JOUENAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



THE PINE APPLE.— No. 1. 



;T is mucli to be regi'etted that tlie gi'eatly- 

 increased attention tliat has of late years 

 been paid to the cultivation of so many 

 things that are considered hiximes, should 

 not have extended to the Pine Apple ; for 

 although unquestionably more Pines are 

 grown at the present day than thirty years 

 ago, yet the cultivation of Orchids, Ferns, 

 and even Grapes, has increased in a much 

 higher degree. The Pine Apple, however, 

 holds the .same position now as then in the scale of im- 

 portance, being still regarded as the king of fiiiits. One 

 reason, doubtless, why its cultivation should have made 

 less progi-ess is the fact that large quantities of fiaoit fi'om 

 tropical countries anive here at a time when home-gi-own 

 fruit of other kinds is also plentiful : hence both the 

 market and the appetite are glutted, and the once-aristo- 

 cratic Pine Apple ligures on the costermonger's baiTOw, 

 and is retailed at the lowest figure imagmable. 



That this cause has had some effect in withdrawing 

 the attention of those ha\dng the means to grow Pines 

 is certainly tiiie, but there are other reasons as well. 

 One is the supposed difficulty and cost of gi'owing them, 

 another the disappointment which some employers ex- 

 press when all the hiiit gi'own are not large, and they 

 unreasonably give np the cultivation of Pines when they 

 find out the proportion of those weighing 8 or 10 lbs. 

 is a vei-y small one to the space they occupy. The 

 time required for them to attainthat weight, and the 

 consequent cost of such fine fnait, more than counter- 

 balance their utdity. Although a noble Pine is an 

 ornament to any table, it becomes rather common- 

 place when it is seen too often, and I have heard of one 

 going the round of a series of west-end dinner parties 

 for some weeks. It might have been used in the same 

 way longer, and been equally useful, if it had been made 

 of wax or cast-iron. 



I am not an advocate for large Pines ; therefore I re- 

 spectfully differ from most of those who have wi"itten 

 essays on the growth of this frait, who seem to regard 

 the production of extraordinai-ily large specimens as the 

 perfection of Pine-gi'owing. On the other hand, I take 

 my stand on the platform (to use an American phi'ase) of 

 "quantity and quality" as against size; not that the 

 latter is eutu-ely ignored, but simply because in general I 

 would prefer half a dozen or more fruit of 2 lbs. each to 

 one of 8 lbs., and I imagine they can be gi-own at the 

 same, or it may be even at a less cost ; flavour and other 

 considerations being also taken into account. This may 

 be done at much less cost than many would beheve, for 

 where insects can be kept completely under, and a steady 

 bottom heat supplied with little ti-ouble, the other con- 

 ditions to the success of the Pine Apple are easily secured. 

 Structures for Growing PnrEs. — Commencing with 

 the kind of house best adapted for the purpose, I would 

 suggest as a veiy important point, whether Pines are 

 grown in pits or houses, that they should not be con- 

 No. 6S4.— Vol. XXn., New Series. 



neeted with those devoted to ornamental plants. Many 

 of the choicest stove plants are hable to mealy bug, and 

 New Holland and other gi-eenhouse plants to the white 

 scale, and as these insects can pass fi-om one house to 

 another, there is small hope of keeping one bouse clear 

 of these if there be a colony in the adjoi nin g structure. 

 In Grape and Peach houses these enemies to good culti- 

 vation can be routed out at least once a-year, but it is 

 not so vrith the Pine house. It is advisable to adopt every 

 precaution to keep the latter fi-ee from scale and mealy 

 bug, which in Pines are much like the rinderpest in 

 cattle, hardly to be cm-ed except by destruction. Where 

 practicable, the principal Pine structures should therefore 

 stand by themselves, and it is also necessary to be very 

 careful "in introducing other plants amongst them ; in 

 fact, with the exception of Dwarf Kidney Beans reared 

 from seed sown in the same place, and a few pot Vines 

 grown in the same house, I exclude from the pinery 

 evei-ything else. "Wliere other houses can be had lor the 

 gi-owth of the Vines, it would be as weU to exclude them 

 also, but usually it is necessaiy to make the most of the 

 space. With care a house may be contrived in which 

 winter Cucumbers, Vines in pots, and Dwarf Kidney 

 Beans may all be gi'own to advantage, as is done in the 

 principal Pine house here, wliich, though not, perhaps, 

 the most convenient or econornical, nevertheless answers 

 the purpose well. If I were going to biuld another for 

 the various uses refen-ed to, I do not tliink much altera- 

 tion would have to be made, excepting gi^'ing a Uttle more 

 piping, and if not required for company to inspect the 

 contents, the path might be nan-owed ; but even this 

 could only be done to a vei-y shght extent. This house 

 is represented in fig. 1. 



It wiU be seen that the house is span-roofed, the shorter 

 span being to the north, a fixed louvi'ed lanthorn foi-ming 

 the apex. Air is given not by any movement in the 

 louvi'e, but by a flap board, about a foot wide, tiu-ning on 

 a pivot on the inside, and allowing the heated aii' to 

 escape by the louvre. This flap is moved with very little 

 trouble, the pivots being so arranged that it always closes 

 of its own accord ; it is held open by a string, without the 

 aid of any costly machinei-y. The front hghts also open 

 if required in veiy hot summer weather, but otherwise 

 the flap is quite siifficient. The roof is fixed, and is glazed 

 with 26-oz. glass, the squares being about 28 inches by 

 7 inches. The glass was stronger than was generally used 

 at the time the house was built, thii'teen years ago, and 

 the squares smaller, but I beheve we have not had more 

 than one broken pane in the roof all that time, and only 

 occasionally one in the front, and that thi'ough accident. 

 I advise those having such stnictures to build to use no 

 glass thimier than 26-oz. to the foot where the squares 

 are under 2 feet super each, and where they exceed that 

 size to have stouter glass. I wish some one who has had 

 a dozen or twenty years' experience with cheap houses 

 would give us his experience, as now and then I think 

 there must have been hea^'y glaziers' bills. 



Le me now go to the heating, and in this lies our weak 

 point. Instead of four we ought to have six pipes under 

 No. 1236.-V0L. XLVn., Old Series. 



