648 



FRUIT GARDEN. 



a thin sprinkling of moss (Hypnum), to prevent 

 the finer particles of the soil being washed into 

 the drainage. We have frequently substituted 

 rough charcoal, ground bonea, broken shells, 

 small stones, &c., for crocks, but with no per- 

 ceptible advantage. Over the crooks is placed 

 as much soil, choosing the rougher portion, as 

 will elevate the ball, when set upon it, to vrithin 

 an inch and a half of the top of the pot. When 

 the plant is set in its place, the soil is then fiUed 

 in all round. When we have used strong loamy 

 soil, we do not pot hard — that is, press it down 

 forcibly ; but when we use light soil, we press 

 it pretty tight with a blunt wedge-shaped piece 

 of wood, and this more or less according to the 

 degree of humidity in the soil at the time, avoid- 

 ing always using wet earth. 



To facilitate the operation of potting, it is 

 usual, as the plants are taken out from the pit 

 or house, to tie their leaves up with matting. 

 This, no doubt, in some cases, saves the leaves 

 from being broken ; it is, however, often more 

 injurious than beneficial, and this the more so 

 if the plants be vigorous and their leaves strong, 

 particularly if tied too tightly up. Bringing 

 them from nearly a horizontal position to a per- 

 pendicular one cracks them near their base; for 

 the leaf of the pine, when in robust health, is by 

 no means flexible, and this cracking of the 

 leaves is, in such oases, most injurious to them, 

 while plants whose leaves are so flexible as to 

 require it are not in the condition they should 

 be in. This want of rigidity in the foliage is 

 the certain consequence of the plants being kept 

 too crowded, too far from the glass, or inade- 

 quately supplied with ventilation. 



Watering. — An excess or deflciency of this 

 element is equally injurious; for although the 

 pine, like most other succulent plants, will sur- 

 vive the entire want of water, even to the ex- 

 tent of six months at a time, nevertheless, when 

 in a proper temperature and good health, it 

 requires a liberal supply. On this subject Mr 

 Glendinning very justly remarks, in " Treatise 

 on the Culture of the Pine," (p. 33) : " Any at- 

 tempt to determine the requisite quantity of 

 water to keep the pine plant in a healthy state, 

 and the times of its application, must be evi- 

 dently absurd; the practical cultivator, and in- 

 deed every one who aspires at the cultivation of 

 this or any other plant, must be guided exclu- 

 sively by his own personal observation of cir- 

 cumstances; for a little application of the mind 

 will soon supersede all the rules that could be 

 prescribed for his direction, and enable him to 

 supply the proper quantity of water with some 

 degree of precision. Much at all times must 

 depend on the state of the atmosphere and the 

 season of the year. During the summer months, 

 when evaporation and transpiration are at the 

 maximum, a corresponding degree of moisture 

 must, by artificial means, be created, to secure a 

 growing atmosphere for the plants. Solar heat 

 and light, and moisture, must be relatively and 

 equably supplied; the one without its due pro- 

 portion of the others will soon produce disease, 

 and ultimately death. The pine plant ought 

 never to be soaked with water, although, if the 

 soil recommended and the manner of potting 



previously detailed were adopted, little injury 

 comparatively would result for some time; but 

 to all plants in a highly - manured compost, 

 continual drenching would soon wash away its 

 strength and exhaust its capabilities. Indepen- 

 dently, however, of this weakening and reduc- 

 ing that fundamental principle of the plant's 

 existence, the soil, by continual percolation, 

 another serious effect would arise, as the absor- 

 bent powers would, from being fed to satiety, 

 soon become debilitated, thus at one and the 

 same time changing the colour and the constitu- 

 tion of the plant. It would be an important 

 improvement in watering, if it could be calcu- 

 lated in its administration to give no more than 

 just enough to moisten the soil in the pot with- 

 out any escaping at the bottom." Water should 

 be given in small quantities and often, and much 

 of this depends on whether the plants are grow- 

 ing in close pits heated by fermentation, from 

 which great evaporation arises, and as it con- 

 denses on the inner surface of the glass, falls 

 back again in form of dew; or whether they are 

 grown in large well-lighted houses heated by 

 fire-heat, and planted out on a bed of prepared 

 soil. In this latter case the evaporation is 

 limited unless water be sprinkled over the bed, 

 on the walls or floors of the house ; and even 

 much of this is carried off by the air through 

 the ventilators. We seldom water pines at the 

 roots during winter when grown in pits on tan 

 or leaf beds, but slightly syringe the plants over- 

 head once a-week in clear weather, and much 

 seldomer when it is cloudy and dark. During 

 Bummer, however, syringing is performed once 

 or twice a-week, but much more copiously than 

 during winter ; and root-watering, according to 

 the size and vigour of the plants, is applied as 

 often. In large houses a humid atmosphere is 

 maintained, according to the period of the year 

 and state of the atmosphere, by syringing the 

 plants overhead, wetting the walls, and sprink- 

 ling water on the floors, but never intentionally 

 on the hot-water pipes. 



Experience has convinced Mr Hamilton " of 

 the necessity of maintaining a moist atmosphere, 

 and keeping the roots continually moist (not 

 wet), by watering over the whole plant, which 

 has a tendency to invigorate it by the absorption 

 of the immense surface of its leaves. To the 

 deficiency and wrong application of this ele- 

 ment " he " ascribes many failures in its culture. 

 If the plant is sufficiently supplied with mois- 

 ture, the leaves will absorb till every channel 

 and cell in their structure is expanded with the 

 accumulation of vapour. The plant will be 

 benefited if kept continually moist before the 

 fruit has swelled much, after which the leaves 

 ought to be kept drier, in order to bring out its 

 sweet secretions." 



At whatever time or in whatever quantity 

 the water is applied, it should always be several 

 degrees warmer than the atmosphere of the 

 house. Indeed, from 70° to 90° is not too much 

 for the water. It is always better that the pine 

 be rather dry at the roots than that it should be 

 deficient of moisture on the leaves. This seems 

 to be its natural condition, for in the West 

 Indies and other pine-growing countries, where 



