November 1, 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
59 
a large scale, states that both rain and snow contain 
ammonia; and if there be only one-fourth of a grain 
in each pint of water, the annual deposition from the 
atmosphere would be more than sufficient, on half an 
acre of ground, to give all the nitrogen contained in 
the vegetable albumen of 150 cwt. of beet root. Rain 
water also contains a peculiar organic substance, 
analogous to the extractive matter and gluten of 
plants, though differing from them chemically. To 
this substance Dr. Daubeny has given the name of 
Pyrrhine. Traces of salts and oxides have also been 
iound in rain water; but compared with all other 
naturally produced, it is so pure, and so abounds 
with the gases beneficial to plants, that none other 
can equal it for their service. That obtained from 
ponds or springs invariably contains matters offen¬ 
sive or deleterious to plants. Those known as hard 
water, containing in excess salts of lime or magnesia, 
are invariably prejudicial, and pond water is scarcely 
less so. If it be stagnant and loaded with vegetable 
extract, it is even worse than hard spring water. 
1 hese last named, if obliged to be employed to ten¬ 
der plants, should have a pint of the ammoniacal water 
of the gas-works mixed thoroughly with every 60 
allons, an hour or two before they are used. 
THE ERUIT-GARDEN. 
The Pine-apple. —No doubt some of our amateur 
friends attempt to cultivate this king of fruits, for its 
culture has been so much simplified during the last 
seven years that those who can indulge in the luxury 
of a greenhouse can add that of a pine-pit without 
any tear of increasing the labours of their establish¬ 
ment in any sensible degree. In former days the 
culture ot pines was considered a mighty affair; so 
much shitting, tan-stirring, watering, leaf-stripping, 
root-cutting, &c., &c., that a man who could go 
through all these processes, and produce what would 
now be considered half-starved fruit, was looked up 
to with a kind of veneration. 
It has been made perfectly manifest of late years 
that our worthy sires were spending a great part of 
their labours in vain, and that had they began by 
studying the habits of the pine in its native climes, 
instead ot carrying out their plans by the delusive 
light of a few rules, which had attained the charac¬ 
ter ot binding prescriptions, a reform in the culture 
ot this fruit would have occurred at a much earlier 
period, and a vast amount of misspent labour spared. 
As in all other departments, there have been con¬ 
flicting systems or modes of pine-culture. This is 
finite right, for, by such means, the public is roused 
from a lethargy which might otherwise induce it to 
be too content with things as they are. This inter¬ 
mediate state of things leads necessarily to a recon¬ 
sideration of the whole question; principles are 
examined most keenly, and such must finally result 
in a settlement of the question on the most sound 
basis; simplification, and, by consequence, economy, 
following closely in the wake. We cannot afford 
space to compare the principal existing systems; suf¬ 
fice it, for the present, just to glance at them. Three 
stand prominent; indeed, all others may be resolved 
into them, viz., the old pot-culture, the Hamiltonian, 
and the Meudon. In handling this subject with 
reference to gardening on a small scale, we feel in¬ 
duced to confine ourselves to the Hamiltonian. 
Whatever may be the merits of the Meudon j 
plan, it is tolerably manifest that the Hamiltonian is 
the most economical, and this is sufficient to attract 
the notice of the small cultivator, for, in the course 
of our labours for The Cottage Gardener, we make 
it our constant aim so to economise and sim plify 
matters (hitherto treated in too mysterious a way), 
as to bring all these luxuries within the reach of 
thousands, so that every one who can afford to keep 
a gardener constantly may have good pines, grapes, 
and all the et ceteras which constitute a first-rate 
dessert. 
Mr. Hamilton was the first to render manifest that 
greatest of absurdities the disrooting system; a mode 
which had, doubtless, crept into vogue through bad 
systems of potting, together with a total ignorance 
of the mechanical texture of soils. In former days 
most of the stock of pines not in a fruiting state 
were turned out of their pots in February, and the 
chief of their roots cut away; and nobody thought 
of assigning a reason, except, as was generally urged, 
the soil had become sodden. But why did they suffer 
the soil to become sodden? By tins foolish proce¬ 
dure some three months at least were totally lost, 
and besides this the plants received a severe check, 
which was found to be prejudicial ultimately to the 
fruit’s size. 
Again, no person previously to Mr. Hamilton 
showed the exceedingly great importance of preserv¬ 
ing every healthy leaf entire and unmutilated; and 
that such being the case, any mode of culture which 
involved a frequent shifting or removal of the plants 
must, of course, be radically wrong; inasmuch as 
such processes cannot be carried out without much 
damage to the leaves. Bottom heat, too, Mr. Hamil¬ 
ton showed had been used by far too freely, and that 
such unwarrantable amounts had been drawn into 
practice by the vaifous checks the pine had been 
subjected to, by which the vital actions had become 
so much checked that unnecessary stimuli had to be 
resorted to. Hence, what some other cultivators 
were trying to accomplish by high stimulants, he 
easily accomplished by means of a strictly conserva¬ 
tive system of root management; by which it became 
manifest that if the pine could but get hold of any 
absorbent material, and keep hold, unmolested, a 
much more moderate amount of bottom heat would 
suffice, as also much less trouble in watering. 
Thus far, then, Mr. Hamilton’s main features of 
culture; of which having been repeatedly an eye¬ 
witness, and of his great success, we bear testimony 
with a high degree of pleasure. His little book on 
pines should be closely examined by all who would 
appreciate his system; and had this treatise been a 
little more perspicuous in its arrangement, and had 
a little more taste been exercised in its phraseology, 
we have no doubt its circulation would have been 
very considerable; but these trifles should by no 
means prejudice the system. 
We may now turn to the objects of the amateur in 
pine culture, and here we would call on every oue about 
to enter the lists, to consider well beforehand the ob¬ 
ject in view; because, to grow pines for exhibition, 
and for mere domestic consumption, are two very dif¬ 
ferent things, as to the economical bearing ot the 
matter. Very few families require a pine for the dessert 
to be more than three pounds in weight, and this at 
five shillings the pound is a somewhat costly affair. 
