304^ On cultivating the Pine-apple. 



I conclude, therefore, that metallic rafters, and accurate 

 glazing, giving the glass as little lap as possible, are great 

 advantages : hovi^ever, it is seldom in the power of the gardener 

 to obtain a situation furnished with these extraordinary faci- 

 lities ; and it is therefore his interest, as well as his duty, to 

 make the best he can of the circumstances in which he is 

 placed. Artificial heat is also indispensably necessary in this 

 branch of horticulture. The mode in which it is furnished 

 here has been detailed already in your Magazine; the heat 

 supplied is perfectly mild, and can, with great facility, be 

 augmented, or diminished, as circumstances require. There 

 is also an excellent opportunity of creating a mild and sweet 

 moisture amongst the plants, by watering the heated stone 

 steam flues. This plan has been practised eleven years, and 

 before the mode of heating with warm water was known in 

 this part of the country. 



The most eligible mode for growing pine plants is, un- 

 doubtedly, in the rejected bark of tanners ; the less it is 

 exhausted by bruising or boiling, the better it is adapted for 

 the purpose, as the tannin preserves it from decay. 



The two most frequent evils, in growing pines, are keeping 

 them in too hot a pit, and suffering the soil in the pots to 

 become too dry. Too great a heat from the bark must be 

 avoided by a regular supply of fresh bark to the front and back 

 of the pit, so as to prevent the necessity of wanting a large 

 quantity at the time of shifting, &c., the pines, by riddling the 

 earthy part out of the old bark, and mixing the old and new 

 well together, to prevent excessive fermentation. 



The bark heat is too great if it be above 1 00° of Fahrenheit's 

 thermometer. The heat may be checked by pouring water 

 on the bark bed, by piercing perpendicular holes with a strong 

 smooth rod of considerable thickness, and by keeping the 

 houses cooler than usual, and by the more free admission of 

 air. 



With respect to water, I bestow that element more liberally 

 a great deal than is customary. If the temperature in any 

 day rise to 80° inside, the pines in fruit may safely be syringed 

 over the whole herb, three, four, or, in hot weather, six days 

 in the week. Whenever I anticipate any sun, at any time of 

 the year, I give these pines an abundance of water by the 

 syringe : many gardeners, who have come to see me in 

 November or December, have expressed surprise at seeing 

 me syringing the pines at that season ; but they could not help 

 saying that the plants looked well, and were swelling off" their 

 fruit very surprisingly. The succession plants are also 

 syringed regularly from March to September : during this 



