January G, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



in his eye, and I don't think yon will ever get it out, for I laid 

 a magnet on his eye all night, and the bit is in still." 



But I must bring this almost-too-long paper to an end. Yet 

 one word to those who have kindly sent contributions to 171, 

 Fleet Street, but which never appeared in print. The writers 

 must not be displeased. Perhaps other and similar, very 

 similar, ones had before appeared, or the columns were very 

 full, or, I may vonture, I know, to say that some other good, 

 but never unkind reason forbad their appearance. The authors 

 of rejected contributions must not serve this Journal as an itine- 

 rant cakeman served me some years ago. He appeared several 

 Sundays at my church (he was not a parishioner), and each 

 Monday following he was at my door with his cakes. Once 

 they were bought, though not wanted, and were found to be 



like our regular tradesman's, only not quite so good. Upon 



his making afterwards several fruitless calls, he said, " Tell the 

 Rector, as he don't patternise me, I sha'n't no longer patter- 

 nise he," and he kept his word. But I hope no writer of a 

 contribution not needed will do the same with " our Journal." 



" Our Journal." I could speak of much kindness received, 

 this, as in former' years, owing to it. Ours is a brotherhood 

 floral and feathered, not masonic, but nevertheless real. 

 " Egomet " refused to consider " Aliquis " an " opponent." 

 I liked that, and so also L. Wright's excellent remarks thereon. 

 And now to all I beg to offer my best wishes for the new year. 

 May none of you lose one from your circles this year, but 

 may the last day in December find you all still together, rela- 

 tives, friends, and neighbours ! Yet — yes yet, I would re-echo 

 in a gentle whisper in the ear of each one, " C. C. E.'s " text : 

 " What I say unto you I say unto all — Watch." — Wiltshire 

 Bectok. 



PINE-APPLE CULTURE. 



Though not disposed to make a hobby of any particular 

 branch of my business, still Pine culture is one I take rather 

 a special interest in, and practise to a moderate extent ; and 

 anything bearing on the subject is, of course, always interest- 

 ing. This is my apology for venturing to notice Mr. Record's 

 remarks on Pine-Apple culture, page 497 ; and in comparing 

 notes with him, agreeably to his wisb, I hope it will not be 

 inferred that I am ambitious of classing myself among the 

 " great growers," whose experience Mr. Record seeks specially 

 to elicit. 



Among other interesting questions raised by Mr. Record is 

 that relating to the size of the fruit obtained from large plants, 

 which, he says, is generally smaller than that produced by less 

 plants. Do I misinterpret Mr. Record in assuming him to 

 mean old plants instead of large ? If this is what he means, 

 and I think it is from his references to the older systems of 

 Pine culture, his experience agrees with that of most growers. 

 Plants that are grown two years and fruited the third, as used 

 to be the practice, and is still with some, do not, as a rule, pro- 

 duce such fine fruit in any respect as plants half that age ; 

 but, according to my experience, the largest pots produce the 

 largest plants, and the largest plants of one year's growth in- 

 variably produce the largest fruit. I do not advocate very 

 large pots, but let them be as large as the plants are likely to 

 fill with roots, which will depend upon the size of the plant or 

 sucker, and the time allowed to complete its growth. In my 

 opinion the size of the fruit depends almost entirely upon the 

 previous season's growth, and those who grow their plants two 

 years before fruiting, in the expectation of increasing their 

 vigour, are mistaken. We aim at fruiting our plants within 

 eighteen months, and the weight of fruit obtained from each 

 plant (Queens) is from 3 to 5 lbs., 4 lbs. being about the ave- 

 rage. Those who would reduce the period to twelve months 

 must begin with large suckers, if fruit of fair weight is ex- 

 pected. If Mr. Record cut fruit off Queen plants twelve 

 months old from crowns, he did a creditable feat. 



With Smooth Cayennes the twelve-month system could be 

 practised most conveniently. Suppose you have a lot of 

 vigorous plants ripening their fruit in March and April, at 

 which time the suckers will also be well advanced, these, if 

 taken off and potted at once in 11 and 12-inch pots, will have 

 the best of the season before them to complete their growth, 

 and after a short rest in autumn will show fruit. I have done 

 this in a case of urgency, and occasionally at other times. I 

 had a few Enville suckers presented to me last spring. These 

 I put into fruiting pots at once, and added them to our fruit- 

 ing collection of Smooth Cayennes. One of them is now 

 swelling off a large fruit, and another Enville, twelve months 



old now, is about finishing a fruit that will apparently weigh 

 4i lbs. With Queens, however, the time cannot be conve- 

 niently compressed into less than eighteen months, unless with 

 large suckers. In an ordinary way, suppose we begin with 

 suckers off the early summer lot in June, these will have 

 fully four months before them to mature their growth ; but can 

 we expect such to be at all equal to rooted suckers that have 

 been started in March, or that they will produce fruit of a 

 greater proportionate weight ? 



