70 



The soil is chiefly remarkable for the usually large 

 proportion of oxide of iron which it contains, but in 

 the absence of an analysis of the pine apple plant, no 

 very accurate conclusion can be drawn as to the 

 peculiar excellence of this earth for its cultivation. 

 (Hort. Soc. Journ. i. 126.) 



We find that in this country the best soil for the 

 pine apple is a rough turfy loam, well sweetened and 

 broken down. We prefer, above all, a heathy turf, 

 with the roots and its natural vegetation all with it ; 

 never breaking it until at the potting bench, as the 

 process of potting is going on. Then we break the 

 sods, which are mostly chosen about two or three 

 inches in thickness, in such kind of pieces as we can 

 thrust into the pots, putting in, as we proceed, some 

 pieces of charcoal, always taking care to drain the 

 pots carefully, which is one of the chief essentials. 

 Our drainage is principally coarse charcoal, averaging 

 one-fourth of broken rubbly potsherds, which are 

 placed first round about the bottom ; then, if it is a 

 seven-inch pot, for a sucker, the drainage averages 

 two inches at least ; and if fifteen or eighteen-inch 

 pots, which are the largest fruiting pots we make use 

 of, the drainage is employed in a coarser state, and 

 about two inches more of it, and the soil too is thrust 

 into the pots rougher — brambles, furze, heath, and 

 grass, altogether — with no other kind of manure, 

 besides an occasional lump or handful of rubbly 



