CULTURE OF TEE PINE-APPLE. 439 



doors, for which he was awarded the large silver medal by the Royal 

 Horticultural Society ; this was on the 7th of September, 1847, when 

 Mr. Barnes exhibited a Montserrat pine 5 Ibs. weight, arid an Antigua 

 5 Ibs. 5 oz., both grown and ripened in the kitchen-garden at Bicton. 

 In the next year the following fruit were cut : 



July 7. Two Queens, whose united weights were 8 Ibs. 6 oz. 

 18. One Queen, whose weight was 4 



^"- > * i r n 



Aug. 11. 4,, 



^*' j > > 4 ,, 7 ,) 



21. Enville 6 2 



24. Queen 4 8 



) *>! ?> 4 it 8 > 



Sept. 26. Enville 6 



4. Montserrat 4 8 



& > n & v 



Others were cut at intervals from 3 Ibs. to 4 Ibs. each. The method of 

 procedure was as follows : About the middle of May a place was 

 prepared for the plants on a south border ; a trench was formed from 

 five to six feet wide at top and about two feet at bottom, of sufficient 

 depth to protect the plants from the wind. Three bricks on edge 

 were then placed at regular distances in the trench in the form of 

 a triangle for the pots to stand upon to ensure efficient drainage. 

 Then the pine plants, which had finished blooming, and had been 

 wintered in a pit heated with dung and leaves, at a temperature of 

 from 50 to 60, were brought out and placed on the bricks. The 

 spaces between the pots and the sides of the trench were then filled up 

 to the rims of the pots, with half-spent leaves. Owing to the cold 

 rains, however, these leaves never heated. A layer of charred hay or 

 grass was then spread over all to absorb and retain the solar heat. 

 The plants received no other protection whatever. The weather con- 

 tinued dark, stormy, and rainy. On the 1st of July ice was actually 

 found at 6 A.M. Such plants as heliotropes, dahlias, French beans, and 

 even pelargoniums, were blackened by frost in September ; but the 

 pines received little check, and swelled well. The suckers also were 

 clean and strong, and were potted in the first week of October ; several 

 of them fruited in the open ground next year. Some of the fruit 

 cut out of doors in 1848 were produced by suckers taken from the 

 plants grown out of doors the previous year. All the out-of-door 

 fruit had pretty little crowns, and the fruit was of good quality. Mr. 

 Barnes continued the practice for many years with similar success. 

 AVe do not advance it as a system that can be generally adopted; 

 still it proves what can be done, and is interesting and instructive. 

 Possibly even more could be accomplished by giving the plants a hot- 

 bed to grow upon. This much seems certain, that the amateur or 

 suburban gardener who can command a strong fruiting-plant to start 

 with, a barrow-load of hot dung, and one of Kendle's Kound Plant 

 Protectors, need never despair of enjoying a pine-apple. 



