ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE PINE-APPLE. 305 



The gardener who has never cultivated pine- apples in a dry stove, 

 should bear in mind that in giving water he should put as much at once 

 into each pot as will moisten the mould to the bottom of it, and avoid 

 watering very frequently. 



There are in different parts of England enormous heaps of coal-dust 

 lying at the tops of the pits of no value whatever, and in situations where 

 pine-apples might be conveyed within three days to London by water 

 carriage ; and I am perfectly confident that these may be raised by the 

 mode of culture recommended in this, and former communications, at 

 less than half the expense now incurred ; and I do not entertain the 

 slightest doubt, that as large, and even larger pine-apples, may be raised 

 without, than with a hot-bed of any kind. Nothing can be more easy 

 than the act of giving a more regular and uniform warmth to the roots 

 than that which can be given by the ever varying heat of a bark bed ; 

 and a sufficiently humid state in the atmosphere of the house may be 

 regularly produced by many different means. 



Some gardeners however have, as I have been informed, wholly failed 

 in attempts to cultivate pine-apples without the aid of a bark bed ; and 

 one case of this kind has come within my own observation. In this (and 

 probably in all others) the failure obviously arose from want of sufficient 

 humidity in the atmosphere of the house ; for the plants not only grow 

 best, but the fruit acquires, I think, its highest state of perfection, when 

 ripened in damp air, provided that there be a sufficient change of it, 

 and that too much water be not given to the roots of the plants. A 

 very dry state of the air in the stove is noxious, I believe, to almost 

 every species of plant, and particularly to the pine- apple *. 



Whenever it is wished that pine-apples should be produced of very 

 large size, it will obviously be necessary to restrain the plants from 

 bearing fruit till they have acquired a greater age than mine have ever 

 been permitted to acquire; and in such case it will be beneficial to 

 remove the plants annually into larger pots. This, when the pots, as 

 well as the plants, are large, will not very easily be done without danger 

 of injury to the roots. It has been my custom to remove melon plants 

 of large size ; and to preserve the roots of these from injury in trans- 

 planting, I have had baskets, of loose texture and coarse workmanship, 

 and consequently of very low price, made to fit the pots from which the 



* Very dry air appears to me to be particularly injurious, when it is made to come into contact 

 with the roots through the sides of a porous and unglazed earthen pot : I suspect, owing to 

 causes pointed out by M. Dutrochet ; see L' agent immtdiat du mouvement vital; and 

 Nouvelles Recherches sur FEndosmose et VF.xosmose. 



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