1869.] PINE-APPLE CULTURE. 219 



3. Pelargonium Mrs. Pollock in the centre, with one row of Viola cornuta, and edged with 

 Cerastium toraentosuni. Next season I intend to plant Verbena Purple King instead of the 

 Viola, as it is not to be depended on through a dry summer. This Violet is very beautiful in 

 the early part of the season, and in the wet, dripping summer of 1867 it was the best 

 thing in the garden bore, but this year it has been quite a failure. 



4. A four-lobed bed. This is planted with Perilla nankinensis in a square in the centre, 

 the four rounded lobes being filled with Pelargonium Countess of Warwick. Around the 

 whole runs a single line of Pelargonium Baron Ricasoli, a dwarf horseshoe-leaved variety, with 

 bright scarlet flowers, while for an edging we use Cerastium tomontosum. This is, without 

 doubt, the best white edging plant we have, if properly managed. Our own method is to 

 keep it cut close with the hand shears, and to tread it down to the ground when quite dry, 

 which with us prevents it from damping off. 



5. A nearly square bed, 10 ft. long by 6 ft. wide. The centre is planted with Verbena 

 Purple King, in the shape of a diamond, so arranged that the Verbena comes in a point to both 

 sides and both ends of the bed. The corners are filled with variegated Alyssum. To those 

 who like a little novelty, I can strongly recommend this arrangement, as the contrast of the 

 purple Verbena with the white Alyssum is very good. 



6. A shaded bed, 10 ft. long by 5 ft. wide, with square ends. It is planted in straight lines, 

 the dark Perilla nankinensis in the centre, with one row on each side of Centaurea can- 

 didissima, one of the most beautiful of white-leaved plants we have. The outside row is 

 Arnaranthus melancholicus ruber, a deep red-foliaged plant. Thus not a flower is seen on this 

 bed all the summer, but there is not one in these gardens which, during the present season, 

 has been so much admired as this, and which is entirely filled with plants having coloured 

 leaves. We have other arrangements to correspond with this, but the effect i3 not so good. 



Elsenham Hall Gardens. William Plestee. 



PINE-APPLE CULTUKE. 



'HE culture of the Pine-apple, the king of fruits, has, within the last few 

 years, undergone a marked change for the better. For very many years 

 the same unvaried routine, which marked the practice of Sir Mathew 

 Dickens, in the seventeenth century, had, with much pertinacity, been 

 followed, until some of our expert and successful cultivators broke through the 

 arbitrary laws which time had sanctioned, and brought the period necessary for 

 rooting, growing, and fruiting the well-formed sucker within the compass of a 

 few months, instead of years. 



I am not about to enter into minute details concerning the best mode of 

 culture, for there can be no doubt, all other matters being favourable, that the 

 quickest way of producing fruit of good quality is the best ; and those who well 

 understand the laws which govern the practice needed in the production of a 

 healthy vegetation under an artificial regimen, need have no misgivings concern- 

 ing growing this fruit successfully, in so far as size is concerned, if proper means 

 exist, and the necessary attention is paid. 



The present system, or what I may term the hasty modern way, of growing 

 this fruit, however, has much in it that is antagonistic to good flavour, and what 

 can be more insipid than a flavourless Pine-apple ? It is regarding this subject 

 of flavour that I wish more particularly to speak. So much has the quality of 

 imported Pine-apples improved of late, that this subject will become a matter of 

 some moment to the growers for market, who are already somewhat on the 

 increase, and who need " look to their laurels." It seems superfluous to remark 



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