THE riNE- APPLE. 23 



always found, where tan is easily got, that the safest 

 and best way is to sift the tan once a-year, and mix in 

 with the old a few inches of fresh tan, which raises a 

 steady and sufficient amount of bottom-heat ; and a bed 

 so managed is far more under control than when the 

 leaves and tan are annually or even biennially renewed 

 entirely. All this labour in prepariug beds is dispensed 

 with where the bottom-heat is supplied by a well- 

 regulated system of hot water. And in this respect the 

 labour connected with the shifting and arranging of 

 pines in spring or any other season is much lessened 

 and simplified. 



Supposing that I am now treating of Queens that 

 are required to fruit early in the following year, to 

 supply ripe fruit in May and June — little more than 

 eighteen months from the time they were taken as 

 suckers from their parent plants — I prefer shifting 

 them into their fruiting-pots at once, instead of giving 

 them two small shifts. Indeed, the size of pots into 

 which they have been potted as suckers, and those into 

 which I shift them for fruiting, admit only of one shift 

 without reduciag the balls. The strongest plants in 

 8-inch are shifted into pots 12 inches wide and as 

 many deep, and those in 6 -inch into 11 -inch pots. 

 These sizes are sufficient for the production of the very 

 finest pines. Indeed, fine fruit is not dependent on 

 size of pot so much as on other points of culture. I 

 have had fine crops in 9-inch pots, but they require 

 more attention in watering. And what is of no small 

 consequence, especially to those who have a regular 

 supply of fruit to keep up from limited accommodation, 

 it is found that pine plants grown in comparatively small 

 pots are much more manageable in the way of getting 



