568 THE GARDENER. [Dec. 



kinds of plants, for the successful culture of which such appliances are considered 

 essential. The hot summer through which we have lately passed proved this ; 

 and could we have foreseen it, we might have saved ourselves the trouble of 

 providing hotbeds for many things. 



For weeks the Pines here may be said to have grown in the open air, for the 

 lights were taken off the pits altogether during the day, and left half off at night ; 

 and with great apparent advantage to the plants, though they required a great 

 deal more water at the root. Such summers are, however, not to be depended 

 upon in a general way, and so we have to look to more reliable sources than the 

 fickle presence of Sol for a supply of bottom-heat. Yet though I fully appreciate 

 the importance of maintaining in all cases a root-temperature corresponding to 

 that required for the healthy development of the branches and maturation of 

 the fruit, T think we are sometimes apt to over-estimate its advantages, and that 

 its application is not unfrequently a cause of failure. In speaking of bottom-heat, 

 I of course use the term in its ordinarily understood sense, and refer to the auxi- 

 liary appliances generally in use for such purposes. 



Considering the reciprocal action which exists between the roots and the 

 branches, it cannot be doubted that when the top and bottom temi:>eratures are 

 out of due proportion with each other the worst efiects must follow, as is proved 

 by experience. It would be proper enough to run the temperature of a vinery up 

 15° or 20° with sun- heat, but no one would think of doing so with fire-heat in a 

 dull day. Yet it is common enough to see the bottom-heat of Pines and Melons 

 maintained steadily at from 90° to 100° for days and weeks together, during which 

 the maximum top temperature may perhaps never exceed 75° or 80°. No doubt it 

 is sometimes difficult to regulate the temperature of the bed as nicely as could be 

 desired when it is composed of fermenting materials, but when pipes are used it 

 may be controlled easily enough, and, as a rule, it should never be allowed to 

 exceed the mean temperature of the house above 2° or 3°, if healthy foliage and 

 fuUy-swelled, heavy-weighing fruit, either of Pines or Melons, is an object. 

 This, at all events, is according to my short experience. Within certain limits, 

 size is no indication of weight in a Pine, as I have proved over and over again. 

 Hurried fruit always weighs light, and is of inferior flavour. The heaviest Pines, in 

 proportion to the number of pips we have ever cut, were from plants that had never 

 been subjected to higher bottom-heat than 82° or 83°, and that figure we never 

 attempt to go beyond with fire-heat. I saw some time ago, at a horticultural 

 exhibition, a Queen Pine about 24 lb. weight, which had deservedly received the 

 first prize, though much larger fruit Avere entered against it ; but it was one 

 of the most beautifully-developed fruits I ever saw, and on that account it was 

 awarded the prize. I afterwards found that it had been grown on a bed of 

 leaves, about 2 feet deep, in a pit, and that the plant had not been disturbed for 

 six or eight months. 



I must confess to a hankering after the old-fashioned hotbed, in preference 

 to hot-water pipes. Though it entails more labour and inconvenience, there 

 is a virtue about it that the hot chamber does not possess ; and in conformity 

 with this predilection, and as we happen to have a good command of leaves, 

 we use them rather extensively. We winter our fruiting Pines in a house heated 

 with hot water above and below, because we can graduate the heat better ; and 

 we keep them there until they are about showing fruit, when they are moved 

 into another house where a bed of leaves has been prepared, upon which they 

 are just set but not plunged, the pots being filled up between with rotten leaf- 

 mould, the better to guard against a too-violent heat. When our present fruit- 

 ing plants were moved into this house in December last, the bottom-heat stood 



