THOUGHTS UPON THE CULTURE OF THE PINE-APPLE* 123 
the author also distinctly says, at page 305, It is always an object 
with me to keep all the plants slowly growing at all seasons of the 
year.’' 
But on the other side, that of torpidity and dormancy , there is a 
notice on the culture of the pine-apple in the neigbourhood of Monza, 
in Italy, where it is said that the gardeners let the temperature of their 
stoves fall in the winter as low as one degree of Reaumur (thirty-four 
and a half degrees Fahrenheit, or to within two and a half degrees of 
the freezing point): no injury is thereby caused; and it is asserted 
that the writer saw the finest pines so produced. 
After this introduction of my subject, I feel called upon to state a 
few facts, which may help to determine the proper temperature that 
ought to be maintained during the winter ; and the subject of this 
interesting inquiry divides itself into two parts :—the first refers to the 
winter temperature of those plants which are commonly called nurse 
or succession pines ; the second to that which ought to be maintained 
for plants in the fruiting-pots, intended to mature their fruit in May, 
June, and July. 
1st. The suckers are potted early in autumn, and growing fast till 
the end of October; artificial heat will subsequently be required, and 
maintained to between fifty and sixty degrees by linings alone, if pos¬ 
sible, in preference to fire. This gentle heat will be sufficient to keep 
the plants slowly growing during the winter. It is at this period that 
I humbly conceive all the force of the opinions expressed by Messrs- 
Greenshields and Appleby applies, inasmuch as any check the plants 
may receive by being thrown into the dormant state at this critical 
period, from cold , will, ten to one, lead to premature formation of the 
fruit, upon the first application of heat after the shift in February. 
This remark affords me an opportunity to state a circumstance which 
has recently come under my own observation, and which is conclusive 
of the important fact, viz. that pines, whether they are able to support 
thirty-four and a half degrees, or not, without injury, or even with 
advantage, may be seriously injured by cold. 
A small collection plunged in leaves, in a brick pit well glazed, with 
three good linings formed of leaves, was destroyed by the severe frost of 
Christmas. The linings suddenly became cold, and the weather was 
so extremely piercing, that, notwithstanding the lights were covered 
with double mats and close-fitting deal boards, several degrees of frost 
entered the pit, and the plants, upon examination, were found to be 
quite decayed at the collar. 
A pit of fine successions, a few miles from here, protected by dung 
linings, and mats at top, covered deeply with litter, was so injured, 
