644 



FRUIT GAEDEN. 



stock of plants than is to be found in any other 

 private establishment, and having fruit at all 

 seasons, it follows that the removal of suckers is 

 of very frequent occurrence ; and to provide ac- 

 commodation for them we have a long narrow 

 pit, portions of which we prepare from time to 

 time for them, by filling it with leaves or tan, 

 as is most convenient at the time. The suckers 

 are potted into 6 or 7 inch pots, according to 

 their size, in light pretty rich turfy soil, as soon 

 as possible after their separation from the old 

 plants. They are allowed plenty of room, for if 

 crowded too much at this period, they never 

 afterwards make such good plants. The pots 

 are plunged into a bottom heat of from 85° to 

 90°, which conduces to the rapid formation of 

 roots: undue evaporation of their sap is pre- 

 vented by partial shading and diminished venti- 

 lation, but no water is given to the soil until the 

 roots have made some progress, but during the 

 while the plants are occasionally sprinkled over- 

 head with the syringe, using water 3° or 4° 

 warmer than the temperature of the air in the pit. 

 During winter this sprinkling must be cautiously 

 applied, as a considerable evaporation is rising 

 from the tan or leaves; while, during summer, 

 it is administered every afternoon, except in 

 very cloudy weather, and that before the sun's 

 rays are much diminished, or have ceased to 

 shine on the glass, thus producing a fine genial 

 vapour, and converting the circumambient atmo- 

 sphere into a state of humidity, which the plants 

 appear to delight in, and to inhale by their re- 

 spiratory organs. This respiration and perspi- 

 ration of fluids, being going on day and night, 

 tends greatly to keep the plants in a vigorous 

 growing state. Pits heated entirely by fermen- 

 tation require much less water at all times, and 

 more especially during winter, than such as 

 have that kind of bottom heat only while the 

 atmospheric temperature is regulated by hot- 

 water pipes, as ours all are, and still less than 

 such as are heated by hot-water pipes, both for 

 bottom and top heat. This overhead watering 

 of the pine, except while it is in flower, is more 

 congenial to its nature than only watering at the 

 root. By the former practice the leaves are all 

 moistened by the water, which holds in solution 

 a portion of the food of plants, is absorbed by 

 the epidermis, and assists the assimilation and 

 augmentation of true sap. in its descent to the 

 roots. Care, however, must be taken that indi- 

 vidual plants may not be supplied to excess ; 

 this will readily be seen by the appearance of 

 the leaves; and when such cases occur, such 

 plants should be removed, their roots examined, 

 and, if need be, re-potted into drier and fresh 

 soil. When the roots have filled the pots, or 

 nearly so, but not sooner, the plants should be 

 shifted into larger pots, which will offer at the 

 same time an opportunity of turning over the bed, 

 and adding fresh material to it, should the heat 

 be on the decline. At the same time, the utmost 

 care must be taken that too much new matter 

 be not added at a time ; for the pine, although 

 a native of the warmest parts of the tropics, is 

 more readily injured by an excess of heat at its 

 roots than even by a diminished temperature, 

 and this the more so when the plants are grow- 



ing rapidly, and the pots filled or filling with 

 i large, soft, and delicate roots. From 90° to 

 J 100° may be taken as the maximum of bottom 

 I heat, 70° to 85° as the medium, and under that 

 , -even to 50°, according to the state of the plants, 

 but below that it is well not to allow them to 

 fall. After re-potting, a pretty brisk bottom- 

 heat is required for two or three weeks ; it 

 creates a fresh stimulus in the action of their 

 fluids, and encourages the descent of assimilated 

 matter to the trunk, which it should be our great 

 object to increase in size, for it is upon its 

 strength, and not on the length or breadth of 

 the leaves, that the production of fine fruit en- 

 tirely depends. A fine genial heat at that 

 period also causes fresh roots to form, and their 

 feeding on the new compost causes the growth 

 of the plants to be redoubled, particularly if 

 attention is paid to the keeping up of a warm 

 humid atmosphere. 



Except during the time the suckers are making 

 their first roots, and for a week or so after 

 every re-shifting, the pits should be kept pretty 

 close, air should be admitted daily, less or more, 

 of course according to the season of the year, 

 and in some degree according to the construction 

 of the pit or house they are grown in. Indeed, 

 air should be admitted freely, should even a 

 little extra heat be thrown in during the time, 

 for it is a due proportion of this element that 

 gives the pine plant strength, hardens its tex- 

 ture, causing the plants to grow with broad, thick, 

 short leaves, and a strong stem. A deficiency 

 of it, as well as of light, and placing them too 

 far from the glass, invariably produces tall, long- 

 leaved, lanky plants, unable to support them- 

 selves without artificial aid. For a few days 

 after re -potting, a slight shading should be 

 placed over the glass. 



The size of the pots for the second shifting, 

 if all has gone on well, should be from 9 to 10 

 inches in top diameter, using rather a stronger 

 compost than that into which they were first 

 planted. Their fruiting-pots should be from 11 

 'to 12 inches in diameter, unless it be in the 

 -case of the Providence or similar strong-growing 

 sorts, or where the intention is to grow other 

 kinds to a greater age, when pots of 13 or 14 

 inches may be used. We have seldom, however, 

 found much advantage from using over large 

 pots. At each shifting the plants should be set 

 farther and farther apart, that the light and air 

 may act freely upon their whole surface. 



We grow all our young pines in pots plung- 

 ed in leaf or tan beds, greatly preferring the 

 former, in low pits of various sizes, and trans- 

 fer them from the smaller to the larger pits 

 as they advance in growth, and from the larg- 

 est section of these we fill up all blanks as 

 they occur from the fruit being cut in our fruit- 

 ing - houses ; nevertheless, from the immense 

 number grown at Dalkeith, many are ripened 

 off in the larger pits also. Some we plant 

 out, and others we keep in large pots to pro- 

 duce their fruit, with very little apparent dif- 

 ference in success. All our fruiting-houses are 

 heated by hot water placed under the beds, 

 which with us, where coal is cheap, is found to 

 be a vast saving in labour. Indeed, we would 



