Transactions of the Horticultural Society. 297 



p. 287.], and without being, in any degree, acquainted "with his opinions, I 

 had placed unglazed shallow earthen pans upon the flues of my curvilinear- 

 roofed stove, such as he has recommended, nearly in contact with each 

 other ; and I had increased the dampness of the air within the house by 

 keeping the ground, which is not paved, constantly very wet. The effects 

 of excess of humidity in the air of the house were, as might have been 

 anticipated, diametrically opposite to those which had resulted from 

 drought ; and the plants grew so rapidly as to become soon too large for 

 the spaces allotted to them without indicating, at any season of the year, 

 a disposition to show fruit. By subjecting these plants to the influences 

 of the drier atmosphere, their exuberance of growth was soon checked ; 

 and the production of fruit immediately followed in every season of the 

 year, provided that a sufficiently high temperature was given, 



" I have never cultivated the White Providence pine-apple, because I 

 never thought it worth culture ; nor any of the large varieties, except 

 a very few of the Enville ; and I have scarcely ever had a plant which has 

 not fruited within less than twenty months of the period at which the 

 sucker was taken from the parent plant ; and the suckers v/ere invariably 

 taken off at the same time with the fruit. The utmost horizontal space 

 which I have ever allowed to any plant, has not exceeded 23 by 24 in. 

 during the latter half of its life, and less than half that space din'ing the 

 preceding part of it, and I, in consequence, have never had a pine- 

 apple which has weighed quite 4 lb.* But I possess, at the present mo- 

 ment succession plants of the greatest excellence, and such as I could 

 cause to bear fruit of very great weight, if I chose to give them age and 

 space; for, comparatively with the age and spaces allotted to the plants 

 in my fruiting-house, the fruit of my older plants is of very large size, and, 

 in every respect, exceedingly perfect. I also obtain a regular succes- 

 sion of produce without having ever many pine-apples ripe at the same 

 period of the year; and I can venture confidently to assert that I could, 

 without difficulty, in properly constructed stoves, cause crops of pine- 

 apples to ripen regularly, and without failure, at any appointed period of 

 the year. Some varieties of the pine-apple appear to me to be capable of 

 acquiring a very high state of perfection under a curvilinear iron roof, in the 

 most unfavourable seasons of the year, and the most excellent fruit of the 

 species, in my estimation, which I have ever seen, has been that of the St. 

 Vincent's or Green Olive, in the middle of winter ; and my guests have, in 

 more than one instance, unanimously coincided with me in opinion. 



" I have raised as many succession plants as I have wanted, and I have 

 used a very large number (comparatively with the extent of my stoves) 

 by placing my suckers and young plants to take root and grow over the 

 flues between the larger plants ; but crowns and suckers never emit roots 

 more freel)', nor afford better plants, than they do when placed in a com- 

 mon hotbed. 



" 1 often plant suckers without detaching them from the roots and stems 

 of the parent plants; and for the purpose of receiving such roots and long 

 stems, I employ pots which vary in depth from 1 8 to 22 in., with a cylin- 

 drical diameter of 11 in. only. Much time is thus gained; for plants thus 

 raised, if properly managed, will afford good fruit at a year old ; and they 

 are capable, whilst young, of being very closely packed together. 



" Under a curvilinear iron roof, it will be necessary to shade the pine- 

 apple plants during the first bright days of the spring, or the healthful ver- 

 dant colour of their leaves will be tarnished ; and also to shade the plants 



'* * Since the above was written, 1 sent a Black Jamaica pine-apple to 

 the Horticultural Society, the produce of a plant which was some months 

 less than two years old, and which was confined to the space above 

 mentioned, which exceeded 4i lb. in weight ; but I have had no other quite 

 so heavy. 



