362 VILLA GARDENING part iv 



are i^ut to the work to execute it with despatcli. While one party are 

 potting the Pines another party can be changing or renewing the 

 plunging material. Even where there are hot-water pipes this will 

 be necessary sometimes. Oak leaves are excellent to plunge the 

 pots in : wliere they cannot be had Cocoa-fibre will do. Tan is 

 often used, but careful managment is required to keep it from 

 getting too hot. The best way is to mix the fresh and the spent 

 tan together, about one ])art of the former to two of the latter ; 

 this will be quite enough where bottom-heat from hot water is 

 laid on. If there is any danger of the tan getting too hot, the 

 bottom-heat from the pipes should be shut oft". With leaves or 

 Cocoa-fibre there is no danger of over-heating. The late Mr. 

 Andrew Knight, of Downton Castle, thought Pine Apples might 

 be grown without bottom-lieat ; he tried to grow them on stages 

 like other stove plants, but did not succeed. Not only is the 

 bottom -heat essential, but the plants seem to like their roots 

 enclosed in a bed of moist fermenting matter. It adds to their 

 strength and vigoiu'. The bottom-heat need not exceed 75° or 80' 

 in a general way. There are times w^hen shy or sluggish fruiters 

 may, with advantage, have a little more to push up their fruits or 

 to finish them ott", 1)ut during the early stages of growth TT)" will 

 be enough. 



Propagation. — This is from suckers and crowns, the former 

 method being the one chiefly relied on where a sufticient stock is 

 kept up. As Pines are not, in private famiUes, required all at 

 once, neither shoiUd the suckers be all potted at once. The best 

 plan is to plant a proportion of suckers at each potting season — i.e. 

 some in spring, others at midsummer, and some in September. 

 Where suckers are plentiful only the strongest and best should be 

 potted. By haA-ing the power of selection the probationary period 

 may be shortened, as the weaklings will be thrown away. Some 

 people use rather a lighter compost for the suckers, but where they 

 are strong this is not necessary. Turfy loam from an old pasture 

 that has lain in a heap from eight to ten months, broken up with 

 the spade, with half a gallon of soot and the same quantity of bone 

 meal to each barrowful, will make a good compost. Any further 

 support can be given in the shape of liquid manure. The short 

 leaves at the bottom of the suckers should be trimmed off and 

 about half an inch of the base removed with a sharp knife. The 

 size of the pots must be regulated by the size of the suckers, but 

 6-inch pots will do for the strongest. The pots must be well 

 drained, for water-logged plants never do any good ; and the soil 

 must be pressed in firmly, as they root more speedily and vigorously 

 in a firmly-packed soil than when loosely potted. When the 



