370 Mode of cultivating the Pine-apple, 



duits round any part of the house, which will be found the most 

 efficient way to communicate heat to the materials of the pine- 

 bed. In further illustrating that object, I would observe, in the 

 first place, that the earth within the pine-house, to the depth of 

 several feet below the threshold or back path should be dug out ; 

 and, in forming the plunging-bed for the pines, the side and end 

 walls, to the height of about 3 ft., should be built in open work, 

 or pigeon holes, and the space within be filled to the same 

 height with brick-bats or rubble-stones, upon the top of which 

 the material for plunging the plants in may be placed, and the 

 upper part of the walls finished in the usual way; and, to com- 

 municate bottom heat to the whole, water is to circulate in an 

 open conduit placed round the outside of the pigeon-holes, and 

 as low as the level of the surface of the water in the boiler will 

 allow, with which it is to communicate by short siphon pipes. 

 The conduits may be formed of sheet copper or iron, about 2 in. 

 deep, and not less than 8 in. wide. To confine the heated air 

 to the bottom part of the bed, the flags of the paths above should 

 be laid close together in Roman cement, with the ends only 

 resting in the sides of the bed and walls of the house, and ven- 

 tilators should be placed at proper distances, to admit the humid 

 air occasionally among the pines above : for the conveniency of 

 walking underneath, a narrow path may be dug out for that 

 purpose, and an entrance may be had from the stock-hole. To 

 follow the details any further I think is unnecessary, as every 

 one can modify the application to such local circumstances. 

 The following is the letter received from Mr. Lauder : — 

 " Dear Sir, — In compliance with your request, and with the 

 permission of my worthy master, I have great pleasure in stating 

 to you the mode of pine culture practised at Downton Castle. In 

 the outset I must remark, that the present practice is exactly 

 the same that Mr. Knight commenced with, and that it has, 

 years ago, been recorded in the Transactions of the Horticultural 

 Society. As soon as the plant shows fruit, the strongest sucker 

 is preserved, all the others being taken off as they appear. 

 When the fruit is cut, the plant is taken out of the pot with as 

 many roots as can be removed with it, and all the leaves, except 

 four or five on the top of the stool, are scaled off; the leaves are 

 also scaled off the base of the sucker, as is usually done ; but the 

 sucker remains growing to the stool, until in its turn it becomes 

 the parent plant, producing fruit and suckers, and undergoing 

 the same operation as its progenitor, whose place it is to occupy. 

 The few leaves left on the top of the stool are, as they become 

 matured in the course of the season, plucked off; so the old 

 stool, being entirely covered with earth, produces abundance of 

 young roots, which continue to supply the rising plant with 

 additional nourishment, independent of that obtained by its own 



