88 BRITISH MODES OF CULTIVATING 



SECT. VIII. 



Culture of the Pine Apple in Fifeshire, by Mr. Walter NicoL 



MR. NICOL was from 1790 to 1800, the best 

 grower of the Pine Apple in Scotland; he had 

 afterwards much experience as a constructor of 

 hot-houses ; and extensive observation of the prac- 

 tice of the best gardeners of the north. 



Form of House. " Pineries," he says, " are, and 

 may be, very differently constructed ; and we find 

 plants thriving, and plants not thriving, in all kinds 

 of stoves, pits, &c. The culture of Pine Apples is 

 attended with a heavier expense than that of any 

 other fruit under glass ; especially if they be grown 

 in lofty stoves, the erection of which is very expen- 

 sive, and the keeping up proportionally more so, 

 than that of humbler stoves, or flued pits. 



" But, independently of all considerations of ex- 

 pense (which may not be valued by some, provided 

 they can obtain good fruit), Pine Apples may cer- 

 tainly be produced in as great perfection, if not 

 greater, and with infinitely less trouble and risk, 

 in flued pits, if properly constructed, than in any 

 other way. I would therefore have the Pinery de- 

 tached from the other forcing-houses, and to con- 

 sist of three pits in a range ; one for crowns and 

 suckers, one for succession, and one for fruiting* 



