THE PINE-APPLE. 359 



allowance is to be made, for the size of the leaves in 

 the different species. 



The Pine-Apple [Bromelia Ananas L. or Ananassa 

 sativa) is comparatrvely of recent introduction into Bri- 

 tain. It was nearly unknown to English horticulturists 

 in the beginning of the eighteenth century ; for Thbresby, 

 the Leeds antiquary, kept a leaf of the pine-apple in 

 his museum as a curiosity. It is now largely and success- 

 fully cultivated in all the principal gardens in Britain. 

 Its culture requires all the ingenuity, judgment, and 

 watchfulness of the skillful and diligent horticulturist ; 

 and we shall, therefore, treat of it at considerable 

 length. It derives its name from the general resem- 

 blance of its fruit to a large cone of a pine-tree. The 

 fruit is a kind of pulpy strobilus, formed of coadunate 

 berries, and crowned at top' with a tuft of small pointed 

 leavesl The flavor of the pulp, is of the most exquisite 

 kiml. The plant is herbaceous, and the fruit-stem, 

 w^hich generally appears in the second or .third year^ is 

 surrounded wi'th long serrated leaves, resembling those 

 of some species of aloe. The fruit grown in Britian is 

 considered equal in all good qualities, and generally 

 superior in size, to that reared in tropical countries. 

 The Lond. Ilortic. Catalogue enumerates 06 varieties : 

 "of these the following may be deemed most worthy of 

 notice. 



The Queen Pine is very generally cultivated. Its 

 fruit is of a cylindrical or tankard shape, of a yellowish 

 color inclining to orjingo, and sometimes weighs three 

 pounds ; it is, at the same time, of fine flavor. This 

 kind produces with greater certainty than most others, 

 and the fruit'may be easily ripened in fifteen or eighteen 



