432 CULTURE OF THE PINE-APPLE. 



of liquid manure, of the same length and breadth as the interior of the 

 pit, and over this the soil might be supported on a flooring of pierced 

 tiles, so as to admit of the roots passing through them into the liquid 

 manure ; or, it might be a bed of stones or coarse gravel, heated by 

 pipes, a mode which has been successfully employed in various parts 

 of the country. The planting-out system is or used to be extensively 

 practised in the Royal Gardens, Frogmore. A bed of leaves was used 

 for bottom heat ; the suckers were planted out into beds of soil, and 

 finally transplanted into the fruiting-pots, at distances of two feet apart 

 in the rows. 



The Hamiltonian system is admirably adapted for open-bed culture, 

 though it can likewise be practised in pots by using hoops of zinc, or 

 lumps of turf, to enable the stem of the parent plant to be earthed-up to 

 the base of the sucker. The object of the system is to make the new plant 

 of the sucker draw as much strength as possible out of the old magazine 

 of growing force. Hence the sucker is not removed, but a few of the 

 bottom leaves of the old stem are stripped off, until the bottom of the 

 sucker is bared. New soil is then heaped up against it, into which 

 it roots rapidly. The result is that a second fruit is often cut from 

 the same stool within a period of eight or ten months from the 

 first. Another sucker is again left as before, which will produce 

 another plant, and so on in succession until the bed becomes so much 

 elevated or the bottom so exhausted that it must be renewed. In 

 pot-culture it is seldom possible to take more than four fruit from 

 one stool. But plant out, and there seems no limit to the number of 

 fruit that may be cut from each centre of life. Sometimes, even two 

 suckers are left to fruit at once. In the ordinary course, by this 

 system, two fruit may be cut within a year, and another the follow- 

 ing year from a sucker produced from the second fruiter. Yet this 

 system can hardly be said to have taken deep root among pine- 

 growers. It has not the neat and orderly appearance so much valued 

 by the craft, and can hardly be expected to produce fruit of such 

 large size as the single-plant system. But, for a constant succession of 

 serviceable fruit, the Hamiltonian system, carried out in beds heated 

 with hot water, is probably unrivalled. There is yet another system 

 a sort of hybrid between the pot and open-bed that is, to plant out 

 the fruiting-plants when they are arranged for fruiting. We have 

 seen some splendid pines grown in this manner. Still, take it for 

 all in all, the pot system is the most popular, and probably the best. 



Enlarging the Size and Improving the Quality of the Fruit. This is 

 chiefly done by the highest culture between the flowering and the ripen- 

 ing periods, but the foundation of it all is laid in the sturdy habit and 

 robust health of the plant from the very beginning. Assuming, how- 

 ever, that this has been attended to, a good deal may be done within 

 the time prescribed alone. The fruit should be kept moist when 

 swelling, and the root well fed with manure- water. All suckers not 

 needed should likewise be removed. Any undue development of 

 crown should be arrested by squeezing out its tops. No gills should be 

 allowed at the base of the fruit. Every means must be taken to con- 



