298 HISTORY OF FKUITS. 



Dr. Wright says, pines have a detersive quality, and 

 are better fitted to cleanse the mouth and gums than any 

 o-argle whatever. 



This fruit was long confined to the tables of the rich 

 and the luxurious, on account of the expense of raising 

 it in stoves ; but the cultivation of the pine-apple is now 

 so well understood in this country, that notwithstanding 

 the bar made by the high price of glass, and the expense 

 of fuel, this fruit is seen in our markets, at one-fourth of 

 the price they produced a few years back : and pine-apple 

 ices are already become as common as those of raspberry, 

 in the shops of the London confectioners. 



As the heating of pineries by steam is found to answer 

 to the most sanguine expectation, we have only to hope 

 that the duty on garden glass will be relinquished, when 

 we should soon have African gardens of great extent on 

 the banks of the Thames, and this American fruit cried 

 through our streets, two for a crown. 



The late Sir Joseph Banks says, that it does not re- 

 quire the foresight of a prophet to foretell, that in less 

 than half a century we shall have forcing-houses of such 

 an extent, that our markets will be supplied with the aki, , 

 and the avocado pear of the West Indies, the flat peaches, 

 the Mandarine orange, and the Litchi of China ; the 

 mango, (which has already been ripened at Kew, in the 

 autumn of 1808,) the mangostan, and the durion of the 

 East Indies, and possibly other valuable fruits. 



This fruit was for the first time imported as an 

 article of commerce from the Bermuda islands, in the 

 summer of 1820. The importation consisted of about 

 400 pine-apples of the species called the Green Provi- 

 dence. These were purchased by Mr. Mart, of Oxford 

 Street, fruiterer, who informed the author that about two 

 thirds of the quantity arrived in good condition. As this 

 experiment has been found to answer, we may in future 



