CULTURE OF THE PINE-APPLE. 



443 



With respect to the form of house where low plants, such as pines, 

 melons, cucumbers, strawberries, or kidney-beans, are to be grown or forced, 

 low structures, such as pits or frames, are generally found most eligible ; 

 but where trees, such as the pine, peach, fig, &c. are to be growTi, houses of 

 the ordinary height of garden-walls are preferred, at least for general crops. 

 The reasons are obvious in both cases. 



Sect. I. Culture of the Pine-apple, and Management of the Pinery, 

 We shall first give the natural data on which the culture of this plant is 

 founded, and next the routine practice of one of the most successful growers 

 of the present day. The botanical and horticultural history of the pine- 

 apple, and an account of the principal varieties cultivated in Britain, will be 

 found in our Fruit Catalogue. 



SuBSECT. I. Natural data on which the culture of the Pine-apple is founded. 

 The pine-apple is an evergreen monocotyledonous plant, a native of 

 countries tropical or bordering on the tropics, and found in low situations on 

 or near the sea-shore, or on wide rivers. It grows almost always on sandy soil, 

 dry on the surface, but moist at the depth of a foot or two beneath. It is 

 indigenous, or cultivated, in various similar situations, as in South America, 

 at Rio Janeiro ; in the West Indies, at Grenada ; and in Africa, at Sierra- 

 Leone. As an evergreen monocotyledonous plant, it is without buds, and 

 consequently not intended by natui-e to be long, if at all, in a state of 

 repose ; as a native of the sea-shore, it is not calculated for enduring a great 

 difference of temperature between summer and winter ; and as a native of 

 the sea-shore within the tropics, it is calculated for growing in a high tem- 

 perature throughout the year. The temperature of various places at or 

 near the equator, as given by Humboldt, exhibits an average of about 8S" 

 for the warmest month, and 72° for the coldest ; thus giving a difference 

 between the summer and winter heat adapted for the pine-apple of only 

 11". But in the small island of Grenada, in the West Indies, v/here the 

 pine-apple luxm-iates, the temperature in the shade never exceeds 85° and 

 never falls below 80° ; thus giving a difference of only 5°. It is clear, 

 therefore, that there ought to be very little difference between the summer 

 and winter temperature of the pine-apple. With respect to soil, in the 

 neighbourhood of Rio Janeiro, it consists chiefly of a calcareous sand, always 

 dry on the surface, but always moist beneath, in consequence, we suppose, 

 of the vicinity of the sea or the river, and the attraction of cohesion between 

 the particles of sand ; but this water can never be altogether stagnated, owing 

 to the rise and fall of the tides. The temperature of the soil in Grenada during 

 sum.mer, and at one foot beneath the surface, we are assured on good 

 authority ( Gard. Mag., vol. vi., p. 438, ) is 85°. With respect to the water of the 

 atmosphere in the countries where the pine-apple thrives, there is generally 

 a dry season and a rainy season — the latter much shorter than the former. 

 In the dry season there are heavy nightly dews ; and the rainy season, 

 which is like the spring of temperate climates, produces such an exuberance 

 of growth as to throw the plants into fruit. In the neighbourhood of Rio, 

 there are heavy rains at intervals from October to April : the suckers from 

 the roots are taken off in April or May, which is about the end of their 

 summer, and planted m the fields fi-om one foot and a half to two feet from 

 each other. The strongest of them produces fruit in the following year, 

 which weighs between 3 lbs. and 4 lbs. each : and those which do not fruit 



