418 CULTURE OF THE PINE- APPLE. 



ture ought to be allowed for that season, because growth in the absence 

 of light would be of no service to the plant, but rather the reverse. 

 In winter, therefore, 65 may be adopted as the standard heat of the 

 atmosphere, and in summer the temperature may vary between 70 

 and 80, or ID the fruiting-house from 75 to 85. With respect to the 

 temperature of the soil, as the soil in all countries, at a short distance 

 under the surface, is found to average 2 or 3 higher than the atmo- 

 sphere, owing to earth having a greater capacity for heat than air, 

 and parting with it more slowly, if we allow a bottom heat of between 

 70 and 75 in winter, and between 75 and 80 in summer, we shall 

 probably be acting in accordance with what takes place in nature. 



With respect to soil, it is almost unnecessary to say that plants in a 

 wild state are not always found in the soil that is best adapted for bring- 

 ing them to a kigh degree of perfection, but rather in one that is best 

 adapted for their propagation, or the continuance of the species. It has 

 been found by experience that almost any porous soils will grow pines. 

 In a growing state pines likewise require a liberal supply of water, 

 which should always be applied at a temperature of 75 to 80. 



Culture of the Pine-apple in British Gardens. 



From the earliest times the successful cultivation of the pine-apple 

 has been looked upon as the highest manifestation of horticultural skill. 

 It seems to have been known in England for more than two hundred 

 years. There is a picture in Kensington Palace of Mr. John Rose, 

 then gardener to the Duchess of Cleveland, presenting a pine-apple to 

 Charles II. It is doubtful, however, whether this pine was grown in 

 England. If so, the art of pine-growing does not seem to have taken 

 root. The next authentic information comes from Flanders ; from 

 thence, Miller observes, our gardens were furnished with plants. In 

 1718 the culture of the pine-apple was first successfully established in 

 England, in the garden of Sir Matthew Decker, at Richmond, Surrey. 

 In that year Bradley reports he saw forty plants in fruit. The suckers 

 were planted in August, bloomed in April, and were ripe in Sep- 

 tember. The pits were heated with bark, the plants watered with 

 tepid water, a thermometer was used that he might be certain about 

 the heat, and Bradley recommends at that early time that a hygrometer 

 and barometer should be added as guides to the gardener. Mr. 

 George M. Johnson, from whose compilation of the history of the pine 

 most of these facts are collected, adds that in the Fitzwilliam Museiim 

 at Cambridge, there is a Landscape painting, in which a pine-apple 

 is introduced, and it is said to be the first pine grown in England at 

 Sir Matthew Decker's. The pine is said to have been introduced 

 into Ireland by Mr. Buller, in the reign of Queen Anne, 1712-1714, 

 and into Scotland by James Justice, Esq., of Crichton, near Dalkeith. 

 With the art of pine-growing the literature of this subject arose and 

 spread. Everyone who could grow a pine-apple was fired with a 

 noble ambition to tell all how it was done. Miller, Nicol, and McPhail 

 had written before ; but their directions were short and imperfect. In 



