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PRACTICE OF GzYRDENING. P a r t UI.
reduce It to a weak state. Hence, tliough keeping plants too dry is certainly an error, it is not a ttended
with the same fatal consequences as the contrary practice. Watering the walks and flues, Sic.,
in an evening, in order to raise a kind of artificial dew, is in imitation of what takes place in the West
Indies, where no rain falls in the summer for many months together, and the plants are wholly supplied
with moisture from the dews. Gentle summer waterings over the top are founded on this principle.
“ Plants lately shifted into the pots, till their roots get matted, do not require so much water as liefore
their shifting. Plants th at are in large-sized pots, in proportion to the size of th e plants, do not requiro
so much water as plants that are under-potted. Plants th a t are in hard-burnt pots, made of strong clay.
do not require near so much water s plants il
less burnt, and made of clay with a good proportion
of sand intermixed. The latter a
greatly to be preferred. Plants in a vigorous growing state require
very frequent and gentle waterini_ But ^plants with fruit and suckers _
upon them require most of all.
When plants are watered over thoir leaves, it should be sprinkled n
vt hen upon them
wet, which may easily be distinguished, as the water immediately changes tl
green. As the leaves stand in different directions, the best method is to <
a only till every part is made
5 the colour of them to a sad
- .. , .0 dash the water upon them
forwards, on every side of the bed. Summer waterings shot
but, in th e spring and autumn, the forenoon is the proper tii ................................. ..
backwards and should always be given late in
the afternoon ; time. Less water should be
given in moist than ill in dry weather, for reasons already given; ancl there t h e r should ....................be ahvays such ’ a degree
’
o f temperature and ve
ventilation kept up, as will prevent water from stagnating in the hearts of the plants,
Pond or river water,vater, 'or water collected .. .
from the roof of the hothouse, and retained within the house
till it has attained its temperature, is to be preferred. (T r . on the Pine, p. 81, 82.)
3077. Shading. “ Succession pine-plants,” Speechlyobserves, “ do not make halfthe progress in violently
hot weather, in the middle of summer, th a t they do later in the season. In order to obviate the above
inconveniences, some persons cover their hothouses in the middle of the claj’, when the heat of the sun
is violent, with bast mats fastened to a rope, which may be moved up and down with great ease ; but a
better mode, and which is frequently practised, is, to cover the glasses with a large net, which admits
the air to pass freely, ancl at the same time breaks the rays of the sun, and retards their force, especially
if the meshes of the net be not large. If vines were judiciously trained up to the rafters of the hothouse,
there would be no need of either of th e last-mentioned coverings. The vines should be planted
in the front of the hothouse, and not more than one shoot trained to each rafter, part of which should
be cut dowun. .t o the bottom of the r..a.ZfateUr s- -e-v ery seasJo n, by which m...e.a..ns the roof of the hothouse may
be kept thinly covered with young wood, and, by having only one shoot to each rafter, the
vine-leaves will afford a kindly shade, and never incommode th e pines ; for the leaves fall, and the vines
:lly ..................................................
are pruned, at a season when the hothouse most requires sun.”
3078. T ' - - ” .....
p its : bnt
maturation of the fruit. The pits are proportionately larger than those for succession plants.
3079. / j iftin g and potting. Most gardeners shift into fruiting-pots in August, ancl afterwards, in the folconstantly
The culture o f the fru itin g department embraces much o fth e culture of the nursing and succession
bnt httle difference, for example, is made in temperature, air, and watering, till the last stage of the ..t.l—nAl'OTOT „i* +1. „ VTl U „ otIA.. —___ „OT „„Ai___ A„l__ 1--- AU__A»_„ JZ _________ •_
lowing March, divest the plants of a few of their bottom leaves, renew the mould on the tops of the pots a„
deep as can be done without injuring tho roots, and lill up with fresh compost earth. There is in general
no second shifting ; but the plants remaiii in the pots assigned to them a t their coming from th e succes-
sion-pit till the fruit is ripcmed.
3080. Temperature. “ T he fruiting-house, during the winter, should be kept at about 70°; it may be left
in the evening a t about 75°, and it will be found in the morning a t about 65°, so that no attendance
during the night will be required.” (Cult, o f Anan.. p. 19.)
3081. Air. When the plants are showing fruit, admit air freely into th e hothouse, the w ant of a due
proportion of ivhich causes the stems to draw themselves weak, and grow tall, after which the fruit
never swells kindly.
3082. Water. Most writers recommend that, as th e fruit and suckers begin to advance in size, the plants
should have plenty of water to support them, which may be given them at least twice, and sometimes
three times, a week. As soon as the fruit appears full swelled, th e watering such plants as produce
them should cease; though it is a general practice (in order to have the fruit as large as can be got) to
continue th e watering too long, which produces large fruit a t th e expense flavour.
