HORTICULTURAL NOTES. 
573 
the advantage. But there are some who not 
only forget that all subjects should give way 
to Horticulture at Horticultural meetings, 
hut actually find in the proceedings themselves 
something on which they can raise a quarrel, 
or say that which gives pain to others. This 
should be discouraged at once — nipped in the 
bud ; nobody should answer such matters, or 
if they do, they should remember, " that a soft 
answer turneth away wrath." We never hear 
of disagreements in a society without thinking 
how much some people must have forgotten 
themselves to differ upon such a quiet subject, — 
how much others must have forgotten their 
duties when they noticed any outbreak in a 
manner that gave even an excuse for a reply. 
All angry spirits should lie as quiet as flint and 
steel ; and everybody who causes a collision, 
or encourages one, is answerable for all the 
consequences which arise from the first sparks 
that are produced. 
HORTICULTURAL NOTES. 
Thornfield Pine Apples. — One peculiar 
feature in the culture of these fruits, adopted by 
Mr. Hamilton, of Thornfield, is the fruiting 
the sucker on the old stool : this is nature's 
way of proceeding. Another is the preserva- 
tion of the old roots for a much longer period 
than is usually practised — say for seven years. 
Another is the maintenance of a high and 
moist atmosphere all the winter. Another 
consists in a much more moderate use of bot- 
tom heat than is usual ; and the plants are 
planted out in j^bed of soil, at about 82°. In 
reference to preserving the old stool, it seems 
strange that the practice should have been so 
little followed, as it was long since recom- 
mended by the late T. A. Knight, Esq. If 
the old stump is a storehouse of organizable 
matter, why not retain it ? Who would think 
of cutting away all the green pseudo-bulbs of 
an orchid ? The preservation of the old 
roots for many years stands boldly opposed to 
the disrooting system. According to Mr. 
Hamilton, there are two serious evils attending 
the attempts to get abundance of new white 
fibres up the stem, viz. the necessity of strip- 
ping a considerable amount of valuable foliage; 
and that these white surface roots, if procured, 
will, in all probability, promote premature 
constriction, if not decay in the old roots, 
thereby losing the assistance of thousands of 
mouths, adhering fast to various media, capable 
of supplying all the wants of the plant. A 
high and moist temperature in winter is the 
most disputable point. The low degree of 
bottom heat is adapted to other parts of this 
mode of culture ; and, indeed, for Pine-apples 
cultivated on any plan an excess of bottom 
heat is the most serious evil to which 
they can be exposed. Somewhat higher than 
the Thornfield mean degree of bottom heat 
may, however, be allowed on the old system 
of growing in pots. At Thornfield, this bot- 
tom heat is maintained by a heated chamber 
beneath the fruiting bed, so that there is no 
reason for disturbing the roots. — 11. JjJ. 
Garden Literature. — A garden periodi- 
cal should be Avritten in language which all 
may understand, and which will not do violence 
to the gentleman and the scholar. It has been 
thought that it should be done in two parts, 
the one appertaining to the humble labourer, 
and those things which are useful to him ; 
the other more adapted to the higher class of 
amateur cultivators, who delight in the orna- 
mental. At the first moment it seems a 
reasonable suggestion ; but, calculating from 
experience in such things, we have a right to 
suppose that the frugal and industrious labourer 
will not always remain so, and we should 
rather provide for such as will advance in the 
scale of society, than presume to draw the line 
between those grades, which will, under happy 
auspices, be only so many steps for the good 
man to ascend. There is nothing to prevent 
the frugal and industrious labourer, who is 
under a good landlord and master, from ad- 
vancing every year of his life ; and to provide 
a book that is only to answer his purpose 
while labouring among cabbages and potatoes, 
would be to assume he is in his proper station, 
instead of exalting his ideas to a better. It is 
one thing to instil emulation, another to make 
a man dissatisfied : that which teaches him to 
make the most of his garden, and invites him 
to produce a better growth than his neighbour, 
teaches him the value of time and money. It 
calls into active service the child who is only 
able to pick up a weed, or carry a pitcher of 
water, and the savings from a few rods of 
ground, well managed, soon enables a man to 
master an acre. There is, in the present state 
of society, no bounds to the success of the 
most humble man in the country, when he is fru- 
gal, industrious, and persevering. Every day 
teaches us that the highest stations are fre- 
quently attained by individuals of probity and 
honour, who nevertheless begun with nothing 
but a good character : and there is not a cot- 
tager who may not become an opulent farmer 
in time, if he anxiously makes the most of 
everything, and after he has made money learns 
how to keep and accumulate it. Therefore 
should a garden periodical be adapted for the 
higher classes as well as the humble ; and 
while it teaches the cottager to grow vegetables 
for his family, show him also how he may best 
cultivate a garden upon a larger scale. 
The Primitive Colours. — Notwithstand- 
ing it has been said that the three primitive 
colours do not occur in one genus, the 
