76 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
at the base and stick them into old decayed bark, either in a succession or 
.-fruiting pit, to root previous to potting them, and as much time one way and 
the other was then lost as is needful now to get up a plant to fruiting strength. 
In these days of strong, robust, healthy suckers taken off, potted, and grown 
on immediately, it is always a pleasure to look at and to be amongst them; 
but bear in mind strong suckers, to make splendid fruiting plants in a few 
^months, cannot be had without you have strong plants to take them from. 
Succession Plants. —For many years it was the practice of all Pine- 
growers to disroot their succession plants in spring,—vernal shifting as 
Glendinning terms it in his work on the Pine. He, I believe, was the last 
writer on this curious custom, which I have for many years discontinued, 
as I hold to the idea of Pine plants being annual-rooted, and that they 
required shaking out every spring, that their roots might be cut off on 
account of their being dead. My observations soon convinced me they were 
not annual-rooted plants more than any other, except through the kind of 
treatment they received in those bygone days by- first burning them with 
excessive bottom heat, at other times starving them with cold and damp, and 
other absurd unnatural treatment. No wonder they made such slow progress 
and produced such small, ill-swelled, and, to a very great extent in those days, 
deformed trumpery fruit. No wonder the plants required so much shading 
and so small a portion of the natural air allowed them. Why, had the plants 
received the abundance of air I have for many years daily allowed them, it 
would have blown them all out of their pots in those days of the vernal dis¬ 
rooting. No wonder we heard such deplorable accounts from the generality 
of Pine-cultivators respecting those pretty but troublesome vermin the old 
grower used so pitifully to complain of—Coccus Bromelise, Coccus hesperidum, 
Coccus adonidum, and other pretty creatures; and there were so many quack 
remedies recommended by various authors to exterminate those pretty but 
troublesome insects. One thing may be fully depended on, that there is neither 
pleasure nor profit when it happens that Pine plants in any stage of growth 
require the doctor for the extermination of such troublesome pests, particularly 
when it seems by practice that none of those obnoxious compounds recom¬ 
mended by old authors will ever completely eradicate and clean the plants 
until the system of culture is altered or the stocks burnt. Still there is a 
simple method which will be treated on in a future paper, which I trust may 
prove useful to those who are still troubled in that way. 
Succession-pit. —Previous to treating of potting, I may as well give 
a description of this kind of structure I am aware there are handsomer 
and more expensively-erected structures in use for growing succession Pine 
plants than the one here in use, and that I am about to describe; but it 
answers the purpose exceedingly well—indeed, I would not wish for a better. 
It is in three ranges of about eight lights each, home-made, and on the 
principle of every man being his own architect. A row of rough posts of 
any kind of wood that comes to hand is placed in a straight row, front and 
back, to the desired width of the lights intended to be made use of, which is 
here 9 feet long. The space between each range is about 6 feet—room enough 
to admit a cart, for clearing out once a-year the decayed fermenting materials. 
The back of those pits in height is about 6 feet, and the front the height to 
command the desired angle ; one straight-edge board is placed all round the 
summit of the pit for the lights to rest evenly on. Under this, to the depth of 
from 3 to 4 feet, any kind of rough slabs, poles, or other rough wood is just 
nailed up in order to prevent the linings from falling in on the plants, leaving 
cavities between large enough for a cat to go in and out. This affords a free 
circulation of heat. 
