THE PINE -APPLE. 



26b 



and have a slight syrmging daily until they are fairly 

 rooted. When ti-eated in this way, every particle of 

 the soil being fresh and sweet, they very soon throw 

 out an ahundance of active roots, and hecome stout, 

 vigorous plants, capable of finishing excellent fruit 

 within a fe^v months, as the check causes every one 

 of them to " show " in a few weeks after the cutting 

 down. 



Summer Suckers In order to completely dis- 

 pose of the first set of plemts, which have been carried 

 on through the different stages of their growth, from 

 the sucker to the ripe fruit, it may not be out of place 

 to return to the fruiting-honse, where they were left 

 standing as stools, with one or two suckers on each, 

 ready for detachment. The manipulation and pot- 

 ting of suckers having been discussed, it is only ne- 

 cessary to say that the general move forward to fill up 

 the house they have occupied will make room in the 

 sucker-pit for their reception ; and, as the majority 

 of them wUl be large and well ripened at the base, 

 they wiU form the first batch for growing on through 

 the winter, and shifting into truiting-pots early in 

 the spring. When all the best of the suckers have 

 been taken ofi and potted, the shy kinds, with which 

 the reader is now well acquainted, will require special 

 ti'eatment to set the latent or dormant buds in mo- 

 tion, as well as to bring forward any small suckers 

 on the Cayennes, which may be considered too small 

 for placing in single pots. TVith some it is the prac- 

 tii;e to water the old stools thoroughly, and plunge 

 them in a strong bottom heat to force the growths 

 forward ; but space at command, as a rule, being 

 limited, it is in several ways advantageous to shake 

 them out, and re-pot in smaller pots, as the fruiting- 

 sized pots are then set at liberty. The old roots are 

 stimulated by being placed in new compost ; feeding 

 liquid can be more frequently supplied, and a great 

 number of stools cem be plunged with more ferment- 

 ing material between them than will be the case 

 when the large, unwieldy fruiting-pots are retained. 



Having shown that the iirst set of plants, which 

 ripen their fruit in May and June, furnish suckers 

 that will supply the earliest fruiters twenty months 

 later, it follows that the second bateh, which ripen 

 their fruit through August and September, will give 

 the suckers that will succeed them. But as Queens 

 cannot be had in first-rate condition through the 

 winter months, other kinds, of which little has yet 

 been said, must be brought forward, for giving the 

 late winter and early spring supply. 



"Winter and Spring Pines. — Eeference to the 

 descriptive list of varieties will show that the Smooth 

 Cayenne, Black Jamaica, Lord Carington, Beatrice 

 Lambton, and Eothschild are considered suitable 



kinds for giving a supply of winter and spring fruit ; 

 but the last-named being better adapted for autumn 

 and early winter use, and Beatrice Lambton being 

 a very large variety, more suitable for special re- 

 quirements than general private use, the first three 

 stand unrivalled for giving high-class Pines, which 

 are always good, and can be kept for a considerable 

 time after they are ripe. Two sets of these should 

 be grown where space admits, and, to treat them pro- 

 perly, separate compartments should be used ; the 

 warmest and driest being devoted to the Jamaicas 

 and Caringtons, the coolest and most airy to the 

 Cayennes. 



It is now an acknowledged fact that houses of 

 moderate dimensions are preferable to large ones 

 for the growth of Pines in general, and for winter 

 fruit in particular. The facilities afforded by small 

 houses or compartments for covering up the glass at 

 night must not be reckoned amongst the smallest 

 advantages gained by keeping the different kinds 

 of winter Pines under distinct and, as a matter 

 of course, proper treatment. Therefore, assuming 

 that the lean-to house, which is better than the full- 

 span roof for winter culture, is divided into two 

 equal parts, with an abundance of piping for giving 

 top and bottom heat, the pits should be prepared 

 for the successions — that is, the full-sized autumn- 

 rooted suckers, by the time the general stock is ready 

 for shifting into fruiting-pots in February. Xo diffi- 

 culty is experienced in getting a sufficient number of 

 Jamaica suckers for potting up in August ; but with 

 the always shy Cayenne matters stand in a more un- 

 favourable light, consequently propagation from dor- 

 mant eyes, crowns, and gills may have been going on 

 for a year or two before plants raised from such 

 small pieces can be considered large enough to be 

 treated as good sucker.s in the autumn. Should this 

 be the case, strong fruiting plants, carrying perhaps 

 one or two really good suckers, may be divested in 

 October before the fruit is ripe. But instead of the 

 stock so obtained being kept cool and dry through 

 the winter months, a compact span-roof pit (Fig. 5), 

 some five degrees warmer than the general sucker- 

 pit, will be found suitable for growing them steadily 

 on in six-inch pots until they are well rooted and fit 

 for shifting with the others in February, or it may be 

 early in March. Late suckers never root so quickly 

 and freely as those usually taken in September, and 

 shifting before they are ready is quite as bad as 

 allowing the balls to become matted. 



With the bottom heat standing at 85°, a sufficient 

 number must be selected, and potted precisely as 

 the Queens — the Jamaicas into ten-inch and the 

 Cayennes into twelve-inch pots, the two sizes in 

 which they wUl remain until the fruit is ripe. 

 Their treatment through the spring wiU not differ 



