from June 28. to August 16. 1840. 201 



Rothschild's, and at Meudon, is at least equal to the best culture 

 in England. It will, perhaps, surprise some of our readers to 

 learn that in the places mentioned they are grown almost en- 

 tirely in heath soil, such as is used for Cape heaths in this 

 country. See M. Massy's article on pine culture in p. 17. 

 In some cases this heath soil, which is nearly as dear about 

 Paris as it is about London, is mixed with leaf mould, or mould 

 from hotbed dung; but in no instance, we believe, is loam of any 

 kind added to it. 



The following is the course of cultivation at Versailles 

 and Meudon. The crowns and suckers supplied from July to 

 April are put in small pots, and in the course of the months of 

 April or May they are planted in common garden soil on a bed 

 of hot dung, covered with sashes, such as are used during the 

 winter season for growing cabbage lettuce. In the month of 

 October these plants have acquired a large size, and made all 

 the growth necessary for the production of fruit. They are then 

 taken up, disrooted, potted in heath soil, and plunged in bark in 

 pits, where, in the course of the following spring and summer, 

 they produce their fruit. Or in some cases they are planted in 

 a layer of heath soil of about 14 in. in thickness. This layer is 

 placed on boards, and heated from below by fermented dung. 

 In some cases this layer, instead of being placed on boards, is 

 placed on the dung itself, and in that case the plants root into 

 it, are longer of coming into fruit, and produce fruit of a very 

 large size, particularly the New Providence and the Trinidad 

 pines, of which last there are several plants in the royal gardens 

 and at Surrene. Nothing astonished us more than the ex- 

 traordinary vigour of the fruiting plants in the free soil in pits, 

 the size of the fruit, and the admirable manner in which their 

 pips were swelled. In this situation the plants sometimes re- 

 main two or three years, during which time the principal side 

 suckers ripen fruit ; and, if many suckers are wanted, the plants 

 after fruiting are cut down within a few inches of the ground, 

 when several suckers are thrown up from the root. The plants 

 are supplied with abundance of water in the growing season, both 

 over the top and at the root, and the glasses are shut close 

 down between 2 and 3 o'clock, after watering, in order to raise 

 steam. 



The Musa Cavendish/z and other dwarf species are cultivated, 

 and produce abundance of fruit ; but it is not yet known how 

 far it will come into general deniand in the fruit-shops of Paris. 

 It was remarked to us by M. Massy, the director-general of the 

 royal gardens of Versailles, St. Cloud, Meudon, &c., that when 

 the glass of pits and hothouses gets old and apparently some- 

 what decomposed or deranged in its structure, the plants beneath 

 it cease to thrive, and that the glass of some of the houses at 



