254) Culture of the Pine-apple, 



general plan, if acted upon, may be favourable for bringing seve- 

 ral species into flower; yet, in many instances, they are the most 

 abundant and free-flowering of plants. I might go into detail 

 respecting soil, temperature, &c,, but the patience of your readers 

 is no doubt already exhausted, and I shall only apologise to those 

 little interested in plants, and thank Mr. Henchman for his in- 

 teresting papers, and express my hope he will favour us with a 

 few hints on one of the most interesting of all subjects, the 

 uncultivated tribes of the human race. 

 Lancashire, March 15. 1835. 



Art. XII. On the Culture of the Pine-apple, as practised by Mr. 

 Dovoding, at Oakhill, East Barnet. By Mr. Alexander Forsyth. 



In order to render the following remarks on the culture of 

 pines here more intelligible to your readers, I consider it neces- 

 sary to premise a few particulars. 



Our stock, comprised of nearly equal complements of green 

 and black pines, averages about 1200, and we fruit about 500 

 annually. The sorts we cultivate are Queens, Providences, Ja- 

 maicas for the principal stock, and Antiguas, Envilles, Brown 

 and Striped Sugai'-loaves, Globes, and Antigua Queens ; but of 

 these latter sorts we have only a few specimens. Our nursing 

 and growing departments are pits, 7 ft. deep at back, 6 ft. wide, 

 and sloping at an inclination of one foot in three, heated by fer- 

 mentation, having no fire-heat apparatus. Our principal fruiting- 

 pits {Jig. 32.) are each 40 ft. long, heated by one fire, and sup- 

 plied with steam, conducted along the front wall, a little above 

 the flue, through an iron pipe of one inch bore, from a portable 

 boiler. The sashes, composed of a wooden frame with copper 

 stiles, and glazed with crown glass, are supported on cast-iron 

 rafters. Shutters, composed of reeds fixed in a wooden frame, 

 to fit on each light, which are used in cold nights, give our pits 

 the appearance of thatched cottages. As fermenting ingredients, 

 we use, for linings, tan, dung, and leaves; and, for beds in the 

 pits, tan only. As fuel, we use coke from the gas-works, with 

 a little coal and brushwood in kindling, and wet coal ashes in 

 moderating the fires. This is far preferable to coals, being a 

 cheaper and cleanlier fuel, and making more efiicient and easier- 

 managed fires. 



In watering and sprinkling, we use pure water, pumped into a 

 leaden cistern, and exposed at least one day to the sun in sum- 

 mer; and from tanks, &c., in a tepid state, from the forcing- 

 houses, in winter. 



We destroy worms in the pots by watering with lime water, 



