30 FRUIT CULTURE UNDER GLASS. 



the water — not in strong doses now and then, but 

 simply to well colour the water with it every time 

 the pines are watered : an ordinary handful to four 

 gallons of water is sufficient. 



In some localities, and with fine summer weather, 

 after midsummer the temperature can often be kept 

 up sufficiently without the aid of fire -heat. In a 

 close structure there will be no difficulty in doing 

 so, especially when early air-giving and shutting up 

 is practised. The heat can thus be husbanded so 

 as to keep the thermometer at 75°; and when this 

 can be accomplished without the aid of fire-heat, so 

 much the better in aU respects. This is, I am aware, 

 not applicable either to all localities or all seasons ; 

 for many climates, even in favourable summers, will 

 render the use of the fires necessary the whole season. 



Although very much opposed to shading pines in 

 a general way, it is sometimes necessary, when they 

 are growing rapidly and the weather becomes suddenly 

 very bright after a continuance of dull weather. The 

 shading should never be heavy nor long continued. 

 Tiffany or hexagon netting I have always found suf- 

 ficient, and that only during the brightest part of the 

 day. If all is going on right at the roots, and a moist 

 atmosphere is steadily kept up, I have never found a 

 necessity for more shading than this. At the same 

 time, it is most undesirable that pines should become 

 browned and wiry; and slight shade and raore fre- 

 quent gentle dewing at shutting-up time should be 

 resorted to as soon as signs of this appear. Of two 

 evils, the browning of the leaves is not so injurious as 

 a weak watery growth — the result of too much shade 

 and a close atmosphere. I find the Smooth-leaved 

 Cayenne much more impatient of sudden bursts of 



