THE PINE- APPLE. 4 1 



where the temperature was comparatively cool, with 

 a circulation of dry air. In such a place, pines that 

 have begun to colour ripen slowly, and they are ex- 

 cellent in flavour. The cool dry air of the vinery, 

 and the shade of the vines, are good retarding condi- 

 tions ; and this is as good a way, apart from having 

 a place for the purpose, as any that I have tried. I 

 have also removed them to a cool dry room when 

 about half coloured, and kept them there a month or 

 six weeks, and found them in excellent condition. 

 This treatment, of course, applies to summer fruit. 

 Later in the season I have kept Smooth-leaved Cay- 

 ennes in a room for six weeks after they were quite 

 ripe. In this way a succession of fruit can be very 

 much extended as compared to keeping them in a 

 warm pinery. 



When the fruit is all cut from a pit or houseful of 

 plants, the suckers should be carefully attended to. 

 The comparatively dry condition of the air and soil 

 which is necessary to good flavour is not favourable 

 to the suckers at this hot season of the year ; conse- 

 quently, when the suckers are strong, I frequently 

 detach them from the plant as soon as the fruit 

 begins to colour. If the suckers are small when the 

 fruit is cut, they should be left on the parent plant ; 

 then the soil should have a good watering to encour- 

 age them to make further growth. It rarely occurs 

 that they are not quite large enough to be potted 

 about the time the fruit begins to ripen. I may here 

 remark, that the practice of allowing the suckers to 

 lie in a cool dry place, with the object of what is 

 called drying them, is one for which I never could 

 see any reason, or any good end that could be gained 

 by it. On the contrary, in my opinion, the practice 



