fequent information, have gueffed that he had acquired the accumulated medical wifdom of a man turned of fixty.' We congratulate him on his avowed corporeal vigour; though we muft confefs that the caufe to which he seems to afcribe it, is a very fingular one;-nothing lefs than the frequently partaking of the breath of young virgins. But let us hear the Author himfelf: I am myself, fays he, turned of fixty, and in general, though I have lived in various climates, and fuffered severely both in body and mind; yet having always partaken of the breath of young women, whenever they lay in my way, I feel none of thefe infirmities which fo often ftrike my eyes and ears in this great city [Bath] of ficknefs, by men many years younger." Among all the cafes of air rendered noxious by the breath, we do not recollect that Dr. Priestley has been fagacious or gallant enough to make any exception in favour of that of young women. In the heyday of our blood, indeed, we remember we were wont to find it very balmy and delectable: but, as our pulfes beat at prefent, we own we should now dread the partaking of it; efpecially in the Author's manner,- from young women lying in our way'-as much as that of roses and honeyfuckles; which, as Dr. Ingenhoufz has lately told us t, with all their fragrance, are very treacherous and dangerous companions to thofe who fnuff their breath too largely. Nevertheless, a man may attain a great age, our Medical Advifer obferves, if he can hit upon the right method.' And, that the breath of youthful women may be one means of obtaining this end, is by no means improbable.'-He acknowledges, however, that Attila, King of the Huns, lived to an hundred and twenty-four, and then died of excefs, the first night of his fecond nuptials, with a beautiful Princefs.'-Stifled with rofes, we fuppofe. The Author nevertheless perfifts in his opinion; and afterwards obferves, that the brifk and lively motion in the blood of young people is the caufe of their health, vigour, and growth;' and he can fee no reafon to doubt but that the re-refpiring their breath may rouze the fluggifh circulation of men advanced This pleafing prefcription' which, the Author tells us, can no where befo cafily made up, or be fo repeatedly had,' as at Bath; or fo conveniently conveyed by the most lovely of the fex,' is to be found, it feems, in an ancient infcription, given in Reinefius's Supplement to Gruter's works. It records the death of L. CLAUDIUS HERMIPPUS [now, perhaps, Redivivus, in the person of the Au thor] who lived 115 years and five days, by partaking of the breath of young virgins'-" PUELLARUM ANHELITU." See the foregoing Article. REV. May 1780. in years. We greybeards however fhould be loth to venture upon the Author's noftrum, on his fingle example, or authority: though we have a much better opinion of his other recipe for old age-of giving occafionally a kind of filip to nature,' of a very different kind from the preceding, in now and then exceeding in the ufe of good wine, of a proper age.' The reader who has been amufed by thefe fpecimens of the character of his prefent Bath Guide," or by his recommendations of young girls, and old wine, will probably receive further amufement from him on the various other fubjects on which he has chofen to inftruct as well as entertain him. Thefe fubjects, which are difcuffed without any rigid adherence to method, are -the Bath Waters and their analyfers, Apothecaries, Phyficians, Bathing, Surgeons, Bilious Disorders, Mufic, Dr. Bacher's Cure of the Dropfy, hot Rolls and burnt Butter, Gall-flones, &c. together with fo many ftories, and goffiping anecdotes interfperfed, as induced us to infer-whatever the young maidens may think-that he furely must be confiderably turned of fixty. ART. V. A Treatise on the Culture of the Pine Apple, and the Management of the Hot-house; together with a Defcription of every Species of Infect that infefts Hot-houfes; with effectual Methods of deftroying them. By William Speechley, Gardener to the Duke of Portland. 8vo. 11. 1 s. Almon. 