THE PINE-APPLE. 



153 



while avoiding a check from dryness, carefully 

 guarding against getting them into a wet state. 



Some three months having elapsed since the piling- 

 ing-hed was made up, it will now he necessary to 

 ascertain if anything is needed to keep it in proper 

 condition. There are two evils to which Pine-heds 

 are Uahle, and neglect of either of them, now the 

 roots are working round the pots, may prove very 

 serious. If composed of fermenting material alone, 

 whether leaves or tan, the effect produced hy more 

 frequent watering, and the increasing power of the 

 sun, is sometimes so marked as to raise the tempera- 

 ture of the bed several degrees in the space of a few 

 hours. To counteract this the plunging thermo- 

 meter should be carefully watched, and when the 

 heat exceeds 90" the pots should be rooked untU they 

 stand loosely in the tan; when the heat, often tran- 

 sient, has subsided, the plunging material may be 

 pressed back to their sides again. Although the 

 roots are extremely tender, and easily injured by 

 strong heat, disturbance is not advisable if it can be 

 avoided ; but when deeply-plunged pots are kept in 

 very strong heat for any length of time the roots 

 suffer, like the foliage, by being drawn too fast, it 

 they do not get killed. The other evil to which 

 attention must be paid is what is termed "heating 

 dry," no uncommon occurrence when hot water is 

 the moving power, and tan or leaves the plunging 

 medium. It sometimes happens that deep, old tan 

 beds get dry, but in either case the remedy is the 

 same — ^the application of water in such a way that it 

 win pass through the tan withont touching the roots. 

 If the plants have got too low, or too thick, an event 

 of this kind offers a good opportunity for lifting, and 

 re-arranging them in the old tan after it has been 

 corrected ; but with the roots in a highly sensitive 

 state all Pine-growers should dread any interference 

 which wUl cause violent fermentation. Ventilation 

 throughout the month, and, in fact, throughout the 

 summer, must be conducted on the same principle, 

 that is, the admission of a little air at the apex as 

 soon as the sun begins to tell on the glass, and a 

 gradual increase with a rising thermometer until the 

 maximum of 85° is reached. Although fire-heat is 

 still a necessity, yet by storing up sunshine all the 

 afternoon the starting of fires may often be delayed, 

 but care must be taken that the houses do not fall 

 below 70° at night — a temperature which will admit 

 of shutting it off early on fine mornings, when night 

 air is also taken away, for early syringing. 



Shsiding. — As the days approach their greatest 

 length, and the sun its highest altitude, a little light 

 shading may be necessary for a short time through 

 the hottest part of the day ; but unless the houses 

 are very light, and closely glazed, and the tips of the 



leaves, now close to the glass, show a tendency to 

 become brown, the plants will make a more satisfac- 

 tory growth under full exposure. One of the very 

 worst practices, which cannot be too strongly con- 

 demned, is systematic shading, as it softens and 

 weakens the whole system of the plants, and very 

 often thwarts the cultivator in his otherwise well- 

 directed efforts to get them into suitable condition 

 for going into partial rest in October. In modem 

 Pineries some shade is undoubtedly necessary when 

 bright sun breaks upon them before the pipes have 

 cooled down after sharp firing ; but when they have 

 become cold, if all is going on well at the root, 

 steady atmospheric moisture will be found quite 

 sufficient to prevent the foliage from becoming brown 

 and wiry, a condition in which they cannot perspire 

 freely. Any one having grown Pines, Queens in 

 particular, in the old-fashioned, small-squared, open- 

 lapped houses, knows how compact, fresh, and green 

 the foliage can be kept through the hottest summers 

 without a thread of shading ; a fair proof that, of two 

 evils, a little tinge of brown is of less consequence 

 than a soft watery growth. 



Through the months of June and July the plants 

 must have what may be termed liberal treatment, 

 both as regards air and water, and the more frequent 

 application of moisture from the syringe. The day 

 and night temperature during this period will not 

 require any alteration, as ordinary summer weather 

 wiU admit of a minimum of 70° being maintained 

 with a chink of air, almost without having to start 

 the fires ; but where bottom heat is obtained from 

 hot-water pipes, gentle fires are always found ne- 

 cessary to keep up the proper degree of heat, which 

 should be kept steadily at 85°. The maximum of 85°, 

 with a rise of 5° after closing, will be secured by the 

 early opening and closiag of the ventilators, and by 

 opening the top-heat valves on dull mornings in such 

 exceptional seasons as have been experienced during 

 the past seven years. The pots being now full of 

 roots, water at the temperature of the bed, with a little 

 guano or good clarified liquid manure added, must be 

 given in larger quantities as often as may be found 

 needful to keep the soil in what is known as a good 

 growing condition, but not so wet as Pines intended 

 for late spring starting will bear. When overhead 

 syringing is thought necesSEiry, the water should be 

 soft, and as warm as the atmosphere of the house at 

 the time it is shut up. If the surface of the bed, as 

 well as the walls and floors, are nicely moistened twice 

 a day, the overhead syringing, even in the hottest 

 weather, must be light, otherwise the most forward 

 plants, particularly the Queens, will show a tendency 

 to throw out suckers ; and as these wiU rob the plants, 

 they must be twisted out with a pair of pincers as 

 soon as they are formed. 



