CULTURE OF THE PINE-APPLE. 425 



plunging in fermenting material without its risks, by having the 

 plunging-beds heated with hot water. Tan or spent leaves, one foot 

 or eighteen inches in depth, for plunging the pots in, may be spread 

 over tanks or pipes. These will wrap the pots or roots in a genial 

 warmth, which will prove most conducive to their health. Tanks 

 may be used in lieu of pipes ; their heat is even more genial. The 

 choice between the two may be determined by their relative cost. 

 Wooden tanks soon rot, slate or cement are in danger of cracking 

 and breaking, and iron tanks are dearer than pipes. For surface-heat 

 there is nothing like four-inch hot-water pipes, and the law for pineries 

 should be a large surface of pipes and plenty of boiler power. The 

 heat given off at a high temperature is drier and less genial than that 

 diffused from iron of lower temperature. The upper pipe should 

 either be cast with a trough for the reception of water throughout its 

 whole length, or close-fitting pans maybe placed upon it and removed at 

 pleasure. We greatly prefer this to a perforated steam-pipe carried 

 above the pipes to water them, and also steam the house when required ; 

 whilst the latter may at times be serviceable, the former is the best 

 mode of maintaining a genial atmosphere. 



The Times and Modes of Potting. The time of potting pines used 

 to be definitely Jaid down in the treatises upon the subject. March 

 and October were the two seasons ; some, again, included May ; two 

 or, at the most, three days in the year were devoted to this purpose. 

 On these occasions the pines were potted whether they needed it or 

 not, and those that needed it in the interval had to wait till these 

 charmed seasons. More marvellous, at the March shifting most of the 

 plants were potted backwards that is, they were taken out of large 

 pots and put into smaller ; hence it came to pass that good growers 

 had to pot again in May ; otherwise the plants rooted into mattedness 

 before October. 



Now, although with pines it is well to have set times for examining 

 them and for general arrangement, especially where fermenting materials 

 are used for bottom heat, the plants should be potted as they require 

 it. Few now adhere strictly to set seasons for potting. Indeed, 

 such seasons are not only injurious to the plants, but are also the 

 means of producing one of the great evils of pine-growing a 

 glut of fruit at one time, and a scarcity at another. Pot a hundred 

 plants on the same day, and treat them in the same way after- 

 wards, and the chances are that twenty-five of them will ripen to- 

 gether. Therefore, and also for the welfare of the plants, treat 

 pines as most other plants are now treated, and pot them when they 

 want it. Were it practicable to pot two pines every day in the year, it 

 is probable that one might likewise be cut every day. As to the mode 

 of potting, nothing can be more simple. Shift a pine-plant as you 

 would a palm, or any other plant, with equal care of leaf and root. 

 The old practice of tying up the leaves was most injurious ; it saved 

 them from breakage at the time, and bruised them for ever after- 

 wards, as sturdy pine-plants cannot be tied up without serious injury, 

 and a weak, drawn- up, flaccid plant is not worth a fresh pot. Suckers 



