THE PINE-APPLE. 361 



Cat. to be twelve pounds; but we have never seen it 

 above half that weight. The spines are middle-sized, 

 the flowers lilac, and the fruit pyramidal. Apart from 

 its magnitude, it is, like the preceding, only a secondary 

 fruit. 



The following may. also be named as good sorts: 

 Bagot's Seedling, Russian Globe, Green King with 

 smooth leaves, Striped Queen, Sierra Leone, Brown 

 Sugar-loaf, and Orange Sugar-loaf. And three or four 

 more, though of inferior quality, may be noticed for 

 their beauty or curiosity, viz., the Blood-red, Otaheite, 

 Scarlet, Welbeck Seedling, and the Havana,' the fruit 

 of which last keeps long, and has sometimes been suc- 

 cessfully imported.into this country from Cuba. 

 : Structure for gvoiving Pine-apples. — The pine-apple 

 has generally been found to require cultivation for two 

 or throe years b'efore it perfects its fruit ; its culture has, 

 in consequetice, been divided into three periods — pro- 

 pagation, successional preparation, and fruiting ; and 

 each of these periods has its corresponding, structure, 

 viz;, the nursing-pit, the succession-house or pit, and the 

 fruiting-house. 



The nursing-pit has occasionally assumed a great 

 variety of forms, respecting which, however, it is not 

 necessary to go into minute detail. For summer use, a 

 large glazed frame, placed upon a hotbed of stable lit- 

 ter and tanners' bark, is perhaps the best hitherto de- 

 visexl. "The Alderston -Melon-pit, and Atkinson's Mel- 

 on'-pit, described under the head JStelonry, are likewise 

 very suitable for this purpose. In winter,, it is desira- 

 ble to have the assistance of fir^Theat, eithei: from flues, 

 or, what is better, from hot water; though this fire-heat 

 is not intlispen sable, 



81* 



