284 PINE CULTURE IN SOUTH WALES, 



expected the same success would attend the poor peat before 

 alluded to, though that intermixed with semi-decomposed leaf- 

 mould, charred refuse, and some thoroughly decomposed or charred 

 cow-dung might make a very passable substitute. 



Another place from which I expect to see some first-rate Pine- 

 apples is a garden recently established by R. Fothergille, Esq., 

 at Aberdare ; the gardener here is Mr. Floud, some years back 

 gardener to Sir John Guest, at Dowlais, and at that time an 

 exhibitor of first-rate fruit. At the present time his plants, 

 bought in a few months back, are very promising ; and from the 

 examples of cultivation which I saw in November, I have no 

 doubt, that during the ensuing season, Mr. Floud will again be 

 found a formidable competitor. The plants here are planted 

 out principally in peat, but I noticed also a liberal admixture of 

 loam dust, which the plants evidently enjoyed. The Pine pits 

 have adjoining a span-roofed Vinery ; in fact, the Vinery being 

 occupied by Musas as well as Vines, it is necessary that it should 

 be lofty, and as it was also the wish of Mr. Fothergille that the 

 whole of the principal plant and fruit-houses should be accessible 

 from the dwelling-house, without the visitor being exposed to the 

 open air, the fruiting Pine-pits have been constructed on the 

 east and west sides of the Vinery, the sides of the Vmery forming 

 the back of the Pine-pits, and the lights being made to open 

 inside the Vinery ; the Pines can be examined at any time 

 without the plants being exposed to cold draughts. These pits 

 are about ten feet wide, and are heated by hot water, both for 

 bottom and atmospheric heat. An arrangement of this kind is 

 economical, as saving the expense of a back wall, and with a 

 little ingenuity a system of ventilation between the Vinery and 

 Pineries might be established, which would be very advantageous, 

 and by which a constant circulation might be kept up. The 

 succession plants are grown in pots plunged in tan-beds in 

 ordinary pits. 



What strikes a stranger as the most remarkable feature, is the 

 extraordinary strength with which the Welsh Pines, even from 

 the smallest plants, throw up their fruit. I am sure I speak 

 within the truth, when I state that some of the Queens produce 

 stems to the fruit yJ/ne mc/ies in circumference ; and I have seen 

 scores of fruit twelve to seventeen pips deep ! Of course such 

 " shows," carried to maturity with the skill evidenced by the 

 growers I have named, must result in the fruit which have earned 

 for the growers, and for Wales, their and its well merited fame. 



