646 



FRUIT GARDEN. 



Providence, to which that large variety, the 

 Providence pine, is indigenous. As it were the 

 very antipodes to this, Mr Hamilton informs us, 

 in " Treatise on the Culture of the Pine," p. 2, 

 that his compost for planted -out pines con- 

 sists of "the refuse from the garden, such as 

 cabbage, tree, pine, and vine leaves, sweepings 

 of walks, &c., to which is added a little old 

 mortar and a few broken sticks to add to its 

 porosity, with some old pea-wood at the bottom 

 as drainage. This constitutes the compost for 

 the pines in which they appear to delight, and 

 they are intended to remain for years undis- 

 turbed, and perfect a succession of fruit." He 

 afterwards, however, says, (p. 31): "The soil I 

 have found most suitable for the plant in all its 

 stages is a sound loam, which has been several 

 years under grass. Let the turf be stripped off 

 to the depth of 2 or 3 inches, and add one-third 

 of well-decomposed dung from the stable-yard, 

 or from an old hot-bed ; to this may be added 

 one-tenth part of wood-ashes. Let the whole be 

 piled up in a ridge, and in a few weeks it will be 

 fit for use." It should, however, be recollected 

 that he turns his plants out with the ball entire 

 into a bed of new tan, in which he fruits them, 

 thus placing them, in their last stage, in a great 

 measure depending on the food they can collect 

 from the tan in a state of fermentation. The 

 soil used by Mr Fleming of Trentham, who has 

 succeeded in growing pines of first-rate excel- 

 lency, is composed of two-thirds maiden loam 

 from an old pasture, and one-third peat in a 

 rough state. The loam is enriched, and believed 

 to produce better swelled fruit from smaller 

 plants than either an entirely peat or lighter soil 

 would do. The peat and loam are mixed to- 

 gether, and laid under a wooden platform upon 

 which sheep are fed. This platform is con- 

 structed of narrow strips of wood, through 

 which the dung and urine of the sheep fall. 

 After the soil under the platform has become 

 thoroughly saturated with the liquid, it is re- 

 moved, and placed under a covered shed, where 

 it lies till wanted for use. A fresh supply is 

 placed under the platform to undergo a similar 

 fertilising operation. Before using the compost, 

 if the loam happens to be of too stiff a nature, 

 clean pit-sand is added to reduce it to the 

 required degree of tenacity. Mr Glendinning, 

 the only other authority we shall quote, him- 

 self an excellent pine-grower, states, in his 

 " Treatise on the Culture of the Pine-Apple," 

 p. 1 6, " All plants under artificial care, but 

 more particularly those of a fruit-bearing kind, 

 assume peculiar habits according to the nature 

 of the soil in which they are planted, and 

 their tendency to fruitfulness is governed in an 

 extraordinary degree by the texture and compo- 

 sition of this fundamental element of vegetable 

 life. This observation will more particularly 

 apply to the pine plant than to any other culti- 

 vated for its fruit ; with soil and treatment 

 calculated to produce such a disposition, the 

 healthy yet inflexible appearance of such plants 

 is singularly imposing. The under leaves take 

 a horizontal direction, and the others to the 

 centre gradually less so : they will, according to 

 their strength, be proportionably broad and 



sufficiently robust to resist injury from carrying 

 and potting; the foliage will radiate from the 

 surface of the soil, neither showing a naked stem 

 nor too much sunk in the pot, with a stem of 

 relative strength, the general character rigid, and 

 of a dark green powdery hue; therefore much 

 depends on the compost employed. Having 

 experimented on various kinds of soil, from very 

 light friable loam to that approaching nearly to 

 a clay, my opinion is decidedly favourable to a 

 stifi' soil ; and in forming a proper composition, 

 my experiments with manures have been equally 

 varied. After numerous trials I use the follow- 

 ing compost, because it is easily procured and 

 soon prepared; and after years of experience, it 

 has been accompanied with the most satisfactory 

 results, which no consecutive experiment has 

 induced me to forego. 



" The soil which prevails in this locality (Bicton, 

 Devonshire) is of a very free sandy nature, hence 

 the difficulty of procuring that of sufficient 

 tenacity in which to cultivate the pine plant. 

 The most unctuous spots on the common are pre- 

 ferred, and the surface,about 2 inches thick, only 

 is taken, and this is either covered with long 

 grass, furze, or heath." Mineral impregnations 

 abound in the locality, but these, to the extent 

 usually found in earths, Mr Glendinning thinks of 

 less importance than is generally supposed, and 

 attributes the injury said to arise from soils 

 taken from low wet situations more to the 

 effects of stagnant water with which they have 

 been saturated during winter than to mineral 

 oxides. " In consequence of this winter satura- 

 tion," he says, "the grass grows long, and the 

 heat of the succeeding season, from this accumu- 

 lation and combination of vegetable matter on 

 argillaceous land, produces putrescent acetifica- 

 tion, which can only be addulced and purified 

 by being fully exposed to the action of the 

 atmosphere in a healthy situation. Where soil 

 can be procured sufficiently retentive from 

 healthy situations, such as old pastures, the 

 addulcing process may be dispensed with, and 

 it may therefore be brought into immediate 

 contact with the enriching material. Having 

 brought into the compost-ground a sufficient 

 quantity of this turfy loam of the proper tem- 

 perament, it will be necessary next to collect a 

 quantity of fresh sheep or deer dung, and begin 

 forming a square heap in layers, putting three 

 barrows of dung to six of loam and one of leaf 

 or vegetable mould, and continue putting one 

 after the other until the heap is 3 feet high. No 

 other preparation will be necessary, as it will be 

 fit for use in three or four months, when with a 

 sharp spade it must be cut through the heap 

 perpendicularly, and the largest pieces again 

 chopped. Notwithstanding the coarseness of 

 the material, it will be found to suit in an admir- 

 able and superior manner; the strong roots 

 will pass unobstructed through the mass of clods 

 into the drainage. It will also give a constitu- 

 tion of infiexibility to the plants contradistinct 

 from those grown in a lighter and mellower soil, 

 which the practical cultivator knows full well ; 

 they will generally exceed his most sanguine 

 expectations." " If this plant is kept moist and 

 warm at the root," Hamilton observes, " it will 