3083. Time required to fm i t tke pine. T ill Baldwin’s time, almost all cultivators of th e pine-plant required
from two and a half to four years from the planting of the crown or sucker to perfecting its fruit.
The general period was from two and a half to three years ; for example, a fruit of the queen pine, being
gathered in August, 1829, and its crown planted a few days afterwards, was expected in th e July, August,
or September, 1832, to produce fruit. A strong sucker from the same plant taken off, as is frequently
th e case, a m onth before the fruit ripens, and planted, will, in the end of 1831, or early in the spring of
1832, ripen its fruit. Baldwin, however, accomplishes this by both crowns and suckers in a shorter
period. “ The New Providence, black Antigua, Jamaica, Enville, and the other large sorts of ananas,”
he says. “ require th e cultivation of three years to bring them to perfection ; but th e old queen and Rip-
ley’s new queen may be brought to perfection in fifteen months. To effect this, it must be observed,
th a t some of the plants will fruit in February or th e beginning of March, and, consequently, th a t the
suckers may be taken off in June or the beginning of July. Make then a good bed of tan with linings of
litte r round the outside, to keep in the tan ; make the bed to fit a large melon-frame ; put th e suckers
into pots of about 9 in. in diameter, filled with the compost; plunge them in the bed, prepared in regular
order, and throw a mat over them in hot weather, for shade, till they have taken r o o t ; let them
remain till the end of September, and then shift them into pots of about 12 in. in diameter, ancl plunge
them in the fruiting-house.” (Cult, of Anan. p. 28.)
3084. Growing the f r u it of an extraordinary size. Speechly andM'Phail say, “ in March, to make some
of your fruit swell very large, prevent all suckers from growing on the plants. You may destroy them by
twisting out their hearts with a sharp-pointed stick, or a piece of iron about 18 in. long. This, however,
should not be made a general practice.”
3085. Cutting « ripe A-A pines. “ -............ It is easy .r ........... to know,” -i-OT------------— Speechly observes,OT. .A,OT, “..
hen the pine becomes ripe by its
yellow eilow colour ; yet they do not all change in th e same r manner, *but '
most generally begin a t th e lower
part 'a r to of f the fru it: such fruit should not be cut till th e e u
upper part also begins to change, which some-
tim. s will be many days after, especially in the sugar-loaf kinds. Sometimes th e fruit will first begin
to change ior.«., in the
fK« ro.aAio j5 g certain indication of its being ripe ; such fruit should be cut imme-
diatcly.”
308G. Retarding ■ng and hee\
keeping f r u it. “ It sometimes happens,” Speechly observes, “ th a t great
part of a
stove of plants will show their fruit a t or near the same time, and, with th e same treatment, would conse-
y become ripe too nearly together. To prevent this, and bring them into a regular success!
l i t ts nearly ripe, part of the plants may be taken out of the stove, and set in a dry shady p____,
quently aiid su^ession, when
th e fruit place ; a
. - - * • - - - - • „ '— OT. OT OT..OT ,.OT AOT OcTl,..r ..t....lO,l.Tl KOTn OT OTOT TOT. OTAA .T... 1«4A1*.. . A.O.T.O„ jA„O4T„ LO. AT-A„,. 1 1..L..A.A A OT „ ...„4C„4OATVI g I -V- -ULI
for instance, the stove-shed, where the pots should be covered with moistened moss, but no water given
them : it must be observed, that every one of the plants must be taken into the hothouse again, and set
in the tan-bed for a week or ten days before the fruit is cut, to give it a good flavour. When there is a
variety of hothouses, this caution is not ncees.sary.”
S u b s e c t . 6. Rearing and Fruiting the Fine-apple according to the Modern System.
3087. The cidture o f the pine-ap,
A short time ago, as Mr. Ogle ob:
le has been greatly improved within the last few years,
erves, “ three yeai's of toil ancl expense were thought
B oo k III. PINERY, REARING AND FRUITING.
necessary to produce frait, which are now far suipasscd in fifteen montlis or less, with
considcraldy smaller amount of care and lab o u r; ” and as great a ch.ange has taken
place in the size and weight of the fruit as in the cost of its production. Several
methods have been practised for effecting those improvements, but they may all ho
classed under two heads ; viz. rough potting, and planting out in beds.
