110 



the young or growing plant, must also in degree tend 

 to ^^draw" the crown. In other words, an unwieldy 

 crown is a drawn crown. [Gard, Chron, 1845, 625.) 



Mr. Barnes, as just noticed, adopts the following 

 method of preyenting the excessive growth of pine 

 crowns, when by any accident a plant tries to produce 

 them. It must be obvious that, if the pine apple 

 plant has to feed both its fruit and a huge tuft of leaves 

 on the top of it, (which, as our clever friend truly 

 says, look like a baby's head with a man's hat on,) 

 the nourishment which the plant is capable of yield- 

 ing must be divided between them, and the man's hat 

 will be formed at the expense of the baby's head. 

 To prevent this, from three to six days after the 

 blooming is over, he thrusts a small knife into the 

 centre of the crown, and gives it a twist, when out 

 comes the centre of the heart, which checks its growth 

 without disfiguring the plant. Speechley adopted a 

 similar practice with suckers, in order to stop their 

 growth. {Gard, Mag,) 



Plurality of Crowns. — Some kinds of pine 

 apples have a greater disposition than others to throw 

 up more than one crown, and this tendency will be 

 greatly increased if the plants have received any check 

 so as to have hastened them prematurely into a fruit- 

 ing state. Select the centre and strongest one, which 

 must be retained, and remove all the others carefully on 



