British Works. 277 



and the names of the authors, when they have given a direct reference to the 

 plate, are printed in Italics. In a paragraph below, I have noticed those 

 other references which I believe to be erroneous, and have offered a few 

 occasional remarks on the species." 



The references occupy sixty-nine pages, and must have cost the author 

 immense care and labour. They can only have been made by a profound 

 botanist, possessing an excellent library, and they will be highly valued by 

 those for whom they are intended. We have noticed a number of references 

 to our Hortus Britannicus, which we shall take advantage of in a new edition ; 

 and some also to our Arboretum Britannicum. The author quotes ninety-two 

 different works, which shows the great extent to which references have been 

 made to the Hortus Malabaricus. 



Every Man his own Gardener, being a complete Gardener's Calendar, and 

 General Directory. By Thomas Mawe and John Abercrombie. Twenty- 

 fourth Edition. By James Main, A.L.S. 8vo, pp. 420. London, 1839. 



This long-established and well-known work has been thoroughly revised 

 and greatly improved by Mr. Main, than whom we do not know a better man 

 for such a task. In the introduction a brief but comprehensive view is taken 

 of all that has been done in gardening since the time of Abercrombie, which is 

 well calculated to give the reader full confidence in Mr. Main's knowledge of 

 the subject. 



Practical Hints on the Culture of the Pine-Apple. By R. Glendinning, gardener 

 to the Right Hon. Lord Rolle, Bicton. 18mo, pp. 55, one folding plate. 

 London, 1839. 



The object in writing this essay, Mr. Glendinning informs us, is to improve 

 the mode of cultivating the pine-apple in that part of Devonshire over which 

 the Devon and Exeter Botanical and Horticultural Society has influence; 

 " for, although there may be successful cultivators of this unrivalled fruit in 

 the county, the exhibitions have not evinced a proportionate progress in this, 

 as in other productions. (Advert., p. iv.) 



The work is divided into seven chapters. In the first, which is intro- 

 ductory, Mr. Glendinning notices the remarkable and gratifying fact, that, a 

 few years ago, the culture of the pine-apple was confined " to a very few 

 gardens of pre-eminent notoriety, where generally first-rate gardeners were 

 kept ; " but that, at present, " almost every place, however limited in means, 

 with, perhaps, only a few temporary glass structures, makes the attempt, 

 and sometimes not an unsuccessful one." " Innumerable failures and dis- 

 appointments have arisen from adopting what are termed cheap modes of 

 culture ; again, the thirst for novel theories and marvellous experiments 

 predominates to such an extent, that well matured plans and systems, sup- 

 ported by practical authority, are alike contemptuously rejected." 



" The high temperature necessary to bring the pine-apple to perfection 

 renders it an expensive fruit to cultivate ; yet, when we reckon its intrinsic 

 value, in conjunction with its distinguished position in the dessert, it is, per- 

 haps, the cheapest, because it is indisputably the best of all exotic fruits. 

 There is none that will so amply repay the gardener for his watchfulness, nor 

 any I know, on which he can calculate with such certainty : care, labour, and 

 attention must here insure him an abundant' and valuable return." (p. 4.) 



Chap. ii. treats of the kind of structures in which pine-apples are grown, 

 the modes of heating, and the different systems of culture. Mr. Glendinning 

 considers two kinds of structures necessary, to be differently treated : a pit 

 for growing the young plants in tan, which may be excited by linings of dung ; 

 and a fruiting-house, also, with a tan-pit. Hot water, he considers as the 

 preferable mode of heating the fruiting-house. He allows that the pine-apple 

 may be brought to perfection without bottom heat ; but that this mode of 

 cultivation will be " attended with additional trouble to maintain the indis- 



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