THE PINE APPLE. 117 



to a very considerable size even when produced in 

 so short a period. " At a meeting of the Horticul- 

 tural Society of London, held in October, 1817, 

 T. Baldwin, gardener to the Marquis of Hertford, 

 at Ragley, presented a Queen Pine of great beauty 

 and superior flavor. It measured sixteen inches in 

 circumference, seven inches in lengh, and weighed 

 four pounds. The plant on which it was produced 

 was little more than fifteen months old." Hort. Tr. 

 vol. iii. p. 118. 



Remarks. The following judicious remarks on 

 Mr. Baldwin's plan are by Mr. M'Phail. " Mr. 

 Baldwin's method," he says, " appears to differ no- 

 thing in principle from the methods I practised ; 

 but we differ a little in practice, that is, in the 

 manner of the application of the elements neces- 

 sary to make the plants grow fast and vigorous, and 

 to produce fine fruit ; and likewise in the mode of 

 disrooting and planting, which difference I conceive 

 to be of little consequence. He grows his plants 

 in good earth, enriched with plenty of well-rotted 

 manure. He keeps the plants in a strong heat, and 

 gives their roots plenty of water. He sets his fruit- 

 ing plants in a bed of tan in the month of Septem- 

 ber, and there it appears they are stationed till the 

 fruit be ripened the following summer. Now, I 

 think, a bed made up in September, is not able to 

 retain a sufficient heat for the growth of the Pine 

 Apple plant for so long a period of time. 



" Once, by way of experiment, in a small hot- 

 house, I made up a bed in the pit of it in the month 



i 3 



