FINE APPLES. 439 



warms the ground in which they grow, and this heat 

 should not be exceeded here. 



Pines thrive much the best by keeping the house 

 very warm and moist, and by giving air early in the 

 morning, and shutting it up early in the afternoon. As 

 soon as shut up, give a gentle sprinkling of water all 

 over the plants with an engine, which causes a fine 

 steam to rise, and the leaves never burn, but the plants 

 grow with increased vigour. When they are larger 

 and require larger pots, add more loam to the soil in 

 which they are potted, and keep the pots well drained 

 with small potsherds in the bottom. In shifting them 

 into larger pots, care must be taken not to injure their 

 roots. When they are put into the fruiting house, first 

 turn the tan-bed all over to the bottom, adding a suf- 

 ficient quantity of fresh tan, so as to give a strong heat ; 

 then set the plants upon the tan, but do not plunge them 

 till the heat begins to decline. Where plenty of leaves 

 can be had, they need not be plunged at all ; but, as soon 

 as the heat declines, fill up between the pots with them. 

 Oak or chesnut leaves are the best ; these cause the 

 heat to rise as strongly as is required ; when the heat 

 again declines, add another quantity of leaves, and so 

 on till the plants are half buried, and water them fre- 

 quently, but little at a time, and they will root in the 

 leaves, and swell off their fruit to a great size ; the suckers 

 root also into the leaves, and grow to large plants before 

 they are taken off, so that these plants produce their 

 fruit when potted off, much earlier than by any other 

 means. 



When the plants are wanted to show fruit, they should 

 be checked by keeping them dry for a considerable time ; 

 then by watering them, and giving them a little fresh 

 heat, they fruit immediately. The pine-house should 

 be kept up as near as possible to seventy degrees of 

 Fahrenheit's thermometer in winter ; in summer it may 



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