PINE APPLES PL ANTED- OUT SYSTEM OF CULTURE. 169 



of fibrous loam the rooting medium. The suckers are inserted in rows thinly rather than 

 crowded, the soil rammed firmly about them, and kept close in a temperature of 70 

 to 80, shaded from bright sunshine, and sprinkled two or three times a week till rooted ; 

 then the plants are gradually inured to air and light. Suckers inserted in August or 

 September are kept comparatively cool during the winter, and the following February are 

 transplanted into the fruiting beds, consisting of 10 inches of good loam over efficient 

 drainage, with as many roots intact as possible. Queens, Enville, and similar varieties 

 are allowed 2 feet distance apart from centre to centre, strong-growing kinds being placed 

 6 inches farther asunder. The plants make good growth by August, when means are 

 taken to mature it by the end of September, from which time the plants are rested till 

 December or the New Year, when they have a few of the lower leaves stripped off, a top- 

 dressing of turfy loam supplied, and are started to provide fruit in June. Smaller plants 

 kept growing about six weeks later, rested from October, and started in April, supply 

 fruits till the autumn. Some growers insert very strong suckers at proper distances in the 

 fruiting beds, and cut fine fruits from them in fifteen to eighteen months. Among other 

 places splendid pines are produced by planting in pits in Her Majesty's gardens at Frog- 

 more, and Mr. Owen Thomas, the accomplished gardener there, has exhibited a handsome 

 ripe fruit cut thirteen months after the sucker was inserted. 



As to the merits of the planting out as compared with the potting system, opinions 

 differ. The former is, no doubt, the simpler and more natural, but where the means 

 are confined to fermenting beds, and a regular supply of fruit is required from a small 

 amount of accommodation, the pot system may be best, for the plants are available at 

 all times for being moved, either to force forward or retard the fruit. Open-bed culti- 

 vation is an admirable method where large quantities of fruit are required at given times 

 and the requisite number of suitable structures provided. There is then no question as 

 to the advantages of the planting-out system, through the lessened danger of checks, the 

 greater range for the roots, and the least amount of labour involved all round. 



DISEASES AND INSECTS. 



The pine apple is singularly free from maladies. Some fruits are black in the centre. 

 This is considered by some persons to be a disease. We have not detected any organism ; 

 but the fruit soon becomes attacked by fungi that is, it will not keep. The defect is 

 caused by too vigorous growth, too much moisture at the roots and in the atmosphere, 

 with a deficiency of air. The preventives are a drier and well-ventilated atmosphere, 



VOL. III. Z 



