22 FRUIT CULTURE UNDER GLASS. 



the pines are to be repotted. Hurry and confusion 

 will thus be prevented in taking advantage of the first 

 mild day for shifting and rearranging the succession 

 stock. In draining the pots it must be borne in mind 

 that the plants are to remain in them till they have 

 perfected their fruit and a crop of suckers for another 

 season's stock, and the drainage should be efficiently 

 performed, as directed when treating of suckers, only 

 the depth of crocks should be a little greater in the 

 case of the pots recommended for fruiting in. 



The house or pit intended for the reception of the 

 plants after they are shifted should be thoroughly 

 cleansed. The glass and wood -work should be all 

 washed, and the walls whitewashed with hot-lime, so 

 that there may be admitted and diffused as much light 

 as possible, which for a stocky and fruitful growth 

 early in the season is one of the most important con- 

 ditions in the cultivation of the pine-apple. In the 

 case of those who are dependent on fermenting ma- 

 terial for bottom-heat, all that may be necessary in 

 relation to that will be to add about six or eight 

 inches of fresh tan, well mixing it with a foot of the 

 surface of the old bed. But should the leaves have 

 been several years in the pit, and the heat much 

 declined, it will then be necessary either to take out 

 the tan and mix in some fresh leaves with the old, or 

 to add a greater proportion of fresh tan without inter- 

 fering with the leaves at all. In the latter case the 

 old tan should be sifted, preserving the roughest part 

 of it. There is not an operation connected with the 

 growth of the pine-apple that I dread more than en- 

 tirely renewing the leaves and tan in pine-pits ; and 

 rather than run the risk of sudden and violent fits of 

 bottom-heat, I have allowed the leaves in the bottom 



