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CULTURE OF THE PINE-APPLE. 



honey. Queens, with 12 pips deep, and 12 inches high, and 20 round 

 weighing 6 or 8 Ibs., with crowns 3 inches high ; Black Jamaicas, 7 

 or 8 pips, 9 or 10 inches deep, and 22 round, with crowns 3 inches 

 high, and the fruit round and well-shaped; and Providences, weighing 12 

 Ibs., with crowns only 4 inches high, are models of excellence in form, 

 size, and quality. 



Weights of the Finest Fruits. The following have been reached by 

 Mr. Barnes, late of Bicton, and though they may have been equalled 

 by others, have seldom or never been exceeded : 



Queens, above .... 8 Ibs. 



Providences . . . . 14 



Smooth Cayenne . . . 10 ,, 



The Black Antigua . . 11 



Prickly Cayenne . . . 9 



The Brown Antigua . . 8 



Copper Montserrat . . 8 



Green Olive Montserrat . 7 Ibs. 

 The Trinidad or Russian 



Globe 10 



The Old Globe. . . . 11 

 Black Jamaica . . . . 6 ,, 

 The Enville .11, 



Insects, to Prevent and Destroy. " Prevention is better than cure," 



is never more applicable than as regards the insects on pines. Under 



good culture, and starting with clean plants and pine-houses, no insects 



should ever appear. The steam arising from dung and other fermenting 



materials is looked upon as a specific against insects, and it 



seems certain that neither scale, white and brown, nor mealy bug, 



the three great pests of pines, relish a vapour bath heavily charged with 



ammonia. It must, however, be admitted that these strong fumes will 



not kill them, unless made too powerful for the well-doing of the plants. 



The white scale is the worst of the two, and is difficult to eradicate 



after it is established. Hand-picking, rubbing, and washing, syringing 



with hot strong soapsuds, at a temperature of 130, and dipping in 



various mixtures, are prescribed as certain remedies. Perhaps one of 



the simplest, and one said to be perfectly efficient, is to syringe the plants 



over with water, and then, while wet, dust them over, above and 



below, with equal parts of dry soot and sulphur, and leave the mixture 



on for three weeks. If this is done at the dead season the plants will 



not be injured by their medicated coat of penetrating dust. The 



brown scale may certainly be destroyed by the hot-water remedy. 



The mealy bug is the worst of all pests of insects on pines. Dustings 



of strong Scotch snuff, common and Cayenne pepper, on wet foliage, hot 



water, and a host of other things have been tried for it. One of the 



best dips for infected plants is three gallons of water, two pounds of 



soap, eight ounces sulphur vivum, and two ounces of camphor, boiled 



together for an hour ; add three ounces of turpentine to the mixture 



when it falls to a temperature of 130 ; then turn the plant out of the 



soil, wash the roots clean, prune away any superfluous roots or leaves, 



and immerse the pine plant, top and bottom, in this hot poison-bath for 



five minutes. Others add to this mixture two ounces of nux vomica 



and a quart of strong tobacco-water. Of course plants so treated will 



look queer for a time, unless the mixture is washed off at once with 



