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disproportionate. If carefully and methodically per- 

 formed in due season, the operation is not only most 

 beneficial to the swelling of the fruit, but is not in the 

 least unsightly, as some have erroneously imagined. 

 Indeed we have seen hundreds of crowns which have 

 thus been dealt with, and on which a casual observer 

 could scarcely perceive that any such operation had 

 been performed. Now, as it can be performed with- 

 out the least unsightliness or mutilated appearance, 

 and the fruit is consequently much improved in size, 

 shape, and flavour, every desirable advantage is 

 gained. We know that the practice has been ridi- 

 culed and condemned, but we should imagine by 

 those only who have not seen it put correctly into 

 practice. We would beg to inquire of such men, 

 why we are not assisting nature in performing her 

 functions as much by retarding methodically the dis- 

 proportionate growth of a pine apple crown, as others 

 are in stopping or pinching out the points of gera- 

 niums and other plants, to regulate the growth of 

 these, and produce what is now-a-days considered a 

 superior shape as compared to the poor drawn-up, 

 spindle-shanked, lean plants of former days ? Again, 

 w^hy should the former be considered an unnatural 

 mutilation any more than the other ? or why should 

 it be considered an unnatural mutilation any more 

 than the stopping the shoots of the vine, fig, melon, 

 or any other fruit-bearing plant ? 



