654 



FRUIT GARDEN. 



the mould in the pots varied very considerably- 

 less than that of the air of the stove, the mould 

 being in the morning generally some degrees 

 warmer than the air of the house, and in the 

 middle of the day and early part of the evening 

 some degrees cooler. " It is therefore clear," as 

 Dr Lindley observes (in " Theory of Horticul- 

 ture," p. 1 1 5), " that he considered a high tem- 

 perature necessary for the roots of his pine- 

 apple plants;" and we find from one of his 

 papers (" Horticultural Transactions," vol. iv. 

 p. 544), "that he considered it better to obtain 

 the required temperature from the atmosphere 

 than from a bark bed, the usual source of bot- 

 tom heat, because its temperature is constantly 

 subject to excess and defect ; and he even ad- 

 mitted that, if the bark bed could be made to 

 give a steady temperature of about 10° below 

 that of the day temperature of the air in the 

 stove, pine plants would thrive better in a com- 

 post at that temperature than in a colder. It 

 is therefore plain," Dr Lindley continues, " that 

 the dispute about bottom heat was not as to 

 the necessity of it, but as to the manner of 

 obtaining it. We have, doubtless, much to learn 

 as to the proper manner of applying bottom 

 heat to plants, and as to the amount they will 

 bear under particular circumstances. It is, in 

 particular, probable that, in hothouses, plants 

 will not bear the same quantity of bottom heat 

 as they receive in nature, because we cannot i 

 give them the same amount of light and atmo- 

 spheric warmth ; and it is necessary that we 

 should ascertain experimentally whether it is ' 

 not a certain proportion between the heat of 

 the air and earth that we must secure, rather 

 than any absolute amount of bottom heat." It 

 is not the use, but the abuse, of bottom heat 

 that we should guard against; we should endea- 

 vour to secure its uniformity and proportion to 

 the heat of the atmosphere, and its application 

 to plants at proper seasons of their growth ; for 

 there can be no doubt many plants require a 

 much higher degree of heat at one season than 

 at another, and also that an excess of it, particu- 

 larly when the plants are not in a state of 

 growth, is worse than would be even a slight 

 deficiency. In the case of the pine-apple, we 

 find, when the plants are in high health, and 

 fully stimulated onwards by moisture and heat, 

 that the fruit swells best, attains its largest 

 size, full amount of juice, and highest flavour, 

 when these stimulants are gradually reduced 

 towards the period of their ripening; a strong 

 bottom heat at that time is apt to cause a pre- 

 mature ripening, which would not be the case 

 were the plant less strongly excited. 



Another evil to be guarded against from too 

 much bottom heat is, " if the roots are placed in 

 a warmer medium than the branches, and are 

 thus induced to absorb fluid faster than the 

 slower action of the leaves can consume it, the 

 superfluous sap will burst through the stem, and 

 distend its tissue till the excitability is impaired 

 or destroyed. Or if, on the other hand, a branch 

 is caused to grow in a warm medium while the 

 roots remain in a very cold one, the former will 

 consume the liquid sap faster than the latter 

 can supply it, and the consequence will be that 



the leaves will die, or the fruit will fall off, or 

 the flowers will be unable to set their fruit, 

 from want of a constant supply of food. Not 

 that it is necessary for the temperature of the 

 earth and air to be equal, for this does not hap- 

 pen in nature, but it is requisite that they 

 should have some near relation to each other." 

 — Theory of Horticulture, p. 50. 



The age of the pine.— Why the pine has been 

 denominated a triennial is hard to say, because 

 neither in its native country, nor always with 

 us, does it require three years' growth before 

 producing its fruit, which it may be said termi- 

 nates its existence. In the tropics they produce 

 their fruit often under one year, and some of 

 our best cultivators cause them to do so in an 

 almost equally short time; some sorts, like the 

 Queen fruit, when from twelve to fifteen or 

 eighteen months, while others, such as the 

 Providence, require from two to three years. 

 Some continue them much longer, and obtain 

 larger fruit ; but largeness of size, although 

 much prized by some, does not in this case, as 

 well as in many others, constitute excellence of 

 flavour ; nor is size at all times to be measured 

 by the age of the plant. Much of the time oc- 

 cupied in growing the plant depends on the size 

 of the sucker when first planted, and much also 

 on the mode of culture. The most profitable 

 return is undoubtedly from plants from eighteen 

 months to two years' growth ; and the most 

 useful size is from 4 to 8 lb. weight. No doubt 

 a 12-lb. pine is a showy affair, and may grace, 

 as they often do, the same table for a dozen 

 nights together, merely to be looked at, while a 

 well-modelled plaster-of-Paris cast would answer 

 the purpose nearly as well. They are seldom 

 eaten while in anything like perfection, the 

 preference being given to fruit of a much 

 smaller size, and of higher flavour, cut at the 

 side-table, and handed round. 



Growing the pine in all its stages without fire- 

 heat has been long successfully accomplished ; 

 the means used are fermentation from leaves, 

 tanner's bark, flax refuse, and stable- yard man- 

 ure. Taking into account labour, and the waste 

 of the last material, we do not see that there is 

 any economy in the practice, at least except for 

 amateurs growing pines on a small scale. The 

 structures used are pits (vide sect. Pits, vol. i.) 

 or deep frames. No doubt, in such structures, 

 and with either of the three first, for affording 

 bottom heat by fermentation, young plants 

 can be grown to a great degree of excellence, 

 and in pits heated by leaves or tan we grow 

 several hundreds annually ; but we always pre- 

 fer the aid of a hot- water apparatus for affording 

 atmospheric heat, particularly during autumn 

 and winter. One objection to pits, as in general 

 constructed, deserves to be stated. They are, 

 for the most part, too narrow, and hence sur- 

 rounded with opaque walls of bricks or masonry ; 

 and the plants are set too deep in them, and 

 hence deprived of sufficient light and ventila- 

 tion, except at the points of the leaves. Cer- 

 tainly young pine-plants grow exceedingly fast in 

 such pits, and fruit attains a large size in them, 

 even when compared with more light and better 

 ventilated structures, as may be instanced in the 



