THE
DIFFERENT MODES
OF
CULTIVATING
THE
PINE-APPLE,
FROM
ITS FIRST INTRODUCTION INTO EUROPE
TO THE
LATE IMPROVEMENTS OF T. A. KNIGHT, ESQ.

BY A MEMBER OF THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.

WITH
Twenty-four Engravings on Wood,
EXHIBITING THE BEST PLANS OF PINE-STOVES AND PITS.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR
LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN,
PATERNOSTER-ROW.
1822.

London:
Printed by A. & R. Spottiswoode,
New-Street-Square.

INTRODUCTION.

A considerable interest has been excited in the Horticultural world by the experiments of T. A. Knight, Esq. on the culture of the Pine Apple. Our object is to add our efforts to those of that eminent Horticulturist, in promoting the culture of that king of fruits.

The means which we consider as most likely to attain our object, is the bringing together accounts of all the different modes of treating that Plant, which have hitherto been adopted in Europe; and the sources from which we have drawn the means, are the different publications which have appeared on the Pine Apple, and our own observations on its management, by those Gardeners who are its most successful cultivators.

The British publications which treat exclusively, or principally, of the Pine Apple, are:

1767. John Giles, of Lewisham. A Method of raising Pines and Melons, 8vo.

1769. Adam Taylor, Gardener at Devizes, in Wiltshire. A Treatise on the Ananas and on Melons, 8vo.

1779. William Speechly, Gardener to the Duke of Portland, at Welbeck, in Nottinghamshire. A Treatise on the culture of the Pine Apple, and the management of the Hot-house, &c. 8vo.

1808. William Griffin, Gardener to J. C. Girardot, Esq. at Kelham, near Nottingham. A Treatise on the culture of the Pine Apple, 8vo.

1818. Thomas Baldwin, Gardener to the Marquis of Hertford, at Ragley, in Warwickshire. A Treatise on the culture of the Ananas, &c. 12mo.

The Authors who have treated on the Pine Apple, as a part of their general subject, include nearly all those who have written on Horticulture since the commencement of the 18th century; the principal are, Bradley, Miller, Justice, Abercrombie, M’Phail, and Nicol, in their respective works; and T. A. Knight, Esq., and Peter Marsland, Esq., in the Transactions of the London and Caledonian Horticultural Societies.

The Foreign publications on the Pine Apple are few, and of little value; because the Continental Gardeners have never been very successful in its culture. Professor Thouin and M. Bosc, are the principal French Authors who have noticed the subject, and this only in general works, such as Rosier’s Dictionary, &c. Kirchner is almost the only German writer who has written on this fruit, in his Practische Anleitung für Gartenkunst, published in 1796, and devoted more particularly to the culture of the Pine and the Grape. Some other foreign tracts on the subject in the Banksian Library are merely translations from La Cours chapter on the subject, and from English authors.

The most eminent cultivators of the Pine Apple in England, at the present time, are, Mr. Thomas Baldwin, Gardener to the Marquis of Hertford, at Ragley, in Warwickshire; Mr. William Griffin, Gardener to Samuel Smith, Esq., at Woodhall Park, Hertfordshire; William Townsend Aiton, Esq. Gardener to the King, at Kensington; Mr. James Andrews, Commercial Gardener, Lambeth; and Mr. Isaac Oldacre, Gardener to Lady Banks, at Springrove, Middlesex.

A number of other gardeners might be mentioned, as excelling in the culture of this fruit; but the above have been first-rate cultivators for several years.

On the Continent the Pine Apple is cultivated most extensively in Russia; it occurs but seldom in France or Germany; and only in a few gardens in Italy. It has happened to us to have visited the principal Continental Gardens, as well as the English ones alluded to above, and various others; and we mention this to justify the extension of our remarks, not only to domestic, but foreign practices; and to account for our not confining ourselves merely to what is contained in books, but discussing also the modes of culture actually practised in different gardens. We shall first notice the introduction of the Pine Apple into Europe, and next the different varieties in cultivation; we shall then glance at the Continental practices, and finally detail those of our own country.

