CULTURE OF THE PINE-APPLE. 417 



We shall first give the natural data on which the culture of this 

 plant is founded, and next a thoroughly practical and original treatise 

 founded on the best practice up to the year 1870. 



Natural Data on which the Culture of the Pine-apple is Founded. 



The pine-apple is an evergreen monocotyledonous plant, a native of 

 countries tropical or bordering on the tropics, and found in low 

 situations on or near the sea-shore, or near wide rivers. It grows 

 almost always on sandy soil, dry on the surface, but moist at the 

 depth of a foot or two beneath. It is indigenous or cultivated in 

 various similar situations, as in South America, at Rio Janeiro ; in 

 the West Indies, at Grenada ; and in Africa, at Sierra-Leone. As an 

 evergreen monocotyledonous plant, it is without buds, and conse- 

 quently not intended by nature to be long, if at all, in a state of repose ; 

 as a native of the sea-shore, it is not calculated for enduring a great 

 difference of temperature between summer and winter; and as a native 

 of countries within the tropics, it is calculated for growing in a 

 high temperature throughout the year. The temperature of various 

 places at or near the equator, as given by Humboldt, exhibits an average 

 of about 83 for the warmest month, and 72 for the coldest ; thus 

 giving a difference between the summer and winter heat adapted for 

 the pine-apple of only 11. But in the small island of Grenada, in the 

 West Indies, where the pine-apple luxuriates, the temperature in the 

 shade never exceeds 85 and never falls below 80 ; thus giving a dif- 

 ference of only 5. It is clear therefore that there ought to be very 

 little difference between the summer and winter .temperature of the pine- 

 apple house. In practice, however, it is found that this difference may 

 range from 15 to 20 degrees. The temperature of the soil in Grenada 

 during summer, and at one foot beneath the surface, we are assured on 

 good authority is 85. With respect to the water of the atmosphere in the 

 countries where the pine-apple thrives, there is generally a dry season 

 and a rainy season the latter much shorter than the former. In the 

 dry season there are heavy nightly dews ; and the rainy season, which 

 is like the spring of temperate climates, produces such an exuberance 

 of growth as to throw the plants into fruit. In the neighbourhood of 

 Rio, there are heavy rains at intervals from October to April; the 

 suckers from the roots are taken off in April or May, which is about 

 the end of their summer, and planted in the fields from one foot and a 

 half to two feet from each other. The strongest of them produce fruit 

 in the following year, which weigh between 3 Ibs. and 4 Ibs. each ; 

 and those which do not fruit the second year, produce the third year, 

 the fruit often weighing from 10 Ibs. to 12 Ibs. each. 



The conclusions to be drawn from these data, and which are at the 

 same time confirmed by the experience of successful and unsuccess- 

 ful growers in England, are, that the temperature of the pine-stove 

 ought never to be more than a few degrees lower than 70 in summer, 

 or a few degrees lower than 60 in winter. As our days are much 

 shorter in winter than they are between the tropics, a lower tempera. 







