March 10, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



GROWING PINE APPLES PROFITABLY. 



INE APPLES grown with the most approved 

 appliances, if grown well, will pay, though 

 the profit will not be great, if anything at all, 

 in the neighbourhood of London, where coals 

 are more than twice as dear as they are with 

 us ; and the expense will be considerably 

 increased with those who advocate a high 

 temperature for Pine Apples. It is, there- 

 fore, very desirable, as Mr. Record suggests 

 in his courteous remarks at page 83, that 

 their culture should be reduced to as cheap a system as 

 possible — a result, I think, only to be accomplished in 

 one way, and that is on the principle of " killing two dogs 

 with one stone," combined with a thorough practical know- 

 ledge of Pine-culture, without which failure only may be 

 expected. To those, therefore, who may wish to grow 

 Pines at the least expense, I would say, Adapt your house 

 to grow other things besides Pine Apples, especially Straw- 

 berries, Kidney Beans, pot Vines, or Cucumbers. Anyone 

 who goes to the expense of erecting a Pine stove may 

 provide accommodation for some, or all of these, with very 

 little additional outlay, and it is very seldom that those who 

 are ambitious to grow Pines wish to be without the others. 

 As an example of what I mean, let me describe a Pine 

 pit at Dalkeith, to which I feel sure Mr. Thomson will 

 excuse my drawing attention here. This pit, as far as I 

 recollect, is about 200 feet long, and is arranged in di- 

 visions containing Pines in different stages of growth — a 

 most convenient and economical arrangement — and the 

 whole is heated by hot water, top and bottom. It is a 

 lean-to pit, and running the whole length of the back wall 

 were two or three shelves for Strawberries and Kidney 

 Beans. Certainly, the most magnificent sight in the way 

 of forced Strawberries I ever saw was in that pit — a sight 

 which, for anything I know, may still be seen there any 

 spring. Though this house did not afford accommodation 

 for all the Strawberries forced at Dalkeith, still, I believe 

 I do not err in estimating the quantity grown in the Pine 

 pit at from 800 to 1000 ozs. These, estimated at the 

 average Covent Garden prices during March and AprU, 

 give a figure that would have more than defrayed all ex- 

 penses connected with the Pines and other things — not 

 to speak of immense quantities of Kidney Beans turned 

 ont of the same house, and accommodation afforded for 

 Vines, Chilies, &c, during the summer and autumn months. 

 The house was no larger than was necessary for the proper 

 accommodation of the Pine Apples, leaving a 3 -feet path 

 along the back, and was an item of one man's charge. 



Having to erect a Fig house here some time ago, I, 

 acting on the above principle, had it made a lean-to, high 

 at the back, narrow, and to admit all the light possible. 

 The Fig trees, instead of being trained up under the roof 

 in the usual way, are trained to a low curvilinear trellis, 

 by which they have nearly as much space as if they had 

 the run of the roof, while a flood of light is admitted to 

 the back wall, on which we can accommodate about five 

 hundred Strawberry plants at one time. As these go out, 

 Ho. 467.— Vol. XVUL, Nkw Semes. 



Cape Gooseberries are trained up over the shelves, and 

 two crops of Figs are taken oil' in the season. 



Like Mr. Record, I have a hankering after fermenting 

 materials for growing Pines, believing that the plants 

 swell their fruit better on a bed of leaves if well managed, 

 and I would have no objection to use the same materials 

 for bottom heat ; but my experience forbids my recom- 

 mending tiie old-fashioned hotbed and linings for any 

 stage of Pine-culture, on economical grounds. — J. Simp- 

 son, Wortley. 



CAMELLLV CULTURE. 



I have sent this morning a box of Camellia blooms for 

 your inspection from plants grown in pots, and I send the 

 following remarks as to the mode of culture carried out 

 for producing them. 



First, as to drainage, I find the Camellia very impatient 

 of stagnant water : hence the necessity of good drainage. 

 This having been secured, place over the crocks a good layer 

 of turfy loam thinly, preventing the soil passing among 

 the drainage, and also serving as food for the plants. 



This having been done, the next need is soil. The most 

 suitable that I have found is the following : — Two parts 

 of fresh turfy sandy loam to one part fibrous peat, well 

 mixed but not sifted. This soil I have found answer every 

 purpose for the well-doing of the Camellia. 



As to the season of potting, I have found that the sooner 

 potting is done the better after the plants have begun to 

 make their summer growth, because then the roots are 

 fully active, and will readily send their fibres into the 

 fresh compost ; while, if it is delayed till the plants have 

 completed their summer growth, the roots are not so 

 likely to work in the fresh soil. Besides, I think the soil 

 is more likely to become sour, from the fact that the roots 

 have not worked so freely as they would have done had 

 the plants been potted sooner. I think it a great mistake 

 to pot the Camellia too frequently. For established plants 

 once in three or four years is quite sufficient, giving them 

 a liberal shift when it is done ; but although I do not 

 agree with potting too often, it is necessary in the mean- 

 time to feed the plants with liquid manure at certain 

 seasons, and I find nothing to equal sheep's droppings 

 collected fresh, and allowed to stand in water for a few 

 days. Of course, if the plants have been recently potted, 

 they do not require manure water till the fresh compost is 

 somewhat exhausted. 



With regard to shading the Camellia, I find it is highly 

 necessary through the hot months of summer, especially if 

 foliage is considered as well as bloom, and I find it im- 

 possible to have the two combined without shading at 

 certain seasons of the year. 



As to temperature, much depends upon the demand for 

 bloom ; for, although the Camellia will bear a certain 

 amount of forcing, still I think in the blooming season a 

 temperature of 40° to 45°, and from that to 50", is quite 

 sufficient. A rise of a few degrees in the growing season may 

 be beneficial. — B. Godbold, The Gardens, Ohipstead, Kent. 



[We never saw a more desirable collection of cut Ca- 



No. 1119.-V0L. XLIII., Oli Sums. 