CONTENTS.

ON THE
CULTIVATION
OF THE
PINE APPLE.

CHAP. I.
OF THE PINE APPLE.

Its Culture in the West and East Indies.—Introduction to Holland.—To England.

The Pine Apple is the Bromelia Ananas of Linneus; of the artificial class and order Hexandria Monogynia; and of the natural order of Jussieu, Bromeleæ. The generic name was originally Ananas, from Nana, its common name in the Brazils; and the Queen Pine is named the Ananas Ovata, in the earlier editions of Miller’s Dictionary; but Linneus changed it to Bromelia, in memory of Olaus Bromel, a Swedish naturalist, and included under it the Karatas, or Wild Pine, till then considered a distinct genus. The English name of Pine Apple appears to have taken its rise from the resemblance of the fruit to the cone of some species of the Pine tree.

There are twelve species of Bromelia, described by Persoon; the fruit of all which may be considered edible, and is occasionally made use of by the natives. Six of these species are naturalized in the West Indies; and the rest are found wild in Chili, Peru, and other parts of South America.

The Bromelia Ananas is the only species in general cultivation; it is cultivated abundantly in both the Indies, and in China. It is said to grow wild in Africa; but Linneus ascribes it to New Spain and Surinam; and Acosta (Histoire Naturelle des Indes,) says, it was first sent from the province of Santa Croce, in Brazil, into the West, and afterwards into the East Indies and China. Persoon considers it as a native of South America; and Baron Humboldt and the Prince Maximilian found it in the Caraccas, in the Brazils.

Whichever way it was introduced from South America to the West Indies, its culture in these islands, and particularly in Jamaica, has been carried on for an unknown length of time. It is vulgarly supposed in this country, that it grows wild there; but, from the best information which we have been able to collect, the true Ananas is only cultivated in gardens, or grounds under spade culture; and there much in the same way as cabbages are in this country, and produces its fruit in from fifteen to eighteen months after planting the crown. The common weight of the fruit is from half a pound to three pounds; and it abounds chiefly in the dry season. In the rainy season, which includes nearly half the year, ripe Pine Apples are more scarce in the gardens of Jamaica than in the hot-houses of England.

In the neighbourhood of Calcutta it is cultivated in the same manner as in Jamaica, and, when liberally supplied with water, by a system of surface-irrigation, the first is said to attain a large size, and to be in season most months of the year.

The first attempts to cultivate the Pine Apple in Europe seem to have been made about the end of the seventeenth century, by M. Le Cour (or La Court, as written by Collinson), a wealthy Flemish merchant, who had a fine garden at Drieoeck, near Leyden. Of this garden he published an account in 1732, and died in 1737.

It was visited by Miller and Justice, who speak of its proprietor as one of the greatest encouragers of gardening in his time; of having curious walls and hot-houses; and as being the first person who succeeded in cultivating the Pine Apple. It was from him, Miller observes, (Dictionary, Art. Bromelia,) that our gardens were first supplied, through Sir Matthew Decker, of Richmond, in the year 1719; though, as a botanic plant, it had been introduced so far back as 1690, by Mr. Bentick, afterwards Earl of Portsmouth.

“When I say,” observes Mr. Cowel of Hoxton, in his Curious and Profitable Gardener, Lon. 1730, p. 27. “that the first Pine Apples that were cultivated in England, were in Sir Matthew Decker’s gardens at Richmond, I mean the first that were cultivated with success, were in those gardens; for long before we had plants of them brought to us, but had not before that time conveniences for bringing them to fruit, or even of keeping the plants alive.”

“The Pine Apple,” he adds, in the same page, “is now (1730) found in almost every curious garden.”

The fruit of the Ananas was sent to Europe, and especially to Holland, as a preserve, for many years before the Ananas plant was introduced.

