PINE-APPLE—-SOIL—PROPAGATION. 85" 
-Sotl.—Various nice and minute directions have been 
given respecting composts'for pine-apple plants. Any 
compost, however, will be found: suitable, which is at once 
rich, fresh, and simple. Perhaps a mixture of the top- 
spit, including the turf of an old pasture, and about a half 
of good, well-rotted dung, combines these qualities as com- 
pletely as possible. When it is necessary to lighten these 
materials, a compost of decayed leaves and a little sand 
may be added. It is of importance that the compost 
whatever it may be, should be prepared a considerable time 
beforehand, and frequently turned over. It should be 
broken with the spade, but not screened; and when used, 
it should not be too moist. Pine-apple plants are found 
to show fruit more readily in a rich light soil than in strong 
loam, but not to produce such large fruit. In selecting 
his compost, the cultivator must make hisselection between 
these advantages. At all events the soil must be rich; it 
can scarcely be too rich. ‘ The pine,” says an intelligent 
writer in the Gardener's Magazine, vol. ix., “is a gross 
feeder, and will thrive in vegetable manure, however rich 
and fresh.” Liquid manures have been applied ; but these, 
however useful when recent, prove deleterious in a ferment- 
ed state. a 
Propagation—In the cultivated state, the fruit of the 
pine-apple becomes so succulent that..it seldom or never 
- forms seed. The different varieties are propagated by 
planting the crowns or tufts which grow on the fruit, or 
the suckers which appear at the base of the-stem. These, 
when removed from the fruit or the stem, are laid aside 
for.a few days, till the scar at the place of separation have 
dried or healed, a precaution to prevent their rotting; 
after which they are potted immediately. Sometimes, late 
in the season, they are merely thrust into exhausted tan, 
