176 GARDEN PLANTS. TART IT. 



of fresh stable-dung with litter, and over this a thin layer of 

 earth. Dig a trench from each end of the plants, and fill it 

 every day with water. Water overhead with watering-pot once 

 a week over leaves and fruit. " In this way," Mr. Speede 

 asserts, " Pines may be obtained as large and fine-flavoured as 

 in any part of the world." I cannot say that I have been very 

 successful in the adoption of this plan, having found my plants 

 inclined to rot and perish from an over-supply of manure. A 

 soil thoroughly lightened with leaf-mould, well-decayed cow- 

 dung and sand, may be relied upon, I believe, as that in which 

 they will thrive to perfection. 



But one point, which must be insisted upon as of great 

 importance, is that the plants be removed after comparatively 

 short periods into an entirely new soil. This is a fact that seems 

 not by any means commonly recognised ; still it accords with 

 what I find in the MSS. notes of the late General Jenkins, as 

 the " cultivation recommended by a native of Dacca. Let the 

 soil be ploughed and well cultivated, and the plants be planted 

 on it. After the lapse of a year let the old trees be extirpated* 

 and the smaller plants be transplanted from their places. The 

 oftener the plants are transplanted, the more will their growth 

 and quality be improved." 



Very similar in effect to the above is the mode of proceeding 

 prescribed by French horticulturists. M. Ysabeau writes : 

 " The Pine-apple is subjected to a treatment which few other 

 plants could endure, the constant success of which goes to show 

 how essentially robust its constitution must be. All the roots 

 of the plant are cut off clean at the collar, and the Pine-apple, 

 after the wound has been well dried in the open air, is inserted 

 in a large pot of prepared soil, some of the lower leaves having 

 been first removed."* In'Le Bon Jardinier' it is said that 

 the plants should be thus treated in October, and that in three 

 weeks they will have made new roots." f 



The Pine-apple, it is said, is much improved by having the 

 leafy crown of the fruit twisted out when about four inches in 

 height, and a piece of tile laid upon the top. General Jenkins 

 states likewise that " the Bengalee malees force their Pines by 

 cutting off the crowns when they are nearly full grown, but 



* ' Le Jardinier de tout le Monde,' p. 327. 

 f ' Le Bon Jardinier ' pour 1866, p. 417. 