3088. Rough-potting is practised to a great extent by Mr. Barnes, gardener to Lady
Eollc, at Bicton; and the cause of its success is, no doubt, that by it air and water are
admitted to the roots. Tho soil used is the surface pared off an old common, with the
natural herbage, heath, and fnrze, that may chance to adhere to it. Some charcoal is
put in the bottom of the pot for drainage, and some charred materials arc mixed with
the soil as its sods arc thrust into the p o t; not pressed closely together, but left in “ a
■condition to admit a fixe ch'cnlation of air and water, which is the grand object. Tho
kind of soil to bo employed in the culture of the pine,” continues Mr. Barnes, “ I find
by experience is of but little consequence so long as the natm-al herbage, heaths, and furze
adhere to it when u s ed ; ” and ho adds, “ if I could not obtain surface soils with the
natural vegetation, in my locality, I wonld collect furze, heath, brushwood, scraps of
faggot stacks, grass, or herbage of some kind, and some chaiTcd articles, and work
them in with the kitchcn-garden soil, or any other that I could get, making it porous,
so as to admit the natural gases.” (Barnes, in Journ. o f Bart. Soe. vol. i. p. 261.) In
August, 1846, Mr. Bai'iies exhibited thrco queens, weighing respectively 6jlb s., 51bs.
14oz., and 6 lbs. llo z ., and gave the following details of his mode of growing them.
“ About tho middle of August, 1845, the suckers were t.akcn off, and placed in 6-hich
pots in rough turfy loam and charcoal; they were placed on bricks, and some old half-
worn-out tan was forked up amongst them. By the middle of September, they had
become well rooted, and were removed into 1 1 -inch pots, using the same material as
before, and placing them in tho same situation, but thinner. Tlicy then grew away
rapidly. In the second week in January, 1846, they received thcir final shift into
15-iiicli pots in tho same m a terial; and by the second week in M.arch they were good
plants, and started for fruit in May. They never had any firc-heat, bnt had always
abundance o f air night and day. They were grown in a common brick pit, heated, not
with stable-yard dung, but with any fermenting rubbish that could be mustered ; for of
stable dimg we had none.” (Ibid. p. 260.)
3089. th e planting out, or Hamiltonian system o f pine culture. The following details
have heen kindly forwarded to us by Mr. Ogle, ns the results of this system, which
he thinks decidedly the b e s t; “ at tho samo time wishing it to be understood that in this
mode of cultivating the pinc-applc thcro is yet much to le am ; indeed it may be said to
be in its infancy.”
3090. In the autumn of 1845, Mr. Ogle continues, “ I fnfitcd a few pine plants m a
vinery ; but as the houses were only built and planted with vines late in the spring, there
was no artificial heat given, and tho fruit and plants were very indifferent. After the frnit
was cut, the stools were standing where the thcnnomcter was sometimes nearly down to
the freezing point. The second week in January, 1846, the suckers were taken off;
they were very small and sickly looking. They were potted into 48-sizcd pots, and
l.laccd in a small propagating-housc, as the pinc-honse was only then building. In
aixmt three weeks it was ready for their reception ; they were then removed to it, and
placed on tho slates which formed the bottom of the pit intended for the soil, the hot-
water trough being beneath tho slates. On the 12th of Eehraary, some soil was put into
the pit, aud sixteen plants of the Ripley queen pine were turned o u t; the rest that ro-
qnired it wore shifted into 24-sized pots, and again placed on the slates until the 14th of
March, when the other portion of the pit was filled with soil, and plants of queen,
Jamaica, Enville, and black Antigua pines were turned out of the pots into the bod of
soil. A moderate moi.sture was kept up by syringing and sprinkling the pathway.
Somc of the plants shortly thrciv up fi-uit, which was no doubt caused by thoir standing
on tho warm slates, when tho pots were full of roots. I cnt all of them but two, as soon
as I could do so. These two frait ripened about the end of Ju ly ; one, a queen, weighed
2 lbs., the other, a Jamaica, weighed 24 lbs. The plants that I had divested of their fruit
soon throw up strong suckers. None of the leaves were taken off the original plants, and
it was truly astonishing to see the growth of them. On January 22d, 1847, a few of
tho small lower leaves of the plauts were removed, and from 4 in. to 6 in. of soil, about
the same they were planted in, was added to the sui-face of the hod. On January 27th,
two of the black Jamaica pines showed fruit, and in the com-sc of a week a black Antigua
and several queens throw up fru it; tho artiflcial heat was at this time increased from 60°
to 66° at night, and from 70° to 75° during tho day, with au increase of 10° by sun-heat.
Manure water was now occasionally given. Ju n e 22d, I cut one frait of Jamaica,
weighing 5+ lbs., which satisfied mo that this sort may be fruited in as short a time as the
queen : although in pots, I have usually found it require several months longer to bring-
it to perfection. On the 24th of Ju n e I cut another Jamaica of about the same weight.
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