofely to 
the leaves, as not to be eafily walked off, and feem as if 
they had no life in them. ' They were originally brought 
from America upon the plants which were imported from 
thence, and the fame infects which have deftroyed the fu- 
gar-canes of late years in fome of the Leeward iflands. 
Since they have been in England, they have fpread greatly 
in fuch /loves, where there has not been more thanordinary 
care taken to deftroy them. They have alfo attacked the 
orange-trees in many gardens near London, and have done 
them incredible damage; but they cannot endure the cold 
ot our climate in winter, fo that they are never found on 
fucb plants as live in the open air. The only method for 
deftroying thefe infedts, is by wafh rug the leaves, branches, 
and Items, of fuch plants as they attack, frequently with 
water in which there has been a ftrong infufion of tobacco- 
fialks, which will deftroy the infects, and not. prejudice 
the plants. But this method cannot be pradtifed on the 
ananas plants, becaufe the infects will fallen themf^lves fo 
low between the leaves, that it is impofljble to come at 
them with a fponge to wafh them off; fo that, if all thofe 
which appear to fight are cleared off, they will foon be 
fucceeded by a frefh fupply from below, and the roots will 
be alfo equally mfefted with them. Therefore, vyherever 
thefe infedts appear on the plants, the fafeft method w?U 
be to take tlie plants out of the pots, and clear the earth 
from the roots; then prepare a large tub, which fhould 
be filled with water in which there has been a ftrong in¬ 
fufion of tobacco-ftalks ; into this tub you fhould put the 
pla its, placing fome flicks acrofs the tub, to keep the 
plants immerfed in water. In this water they fhould re¬ 
main twenty-four hours; then take them out, and wirli a 
fponge wall) off all the infedts from the leaves and roots, 
which might be eafily effected when the infedts are killed 
by the infufion ; then cut off all the fmall fibres of the 
roots, and dip the plants into a tub of fair water, wafhing 
them therein. Then you fhould pot them in frefh earih, 
and having ftirred up the bark-bed, and added fome new- 
tan 