1779. F the various arts by which human life is embellifhed and adorned, or which adminifter to its comfort and conve niency, there are few that furnish it with more elegant and blameless luxury than horticulture. This luxury is by no means confined to the palate; it extends itfelf to the gratification of the mind. In cultivating the various productions of nature, and in attending to the progrefs of vegetable life, the fancy meets with continued recreation and amufement, and every feafon brings to us a new fource of pleasure. Perhaps there is no part of the gardener's art more capable of gratifying the contemplative mind than that refined branch of it which gives, to the natives of a warmer region, an atmosphere congenial to their own. By means of the modern invention of ftoves, there are few plants, remarkable for use or beauty, but have been naturalized, and are become objects of attention to the curious, in this ufeful and entertaining study. There is perhaps no tropical plant that has been cultivated with more affiduity, and, we may add, fuccefs, than that which is the fubject of the prefent treatise. One of the principal difficulties that have attended the management of this valuable exotic, has been, to deftroy the infects which infeft it. Of these Mr. Speechley enumerates three fpecies-The brown turtle infect, the Cocus Hefperidum of Lin næus næus; the white fealy infect; and the white mealy crimsontinged infect: the two laft have been hitherto unnoticed by all former entomologifts. For which reason, as well as because they are the moft pernicious, the prefent Writer has been particularly accurate in the defcription of them. The methods that have been formerly in ufe for extirpating these noxious vermin, have been, to shift the plants into fresh pots, at the fame time cleansing their leaves and roots, which is usually stiled a dreffing. • Decoctions, continues he, made from tobacco, wormwood, walnut-leaves, henbane, and other herbs of a bitter or poisonous quality, are generally used on this occafion; and, by fome, fnuff, fulphur, and pepper are added: but none of these prove to be of a nature fufficiently penetrating. There are infects always between the leaves in the centres of the plants, fixed fo low as to escape unhurt; and as they increase, the pine plants are foon reduced to the very fituation I have juft defcribed, which perplexes and gives the gardener everlafting vexation. Befides, it is evident that this unfeasonable business of shifting and dreffing the plants, will confiderably retard their growth, and bring upon them a fickly appearance, especially in their laft stage, viz. their fruiting feason.' After relating what fuggefted to him the method of cure which he now recommends, he then gives the receipt but for that, as well as for feveral curious particulars relative to the experiments that have been made with it, we must refer to the book itself. To thofe who have hot-houses, the receipt will not be thought dearly purchased at the price of the book, which indeed is valuable on other accounts alfo. With respect to the general management of pine-apple plants, Mr. Speechley has thrown out many ufeful and ingenious hints. Of this clafs perhaps is the following: Whenever the pine plants are removed after they are grown large, it will be of fervice, before they are taken out of the tan-bed, to mark the fide of the pots which ftands next the fun; for it is obfervable, that the centres of the plants generally tend that way fo that the plants when replaced, may ftand as they did before they were removed. I do not mean that it is at all neceffary for the plants to be put into the very identical places in which they ftood before, but in point of pofition it will be proper, and the plants will be benefited by being fo placed. This may as eafily be done as placing them in a random manner, which is the common method.' This rule, however, though ingenious, is by no means original. With respect to the pofition of tranfplanted trees, it is of very ancient date. Theophraftus fays exprefsly, "HYTE Ηνπερ είχεν ἔνια τῶν δένδρων τα προς βοῤῥαν, καὶ τα προς ἕω, καὶ τα προς μsonpian. Columella is equally circumftantial: Cum de fe A a 2 minario minario eximuntur, rubrica notetur una pars, quæ nos admoneat, ne aliter arbores conftituamus, quam quemadmodum in feminario fteterint. Plurimum enim refert, ut eam partem coeli fpectent, cui ab tenero confueverunt. We meet with the fame precept alfo in Virgil, who, in directing the removal of vines from the nursery into the vineyard, obferves, with his usual accuracy and precifion, that the curious in this branch of agricul ture not only attend to fimilarity of foil, Quin etiam cœli regionem in cortice fignant: Ut quo quæque modo fteterit, qua parte calores Reftituant: adeo in teneris confuefcere multum eft. Fanciful as this notion has, in general, been deemed by thofe who fuperficially examined it, Mr. Speechly, we apprehend, is convinced, from actual experiment, that