That it found its way even to England in this state, so early as the sixteenth century, is evident from what Lord Bacon says of it in his Essay on Colonies; and also from a picture in the possession of the Earl of Waldegrave, representing Charles II. in a garden, and Rose, the royal gardener, presenting his Majesty with a Pine Apple. This picture, Lord Walpole informs us, was bequeathed by Mr. London, who was Rose’s apprentice, to the Rev. Mr. Pennicott, of Thames Ditton, by whom it was presented to himself. It does not appear, however, that the Pine was cultivated either by Rose or London, otherwise it would certainly have been noticed in the publications, which, if not written by, at least passed under the name, and received the sanction of London and Wise; and also of Evelyn, Ray, Rea, and other gardening writers of these times. In short, it is evident from Ray’s letters, that the idea of heating green-houses by fire was quite new in 1684, and first adopted by Mr. Watts, gardener, to the apothecaries at Chelsea in that year; and Miller states, (Dict. Art. Tan,) that there were very few tan-beds used in England before the year 1719. The Pine Apple, therefore, could not be cultivated in the seventeenth century in England.

Of late years the Pine Apple has been sent to England in abundance, attached to the entire plant, and a cargo has arrived from Providence Island, in the Bermudas, in six weeks. This facility of cultivation, and their more general culture, has greatly lessened their price, and rendered them common. They are sold in fruit-stands in the London streets, in one or two places, during the summer months; and moderate-sized fruit may be had from half-a-crown to a crown each; or at two shillings a pound.

CHAP. II.
OF THE VARIETIES OF THE PINE APPLE.

Of the Pine Apple, as of most other fruits that have been long in cultivation, there are many varieties. The principal part of those cultivated in this country have been obtained from the West India islands; but some also have been raised in this country from seed.

Speechly states, that, in the year 1768, he raised seventy plants from seeds that were sent to the Duke of Portland from the West Indies, most of which varied distinctly either in the leaves or fruit, but the quality of the latter was very inferior.

The most esteemed varieties in present cultivation are:

1. The Old Queen. Fruit oval-shaped, and of a gold colour. Esteemed the hardiest kind, and fruited in fifteen or eighteen months. The fruit grows to a large size, often weighing from three to four pounds. It is much more certain of shewing fruit at a proper age and season than most of the other sorts, and has a just preference in most hot-houses.

2. Ripley’s New Queen. A sub-variety of the Old Queen, with a large elegant fruit; fruited also in an equally short period.

3. Welbeck Seedling; fruit small, generally broader at the head than at the base; of a pale yellow, or sulphur colour, with very flat pips; flesh white and tender, rich in flavour, with less acidity than is found in most other pines. Hort. Trans. iv. 213.

4. Pyramidal, or Brown Sugar-loaf. Cone-shaped, and dark coloured till it ripens; the leaves brownish, the flesh yellow.

5. Prickly Striped Sugar-loaf. Cone-shaped, the fruit of a golden colour, the leaves striped with black or purple lines.

6. Smooth Striped Sugar-loaf; similar to the above, but the leaves not prickly.

7. Havannah. Tankard-shaped; dark coloured till it ripens.

8. Montserrat. The leaves of a dark brown, inclining to purple in the inside; fruit middle-sized and tun-shaped, and the pips or protuberances of the fruit larger and flatter than in the other kinds.

9. King Pine, or Shining Green. The leaves of a grass-green, with few prickles, the pulp hard and rather stringy, but of good flavor when ripe.

10. Green, or St. Vincent’s Pine. A rare variety; when ripe the fruit is of an olive hue, middle-sized, and pyramidical.

11. Black Antigua. The fruit is shaped like the frustum of a pyramid: leaves of a brownish tinge, and drooping at the extremities, with strong prickles, thinly scattered. The pips of the fruit are large, often an inch over; and it attains a large size, weighing from three to four pounds. It is of a dark colour till it ripens; very juicy, and high flavoured.

