CULTURE OF THE PINE-APPLE. 



17 



Structures. — Low span-roofed Louses running north and 

 south are the best, with a raised bed about 12 feet wide down 

 the middle, and a pathway a little more than 2 feet in width on 

 either side. Each house should be provided with four rows of 

 4-inch pipes fixed on each side close to the front and end walls 

 for top heat, four similar pipes being laid along the bottom of 

 the central bed at about 2 1 feet from the side walls, the same 

 distance separating pipe from pipe, which should be covered 

 with brickbats. This will suffice to produce and maintain the 

 necessary degree of heat in the material into which the pots 

 containing the plants in their several stages of growth are to be 

 plunged to the rims. Ventilation should be provided in roof 

 and front-lights. 



Houses thus constructed are suitable for the summer growth 

 of fruiting and successional plants. But for the remaining nine 

 months of the year, when artificial means have to be employed 

 to produce and maintain the necessary degree of heat, the expense 

 incurred in the consumption of fuel is in proportion to the 

 area of glass exposed to external influences. So, on the whole, 

 lean-to houses of the following dimensions are to be recom- 

 mended : — For succession and fruiting plants I prefer lean-to 

 houses, running east and west, about 9 feet high at the back and 

 4 feet high in front from the ground-line, with a raised bed, 

 10 feet wide, running along the middle of the house, and a path- 

 way 3 feet wide at the back and 2 feet wide at the ends and 

 front, the latter being 2 feet lower from the ground-line than 

 the former, with three steps descending thereto at each end of 

 the central bed, thus giving a space of 9 feet from floor to glass 

 at back, and 6 feet in front, and a roof angle of about 84°. The 

 surface of the bed should be about 3 feet from the roof-glass, 

 and from 2J to 3 feet deep inside, a space of one foot being 

 allowed for the bottom- heat pipes, and their covering of brick- 

 bats (broken somewhat small on the top), to allow of the heat 

 percolating through the plunging material, the remaining space 

 being reserved for tan or fermenting leaves for plunging the pots 

 to the rim. 



The length of individual houses should be governed by the 

 number of plants which it is intended to grow and fruit each 

 year, and this is simply a question of demand and supply. 

 However, I may say, for the guidance of any who may feel disposed 



B 



