414 On the Cultivation of the Pine Apple. 



humidity in the atmosphere of the house ; for the plants not 

 only grow best, but the fruit acquires, I think, its highest state 

 of perfection when ripened in damp air, provided that there 

 be a sufficient change of it, and that too much water be not 

 given to the roots of the plants. A very dry state of the air 

 in the stove is noxious, I believe, to almost every species of 

 plant, and particularly to the Pine Apple.* 



Whenever it is wished that Pine Apples should be pro- 

 duced of very large size, it will obviously be necessary to re- 

 strain the plants from bearing fruit till they have acquired a 

 greater age than mine have ever been permitted to acquire ; 

 and in such case it will be beneficial to remove the plants 

 annually into larger pots. This, when the pots, as well as 

 the plants, are large, will not very easily be done without 

 danger of injury to the roots. It has been my custom to re- 

 move Melon plants of large size ; and to preserve the roots of 

 these from injury in transplanting, I have had baskets, of loose 

 texture and coarse workmanship, and consequently of very 

 low price, made to fit the pots from which the Melon plants 

 were to be removed ; if such baskets were to be introduced 

 into the pots in which the Pine Apple plants were placed in 

 the autumn of one year, they would remain sufficiently sound 

 till the following autumn to enable the gardener to remove 

 plants of the largest size without any danger of injury to their 

 roots. It will also be necessary when fruit of the largest size 

 is required, to place the plants, at all periods of their growth, 



* Very dry air appears to me to be particularly injurious, when it is made to 

 come into contact with the roots through the sides of a porous and unglazed 

 earthernpot: I suspect, owing to causes pointed out by M. Ditt rochet ; see 

 IS agent immediat du Mouvement vital; and Nouvelles recherches sur VEndos- 

 mose et VExosmose. 



