May 16 .] 
be in any form not in blotches, so that it be perfectly 
uniform in all the petals, aucl does not go too near the 
bottom. 
0. The colour, whatever it be, must be dense and de¬ 
cided. Whether it be delicate and light, or bright, or 
dark, it must be distinct in its outline, and uot shaded, 
or flushed, or broken. 
10. The height of a tulip should be from 18 to 36 
inches; the shortest is right for the outside row in a bed, 
and the tallest for the highest row. 
11. The purity of the white, and the brightness of the 
yellow ground colours, should be permanent, that is to 
say, should continue until the petals actually fall. 
THE EEUIT-GAKDEN. 
Pine-apple Culture made Easy. —We do not recur 
so often to this branch of our labours as some others, for 
| it scarcely concerns the readers of this work so much as 
our commoner fruits. But the time approaches when this 
subject, being stripped of all complicated mystery, and 
the culture of them thrown back on first principles, a 
i degree of simplicity will take place, both in the struc¬ 
tures appropriated to them, and in the course of culture 
pursued. 
We think it not too much to affirm, that the pine re¬ 
quires less attention than any other hothouse fruit whatever. 
“ Why then,” Mr. A. will say, “ all this fuss about 
them?” We answer, because in their culture, people from 
the first have studied how to make their proceedings as 
artificial as possible. Let any one, for instance, as to 
structures, look back over the plans which lor the last 
lew years have appeared in some of our gardening 
j periodicals for pineries, vineries, and other houses, 
| heated by steam, hot-water, &c., and mark the com¬ 
plication which appears on the face of most of them. 
: For our part, when we see a sketch of the kind, with 
nearly a score of references as to details, we turn from it 
with a sort of instinctive horror; for there appears con¬ 
cealed beneath the various gewgaws contained therein, 
such a fearful array of mason’s, carpenter's, and smith’s 
bills, as would make almost anything short of a million- 
naire, give up in despair the culture of our noble in-door 
fruits. At the same time, apian from a plain commou- 
j sense person, containing only half a dozen matters oi 
detail (such things as a low house, a few pipes in a 
trench capable of holding water, and ample provision 
for ventilation) shall, in spite of all this paper finery, 
contain every essential for perfect culture—that is to say, 
if we take nature for our guide, instead of attempting to 
make her our slave. 
Having thus far indulged in a few expressions of 
opinion, as to expensive and complicated buildings and 
apparatus, as being out of the reach of the million, and, 
indeed, altogether unnecessary unless for the purpose of 
display, we must be allowed to remark a little on the 
celebrated Hamiltonian method of culture ; a method 
which we firmly believe will (in spite of a stiff adherence 
to old maxims), one day, be generally adopted, at least 
by the amateur, and the market gardener. Loudon 
| long since prophesied, that a capitalist situated in such 
! a place as Birmingham, or Neweastle-on-Tyne, will one 
1 day pour such a host of pine-apples into the London 
j market, as will make the growers of Queens and Pro- 
| vidences about the M etropolis reconsider their plans. 
“ But,” says some one of these persons, “ your Hamil- 
toniau plans will not do for the Queen, Providence, and 
Envillepines!" Softly, my good fellow, this case is by 
no means cleared up yet. But admitting, for argument’s 
sake, that such an opinion is tolerably correct; suppose 
93 
it can be proved to be just the thing for the culture of 
the Black Jamaica, and that such, well swelled, were to 
make their appearance in abundance in the London I 
market during April or May, high-flavoured, and weigh- I 
ing from three to four pounds, would not such at i 
three or four shillings per lb be as eligible for the Lord ! 
Mayor’s table, or even that of the Premier himself, as a j 
huge spongy Providence, Enville, or Queen, at eight or \ 
ten shillings per lb ? But somebody will say, “ Have 
you seen it done? have you done it yourself? Be that 
as it may, we would merely remind the latter class ot 
doubters, that most of the great projects which have 
been carried out since the world begun, have been 
attempted to be stifled in their birth by bilious doubters, 
and those of a carping character. 
At the same time it must be confessed, that two or 
three great essentials must be secured, or the project 
above alluded to, as to commercial gardening, could not 
be carried out: sufficient capital; a central situation, 
with coal and glass close to the elbow; no combination 
of inferior or collateral objects which might tend to 
hamper the main plan; and lastly, a clear view ot the 
whole subject as a system. These, or most of these, no 
mere gardener can command. Let it not be supposed, 
however, that in all this there is the least mystery 
or difficulty. It is as simple as the culture of the Globe 
artichoke out of doors, which, indeed, it in some degree 
resembles, with this chief difference, that the pine re¬ 
quires a roof of some kind, and some artificial heat both 
at the top and at the bottom. Once properly planted by 
this system, the only labour worth recording tor half a 
dozen years would be an occasional thinning of the 
suckers, and of course a regular attention to the fires. 
We come now to the amateur's share in this question; 
and, indeed, the one which most intimately concerns , 
the case in hand. 
It may be taken for granted, that the majority of 
persons classed under the sweeping term amateur, are 
persons who have some profession, trade, or calling; and 
which circumstance gives them not that amount ot the 
“ease combined with dignity which the country gen¬ 
tleman enjovs. For this reason, then, we would have 
every amateur’s gardening structure, whether hothouse 
or greenhouse, so planned, as to require no attention 
through the day, and indeed little at any other period, j 
The heating apparatus so provided, that the servant . 
lad or girl by feeding the fire once in twenty-four hours, 
and by adjusting the ash-pit door about three times 
during the same period, all things connected with arti¬ 
ficial heat would he accomplished. There would then re¬ 
main the matter of shading when necessary, and ventila- j 
tion. If lean-to roofs characterize such houses, then, | 
perhaps, the use of new rough plate glass might obviate ; 
the necessity of shading at any time, provided abundance 
of atmospheric moisture was present. And as to \enti- | 
lation, we should not fear to continue it night and day, 
systematically, if, as before observed, the due amount ot 
moisture could be secured, and a certain temperature 
guaranteed. 
: For the amateur, we are of opinion, that if the lean-to 
I character must he adopted, what is termed the north , 
; light should be used; and, indeed, it would be a con- j 
sideratiou, whether this north light should not be almost 
as large as the south one ; or, in other words, whether a 
regular span-roof running east and west would not be 
a very suitable form, although we should prefer the same 
running north and south. Many places are so limited, 
that structures are obliged to submit in some degree to ' 
such limitation, as also to fall in with some pre-existing j 
arrangement. . 
We can fancy, then, a house or pit combining the lore- 
going principles in some way, with a low and flat roof, 
a thin screen of canvass left on during summer, day and 
night, if trouble be an object; plenty ot atmospheric . 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
