1868 . ] 
A FEW WORDS ABOUT PINE-APPLE CULTURE. 
53 
blooms freely. Both of the foregoing are valuable for their compactness 
of growth. Beauty of Ravensbourne (Carter & Co.), a valuable addition to 
the dwarf section, deserves all that has been said in its praise. It blooms 
in a most profuse manner, the flowers being of a lively lilac hue, with a 
conspicuous white centre. It is very dwarf-growing, and should be planted 
thickly together, as the stems appear to branch but little. 
The new dwarf white variety, Miss Murphy , I can neither grow, nor 
have I seen it doing well anywhere. It appears to be so weakly in habit as 
to be incapable of making any perceptible effort in the way of growth. White 
Queen (E. G. Henderson & Son), is of the ordinary growth of marmorata, 
the tube being pale blue, the lip white. I hear of a dwarf white Lobelia 
that is shortly to be seen, which, if its character be not exaggerated, pro¬ 
mises to be the bedding plant of the season. I also hear that Messrs. 
Carter & Co. have secured the stock of a new dwarf white kind, that has 
been proved to possess first-rate properties. As any description of these 
must at the present moment be taken on trust, a critique on their assumed 
merits must be reserved till they put in appearance hereafter. B. D. 
A FEW WORDS ABOUT PINE-APPLE CULTURE. 
)T is pleasing to find that so intelligent an observer and practitioner as 
Mr. Simpson, of Wortley, finds himself justified by his experience in 
recommending—in the case of Pine plants, that may happen to miss 
fruiting at the desired time—a practice which, so far as I know, was 
first adopted and promulgated by myself. What Mr. Simpson states 
about fruit appearing to swell-off more fully under the cutting-down system, 
is quite correct, and the reason need not, I think, be looked for far afield. 
Pines so treated throw out immense crow-quill-like roots, ready to devour 
with greediness the elements of nutrition which the fresh feast of fibry 
soil supplied to them affords. 
This is a system to be especially recommended in the case of any who 
may have to enter on the care of stock that has been drawn up into an 
unfruitful condition, by improper treatment. The course often pursued in 
such cases is to throw the plants away as past redemption. Instead of 
doing so, if they were treated on the cutting-down system, they would not 
only be certain to fruit, but would also furnish a stock of suckers to form 
succession plants. This way of procedure saves expense, time, and trouble. 
That much has yet to be accomplished in rendering the fruiting of 
Pines more cheap, by making it much more simple and speedy, I am fully 
convinced. So far as my own experience is concerned, I have proved that 
Pines can be made to start into fruit in twelve months from the time they 
are detached rootless suckers from the parent plants. In the August of 
1866 I took a few dozen suckers from the parent plants—before the fruit 
