OF SOIL AND HANURB. 338 



The place where the best Pine-apples are cultivated 

 is of a similar nature. In the sandy plains of Praya 

 Velha and Praya Grande, formed by the receding of 

 the sea, and in which no other plant will thrive, are 

 the spots where the Pine-apple grows best. The 

 cause of this lies evidently in the composition of the 

 sand, which chiefly consists of salt; lime from decom- 

 posed shells, and a very little vegetable mould. 

 Warmth, lime, salt, and moisture, seem therefore 

 to be the principal ingredient in which the Pine-apple 

 thrives. Sand will take* a very high and continued 

 degree of warmth, being often heated by the sun so 

 much as to scorch vegetation, and yet it seldom dries 

 to a greater depth than from eight inches to one foot. 

 Sea salt is well known for its property of attracting 

 the nocturnal damps, and retaining them a long 

 time. The lime of the shells seems to be the princi- 

 pal manure, which has also been proved by the Eng- 

 lish here, who, by manuring their Pine-apples with a 

 mixture of stamped oyster-shells and vegetable earth, 

 produce very large fruit. The natural mould, usually 

 slightly mixed with sand, is partly of a vegetable, 

 and partly of a mineral origin." But it is well known 

 that the Pine-apples of England are much superior to 

 those of South America, and yet English gardeners 

 grow their plants neither in sand, nor saline nor cal- 

 careous soil. As to manures, some plants bear them 

 in almost any quantity, others suffer from the access 

 of only, a small quantity. The Vine and the Mul- 

 berry can hardly be over-manured, no soil was ever 

 found too rich for Eoses : but Coniferous plants can 



