BUT notwithstanding this their extraordinary Care and Caution to preserve this Plant peculiar to themselves, the Hollanders, some Years ago, found means to furnish themselves with it, and have made a Plantation of it about Batavia, in the Island of Java, which has already produced some Tuns of Fruit. From this Plantation they have lately brought two Trees to Amsterdam, which, by the Skill of their ingenious Gardiner, flourish and bear Fruit in such Perfection, that several hundred Plants have been raised there from Seeds, ripened at that Place; and which, from time to time, they transmit to Surinam, and such Places in the West-Indies as are in their possession.
THE Heer Gerbrand Pancrass, Commissary of the Garden, and President of the City of Amsterdam, did me the Honour to accommodate me with this great Curiosity, which I sent into England, and intrusted to the care of Mr. Thomas Fairchild, a most accurate Gardiner at Hoxton.
AND since it has now found its way to England, it may be necessary to offer some proper Directions for its Culture, agreeable with the Method observed in the Amsterdam Garden.
WHEN we have an Opportunity to propagate these Trees from the Berries, we must, immediately after they are gathered, carefully take off the outside Husk, and separate the two Seeds which are found in each; and set them an Inch deep in Pots of fine Earth, which are already warm in a Bed prepared with Horse-litter; keeping the Glasses close covered for six Weeks, and often sprinkling them with Water. From this way of Management we may expect them to come up in less than two Months time after Sowing. And then, for their further Improvement, you are only to remark, they love Warmth, little Air, a light sandy Earth, and much Water. And this last Hint answers to an Observation of that Great Naturalist Sir Hans Sloane; where he tells us, that the Arabians cut artificial Channels from the Rivers, on purpose to nourish these Plants. See Philosophical Transactions, Numb. 208. pag. 64.
THESE Rules being well observed, we may expect them to bear Fruit in five Years time from the putting in of the Seed; but in a hotter Clime, such as South-Carolina, or in the Caribbee-Islands, much sooner.
IF the Plague should ever come into England (which God forbid) I recommend to every Person, when they walk out, that they put in their Mouth a little Piece of Myrrh, as an excellent Preservative from receiving any Infection; which I shall treat of more largely in another Work.
F I N I S.