In the above remarks I am, of course, supposing that we 

 reduce the Bhort-time plan to a system, and do away with suc- 

 cessional stock altogether, which would be the chief advantage 

 gained, as it would give us double the space for fruiting plants. 

 It is by no means an uncommon feat to fruit Pines twelve 

 months from their being potted as suckers ; but I think I do not 

 err in saying that hitherto it has generally been more the result 

 of an accident than " guid guidin." Last autumn I saw an entire 

 house of fine suckers that had shown fruit through receiving a 

 check, and I estimated that the fruit would run from 1J lb. to 

 2 lbs. apiece. But what say your readers to fruiting Pines six 

 months after being detached from the parent stock ? If suckers, 

 for instance, that should be taken off in June or July, are left 

 upon the old plant till the following spring, they will inherit 

 the maturity of the parent plant, and will, as a general rule, 

 " show " immediately after being potted, and produce finely- 

 swelled fruit, and large according to the size of the suckers and 

 the care that has been bestowed upon them. This, however, 

 is among the " tricks " of Pine culture, and it will be seen that 

 no time is gained upon the whole. 



Mr. Record says the Pine will endure a greater amount of 

 rough treatment than some growers give it credit for. I am 

 afraid this principle is acted upon to a greater extent than he 

 imagines, and the consequence is the miserable condition of 

 too many collections that we see. The resistance of the Pine 

 to ill-treatment is more apparent than real, owing chiefly to 

 the character of the foliage ; but, depend upon it, if it does 

 not show the effects immediately, it will sooner or later, either 

 in sickly, flagged foliage, inferior-swelled fruit, or general 

 debility. The true Pine- grower admires the sturdy symmetry 

 of a well-grown Pine plant, and broken and disfigured leaves 

 are apt to upset even a complacent temper. I consider it worth 

 while trying to move a batch of plants without breaking a leaf. 

 Indeed, to lessen the chances of injury from any cause when 

 moving large plants from one house to another, I get a lot of 

 empty pots of the size of those in which the plants are grow- 

 ing, and plunge them in rows in the bed as the plants are in- 

 tended to stand, and smooth everything down. The plants are 

 then lifted without tying up the leaves, brought to the place, 

 and wbile one man lifts out the empty pot another drops the 

 plant into its place. In this way the plants are transferred 

 from one house to another expeditiously and safely, without 

 the shaking and exposure attending any other plan. 



In conclusion, let me say a word about Pine crowns. Mr. 

 Record attributes large crowns to an overgrown condition of 

 the plant. They vary in size according to the variety, but, as 

 a rule, very large crowns indicate ill-swelled fruit, but they are 

 no indication of the age or size of the plant. To swell a Pine 

 Apple equally and well, it must have time, a moderate top and 

 bottom temperature, and abundance of light and air. Reverse 

 these conditions and you will have small, light-weighing fruit, 

 and crowns out of all due proportion ; and the same may be 

 said of other fruits also. Undue forcing always results in an 

 excessive development of leaves. — J. Simpson, Worthy. 



PEAS TESTED BY EXPERIMENT 

 I now send a list of Peas to which I gave a trial last summer, 

 with the results. I had the ground trenched 2 feet deep, and 

 well mixed with manure. All the varieties were sown on the 

 same day and on the same ground. 



I have found all the varieties worthy of culture, there wae 

 not a bad variety among them. Still I have some favonriteB. 

 Of the tall varieties Veitch's Perfection, Ne Plus Ultra, Prize- 

 taker, and British Queen are my choice. Among the dwarf 

 varieties I consider Little Gem the best. It has several points 

 in itB favour ; no expense is required for stakes, and by sowing 

 in rows 1 foot 6 inches apart you can obtain as many Peas, or 

 more, than if the same space were sown with tall varieties, and 

 as early. Maclean's Dwarf Prolific, Advancer, and Multum-in- 

 parvo are first-class. 



The seedB were all sown on February 22nd, and supplied by 



