March 24, 1870. J 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



PINE-APPLE CULTUPtE— LARGE versus SMALL 

 POTS. 



WAS glad to again see Mr. Thomson's ac- 

 count (see page 12;i) of his experiment with 

 largo pots for Pine- culture. I have a dis- 

 tinct recollection of reading it before, and of 

 boggling not a little at the seemingly para- 

 doxical results therein stated, and trying to 

 reconcile tliem with the laws which we are 

 taughMo believe regulate the size and weight 

 of vegetable productions generally. There 

 were the facts, however, guaranteed by the 

 name of a cultivator on whose utterances we are accustomed 

 to place the most implicit reliance. Well I know what 

 the Pines at Archerfield were like, for my visits to their 

 shrine at one time were neither few nor far between. 

 Since then I have seen good examples of Pine-culture, not 

 a few, in various parts of Great Britain, but I have not 

 yet seen anything to match the Pines at Archerfield for 

 size, uniformity, and general excellence at all times of the 

 year, and if any man is entitled to speak with authority 

 about their culture it is Mr. Thomson. 



Nevertheless, I must venture to question the conclusions 

 apparently involved in the result of his experiment, and I 

 doubt not Mr. Thomson will bear with me in stating frankly 

 my own convictions on the subject. 



The argument conveyed in his statistical statement and 

 supplementary remarks is, that within certain limits, small 

 pots are better than large ones for Pines. Now I can 

 quite understand that if we put a small sucker into a large 

 pot, the result will be immature growth, and consequent 

 failure ; but suppose we have a sucker such as the expe- 

 rienced cultivator might judge capable of tilling a 15-inch 

 pot and maturing its growth in the given time, would Mr. 

 Thomson suggest putting it into au 11-inch pot, and would 

 he advise the practice generally '.' What we are left to 

 infer from his statement is, that the superior weight of the 

 fruit from the large pots was due, not to the extra size of 

 the pots, but to the suckers being larger in the first in- 

 stance — that if the plants had been potted in 11-inch pots 

 instead of 15-inch pots, the result would have been equally 

 satisfactory. As the roots of the Pine are always in pro- 

 portion to the size of the head, it is a legitimate inference, 

 reasoning on the same principle, that if the plants in 

 the 11-inch pots had been moved into 8-inch pots the 

 results would also have been the same — a theory which, 

 looked at as a theory, is manifestly untenable. It is a pity 

 Mr. Thomson did not make the experiment with suckers 

 of the same size, and it would be interesting to learn if, 

 when he moved the eighteen finest plants into 15 inch pots, 

 the less plants were shifted also, or allowed to make an 

 uninterrupted growth in the 11-inch pots ; in the latter 

 case they would have an advantage in the race, for a 

 Pine when shifted always receives a check, no matter how 

 carefully the operation is performed. 



Of course, I do not mean for a moment to cast the 

 shadow of a doubt on the actual results of Mr. Thomson's 

 experiment, but I think he hardly gives the large pots 



No. 469,-VoL. XVTH., New Skrdis. 



their due share of credit in the matter. It is a reasonable 

 practice, I think, to put the largest suckers in the largest 

 pots, just as we would allow a man a larger share of food 

 than a child. I have no desire to provoke more discussion 

 on this subject, though, should these remarks induce Mr. 

 Thomson to " come out " again, I shall consider your 

 readers under obligations to me. I was, however, very 

 much struck when i read Mr. Thomson's earlier account 

 of his experiment, and since then I have watched atten- 

 tively the results of similar experiments with Pines and 

 other things, and I must acknowledge that my experience 

 has been the opposite of his. I find that where two plants 

 of the same size are put into pots of different sizes, the 

 difference is not apparent at first, but when the small 

 pot gets filled with roots, there comes a check which tells 

 visibly in the final result. I have proved also, over and 

 over again, that Strawberry runners of the same kind and 

 size make better plants in tj-inch than they do in 5-inch 

 pots, and bear decidedly the heavier crops, though they 

 are not so certain of " showing " as the plants in the 

 smaller pots, for which reason we prefer the latter. The 

 same remarks are applicable to pot Vines and other 

 subjects. 



The heaviest Pines I ever saw or heard of were grown on 

 the planting-out system ; and do we not act on the principle 

 all through of giving our plants the greatest amount of 

 food we can compatable with perfect maturation ? 



I do not advocate large pots for Pines myself. I use 

 13 and 14-inch pots for fruiting plants, never more nor 

 less. Two inches are allowed for drainage and 2 inches for 

 water — for I believe in ample waterings when watering is 

 required — so that in a 11-inch pot the actual root-action is 

 confined to a firmly-compressed ball of soil about 10 inches 

 by 9, and proportionally less in a 12-inch pot. 



Just a few words in conclusion about ripening Queens 

 in fifteen months or less. Of the perfect feasibility of 

 doing this I have no doubt, it is the results that would 

 dissatisfy me ; for I am afraid that from 3 to 4 lbs. fruit 

 are more than we could expect as a rule from plants of 

 that age. As I said before, however, the time cannot be 

 reduced conveniently to less than eighteen months on the 

 average, with those who wish to fruit two batches of Queens 

 during the summer, and I fail to see at present that Mr. 

 Thomson effected more than this. According to his state- 

 ment, tho suckers potted in June from his early summer 

 lot of Queens produced fruit in August and September the 

 following year ; but where does he get the suckers from ' 

 that ripen their fruit in May and June '? I presume he 

 has no Queen suckers fit to be detached in February or 

 March, unless he fruits Queens at that period. He does 

 not get them off the June lot ; he must, therefore, take 

 them off, and pot them in September, grow them all the 

 next season, and fruit them the succeeding May and June, 

 when they will be from twenty to twenty-two months old. 

 These plants will then yield the suckers that fruit in 

 fifteen months, and that will be two crops in thirty-seven 

 months, giving an average of about eighteen months or 

 more ; for in a question of returns and expenses it is in, 

 this light we must view it. My object is to " realise " — to 

 No. 1121.- Vol. XLIII., Old Semes. 