12. Black Jamaica. The fruit is large, and the plant similar in character and habits to the above.

13. Providence Pine. There are two varieties, the white and green; the fruit is larger than that of any of the kinds cultivated in this country; the form inclining to pyramidical; the colour, at first, brownish grey, but, when mature, of a pale yellow. The flesh yellow and melting, abounding with quick lively juice. Speechly produced in the gardens at Welbeck, in 1794, a fruit that weighed five pounds and a quarter, or eighty-four ounces, and from a plant that was not a large one. Griffin had, in 1803, two plants placed under his care, which fruited in July 1804; the fruit of one plant weighing seven pounds two ounces, and the other nine pounds three ounces, avoirdupois. This sort, and the two preceding, require generally three years, and sometimes four or five, to produce their fruit.

14. Blood-red; fruit equal in bulk at both ends. Pips of moderate size; colour brick-red; flesh white and opaque; leaves of a changeable hue; the flavor of the fruit being inferior to that of most others; this is to be considered merely as a curious variety. Hort. Trans. iv. 214.

15. Silver-striped Queen. Leaves beautifully striped with white, yellow, and red; but the plant, though elegant, is a reluctant fruiter.

16. Variegated-leaved Pines. Besides the Striped-leaved Queen, there are several sorts with beautifully varied leaves and fruits; but in general they are tardy in fruiting, and more to be considered as ornamental than as useful varieties.

To these may be added, as sorts not generally known, or of inferior value:

The Smooth Pine. Miller.
The Smooth Long Narrow-leaved Pine. Ibid.
The Grunda Pine. Ibid.
The Bogwarp Pine. Ibid.
The Surinam Pine. Ibid.
The Antigua Queen. Speechly.
The Green Providence, or Old Providence, from one of the Bermuda islands of that name.

New Sorts. Pine plants are frequently imported from the West India islands, and in this case generally bear their names. In general, however, these plants are far inferior, both as to kinds and condition, to those grown, and to be procured from nurserymen in this country. They are generally infested with the bug, and very uncertain in their time of fruiting, as well as to its flavor. If these were to be enumerated, the list of pines known in this country would amount to upwards of forty sorts. Specimens of above thirty sorts are grown in the gardens of Mr. Gunter, at Earl’scourt.

The Pine Apple, as every gardener knows, is propagated in the same manner by all those who grow it; that is, by that singular production in which the fruit terminates, called a crown, and by suckers; these are planted in small pots, or in beds of rotten tan, earth, or dung, at first, and shifted in regular gradation into pots of different sizes, at the discretion of the cultivator.

CHAP. III.
FOREIGN MODES OF CULTIVATING THE PINE APPLE.

Culture of the Pine Apple in Holland,—France,—Germany,—Italy, &c.

The horticulture of the continent is, in general, copied from that of Holland, as was our culture, and that of every other country two centuries ago. Excepting in Holland, therefore, the English gardener will find very little to learn in other countries; but it is worth while to know how little is to be known in one quarter, that we may be the more assiduous in our attention to such quarters as are likely to furnish us with information.

For this purpose, we shall take a short view of the culture of the Pine Apple in the principal parts of the Continent.

Whether Le Cour was the first who imported Pine plants from the West Indies, is less certain than that he was the first to attempt their culture with success. Professor Bradley, in his General Treatise of Husbandry and Gardening for July 1724, p. 206. gives a description of the Pine Apple, and the introduction of it into Holland by Mr. Le Cour. He says, that there were in the Amsterdam gardens about two hundred plants, chiefly from Surinam and Curaçao, but some from the Dutch factories in the East Indies, which were in good health; but the art of bringing them to fruit was not known till Mr. Le Cour took them in hand. Miller says, that after a great many trials, with little or no success, Mr. Le Cour did at length hit upon a proper degree of heat and management, so as to produce fruit equally good (though not so large), as that which is produced in the West Indies. About the year 1737, the year before his death, Mr. Le Cour published a quarto volume in Dutch, containing the result of his observations on gardens, trees, and flowers; with explanatory descriptions of his stoves.

From this work, and from the statements of Professor Bradley, (Treatise on Husbandry and Gardening, for June 1724, p. 161.) we learn that Le Cour’s mode of treating the Pine plant was very similar to that adopted at Sir Matthew Decker’s garden at Richmond, to be afterwards described; but we shall give this gentleman’s practice, as related by himself.