it is founded in truth. In our account of Memoires concernant l'Hiftoire, &c. des Chinois, vol. lix. p. 523, we took notice of a method in ufe among that ingenious people, of raifing an artificial dew in their hothoufes, by means of boiling water. Mr. Speechley's method we fhould apprehend to be fuperior, both in fimplicity and effect. Befides the watering of the pine plants in the manner recommended, it will be of great ufe to them during the fummer, if the walks and flues of the hot-house are frequently watered: this fhould conftantly be done in warm weather, and always late in the evening; the glaffes fhould be immediately clofed. The great heat of the hot-houfe will exhale the moifture, and raise a kind of artificial dew, which will foon ftand in drops on the glaffes; the leaves of the pine being fucculent, they will imbibe the watery particles, to the great benefit of the plants. It will also be of great ufe to give the top of the tanbed frequent waterings during the fummer, in order to keep it in a moift ftate; for when the tan becomes dry and husky, the pine plants never make any great progrefs. The water may, with great eafe, be put upon the tan between the pine pots, by the help of the watering pipe. When the tan is in a moist ftate, it not only affords a more generous warmth to the plants, but (the pots being porous) their roots alfo imbibe a conftant moisture, which is far preferable to any waterings that can be given them. Though it might injure Mr. Speechley in the emoluments of his publication even to hint at the nature of his fecret for deftroying the infects which infeft pine-apple plants, yet we think neither he nor our readers will be offended at our inferting the following note, which, befides the ufeful information it contains, will ferve alfo as a fpecimen of the skill and abilities of this ingenious and philofophical artist: • Soap Soap-fuds effectually deftroy the different fpecies of infects that infeft fruit-trees growing againft walls; of thefe infects the aphis is the most common as well as the most deftructive. It generally attacks, with great violence, the peach, cherry, and plum: the aphides are univerfally known by the appellation of lice. The acarus, though not fo fatal to plants growing in the open air as when under glafs, is alfo very prejudicial to the above trees when planted againft walls. The thrips are fometimes very numerous on peach and nectarine trees, but they are lefs hurtful than either of the former fpecies befides the above, there are two or three forts of Cocci that are very common upon fruit-trees; but as they adhere very clofe to the branches, they are not fo confpicuous, and confequently lefs known. However, trees that are much infefted with Cocci are, in the fummer, very diftinguishable, as wafps conftantly attend thefe infects to feed on the fweet matter that iffues from them. When the mufcle-fhaped Coccus has been very numerous, I have known hive-bees frequent the trees in great abundance. In the fpring, the Aphis, the Acarus, and Thrips are few in number, in comparison to what they are in the fummer: however, I have conftantly obferved the two former fpecies on the buds of the trees, before they break into leaf, especially on fuch trees as have been much infefted with them the preceding fummer. It is most probable that the infects that furvive the winter, in whatever flate, are concealed during that period either under the branches of the trees, or in the fhreds that faften them to the wall; elfe in the nail-holes or crevices of the wall; in all these fituations the foap-fuds have fully answered my most fanguine expectations. The operation is far from being either troublefome or expenfive; and the method is practicable at any feafon, but more efpecially between the fall of the leaf and the time the bloffom-buds are near ready to open. Proceed thus: Take any quantity of foap-fuds after a common washing; but when they are thick and ftrong, they fhould be lowered with water. A perfon on a ladder fhould pour them from a watering-pot over both trees and walls, beginning at the top of the wall, and bringing it on in courfes from top to bottom; the fuds when used should be many degrees warmer than new milk, especially in the winter; and when plentifully and properly applied, every part of the wall will appear of a pale red colour, not in the leaft difagreeable. Moft large families, in the course of a few months, make a quantity of the above liquid fufficient to wash a great extent of wall, |