PRESERVATION OF PLANTS. 
735 
&c. have been treated as stove plants, they grow much stronger, and 
flower much finer in the open border, and endure our winters pretty 
well with but a slight covering in very severe weather. A ligtu is 
often very shy at flowering, this may be easily remedied by observ¬ 
ing the rules laid down by Mr. Sweet in his Bot. Cult. p. 16, he 
says, A ligtu “will blossom freely, by letting the pots he dry for a 
considerable time, till the shoots are all dried up ; then fresh pot 
them, give a good watering, and put them in a moist heat. Mr. 
Bindley says, “the safest way to treat (all) the species, is to plant 
them in light loamy soil, in a border within a glazed pit, which is 
just heated enough to keep out frost in winter. Here they will 
grow with great vigour, throwing up strong suckers in all directions, 
and flowering beautifully: their leaves will not, on the one hand, be 
parched by the drying cold winds of April, nor, on the other, scorch¬ 
ed by the sun at Midsummer. Thus protected they will perform 
all their natural functions as if in their native soil: and an abun¬ 
dance of food will he sent downwards into the roots, which will be 
thus prepared, upon the return of the growing season, to send up 
new shoots with the greatest vigour.” Bot. Re<j. 1410. 
Arthur. 
ARTICLE XI. 
PRESERVATION OF PLANTS, &c. ON A SEA VOYAGE. 
The chests in which plants are sent from the Botanic Garden 
Calcutta, to Europe, or other distant parts of the world, are made of 
strong materials, and fitted out in such a manner, with moveable 
railed frames and covers, as to admit of their being easily sheltered 
from the access of sea-water, wind, and rain. Besides a number of 
plants placed in them and fastened to their sides, the earth is gener¬ 
ally mixed with a considerable proportion of seeds, calculated to ger¬ 
minate successively during the progress of the voyage, and thus to 
enhance the value of these collections. The chance, however, of 
their arriving safely at their destination, rests almost entirely on the 
commander of the ship on which they are proceeding, and on the 
person who is so good as to undertake the immediate charge of them 
on the voyage, directing their kind solicitude towards protecting the 
plants from the least contact of salt-water, from injury being done 
