206 



REPORT ON THE 



and Roses. Pyramidal-trained Pear-trees were here plentiful. 

 The demand for these must be great, judging from the quantity 

 observed to have been recently planted, more especially in the 

 numerous small gardens. On observing that the branches were 

 not sufficiently thin for the due exposure of the fruit, the reply 

 was that this was certainly the case, yet the nurserymen found 

 that their customers generally preferred having plenty of wood, 

 and they had to suit them accordingly. 



Parallel to a long central walk in this nursery, a small zinc 

 pipe was supported by stakes about two feet above the surface of 

 the ground. Such an aqueduct could be formed at a trifling ex- 

 pense, compared with the saving it might be made the means of 

 effecting in a dry season. It is certainly an object of pecuniary 

 importance to supersede the labour of several men by merely 

 turning a cock, and allowing the water to run quietly along to 

 reservoirs at a distance from the source, instead of wheeling it in 

 tubs, and frequently tearing up the walks in the course of the 

 proceeding. It may be said that the pipe might as well be laid 

 in the ground, as the water would rise to a level ; but in that 

 case the pipe would only be available in one fixed direction, 

 instead of being easily moved to where it may be requisite. 

 Such pipes might be made at no great expense, in convenient 

 lengths of about ten feet, with flexible India-rubber connexions. 

 The lengths could be tied together in bundles when not wanted ; 

 and when required, they could be readily extended in any di- 

 rection. 



The Establishment of M. de Gontier, Barriere d'Enfer, 

 Route oV Orleans, contains many varieties of Pine Apples, among 

 which are a number raised from seeds recently obtained from 

 Guadaloupe ; and a very large assortment of Camellias, exceed- 

 ingly well grown. 



The Pine Apples are cultivated as follows : — The suckers are 

 potted in small pots in October ; and in March following they 

 are planted out of the pots into peat soil, 12 plants under each 

 light, the lights being each 4 feet by 4 feet 4 inches. In October 

 the plants are taken up, and repotted, with all their roots, in pots 

 7 inches wide. In March, the finest plants are taken out of 

 these 7-inch pots, and planted in peat in a fruiting-house, where 

 they mature their fruit in the course of the summer and autumn. 

 Those not planted out remain, and are fruited, in the pots. It 

 thus averages about two years from the time the suckers are first 

 potted, till the plants reared from them mature their fruit. 



In a small compartment, with top and bottom heat supplied 

 from the same source as that from which the Pine-house is 

 heated, there were two plants of the Musa Cavendishii, each 