Sect. I.
Culture of the Pine Apple by Mr. Le Cour in the beginning of the 18th century, at Drieoeck, near Leyden.

I distinguish, he says, three different species of Pine Apple; the first and best has green leaves, garnished with fine prickles, fruit of which I have had seven inches high, and thirteen inches in circumference; this sort, if it is kept cool before it shows fruit, and then advances slowly by somewhat more heat, grows larger and more pointed than that which has been kept warmer and in a growing state during winter. The leaves of the second sort are larger and broader, of a darker green mixed with red; it does not produce fruit of so large a size, but its knobs are broader and larger, yet flatter; the unripe fruit being of a reddish brown, and when ripe of a deep yellow, with brownish yellow spots on the knobs; this sort has not so pleasant a taste as the first, which, when unripe, is of a darker green, and when ripe, with lighter yellow knobs, on which account I cultivate chiefly the following sort.

This is called the Smooth Ananas, on account of its being without prickles, but the ends of the leaves grow longer, narrower, and more upright: the fruit is smaller. The Ananas cannot bear the cold of our winter, and must have in summer a more permanent warmth and less change in the winter than we commonly have in our climate; and must therefore not only be put during the winter into stoves, but even during the summer under glass frames, and the pots placed in a hot-bed of tan. However, it is with these plants, as it is with all others from a warmer climate; when they by degrees have been accustomed to our colder climate, they become more hardy, and can bear more cold and change of weather, and therefore produce better fruit than those which are sent to us from abroad and have been reared in a warmer country more congenial to their nature. It is therefore necessary that we should try to get plants that have already been accustomed to our country, by propagation from suckers for a number of years, for in that case they may be reared with very little trouble.

The most convenient time to take away the suckers is from the middle of June to the end of the month. Both suckers and crowns must be put in sandy earth in little pots, as in this manner they strike their roots best; but when the plants have grown larger, they must be transplanted in the following year in richer and less sandy earth, and in larger pots, care being taken that the earth is not loosened from the roots in shifting them. The most convenient time for transplanting them is in March, when the plants must be taken from the hot-house and put in a bed of earth under a frame. Care must be taken in shifting them into other pots, to make the earth adhere well to the roots, and to water them well afterwards, and not to use too large pots, as they take up more room, are not so easily handled, and are less proper for growing large fruit than those of a moderate size; the most convenient pots for transplanting are ten inches in diameter within the rim, seven inches at bottom, and ten and a half inches deep.

The plants, when growing, commonly require a great deal of water, and more when they set their fruit. They should then be watered frequently all over their leaves. Afterwards they must be treated with more caution, and be less watered; for too much water would be injurious about the time of the ripening of the fruit, which would get watery, and of a transparent greenish yellow, and be of inferior taste and smell. Too little water dries them up, and makes the marrow perish in the leaves, the first signs of which are, when you hold the green leaves towards the light, you will perceive them speckled with yellowish spots. To produce proper fruit, the plant of a sucker or crown must have grown well and bulky, at least for three years; the first sign of setting fruit is, that its leaves spread a little, and the plant opens a little in the heart where the fruit soon shews itself like the head of a large nail. As the fruit and stalk grow higher, the fruit grows rounder, with pointed little leaves like thistles, on some reddish, and on others whitish spreading leaves. After the fruit has grown about a month, and is of the size of a walnut, there appears out of each knob a three-leaved pointed little flower, which, in the Common Ananas, is of a pale blue colour; on the Red Ananas, deep blue; and on the third sort, the Smooth Ananas, almost violet. This flower does not fall off with the increase of the fruit, but shrivels up, and leaves some visible remains behind when the fruit has attained its full maturity.

The time, from the beginning of the fruit to its perfect maturity, cannot be limited to a certain number of days and weeks, since it depends very much on the weather of two summers following. During the spring, when the plants are in the hot-house, a very natural growth may be obtained by heating the stove, and by the sun shining at right angles on the glass, which growth may be continued during the summer. In autumn this cannot be the case, because the sun has less power, and the rains common to that season diminish it still more; therefore, from December at latest, more and more artificial heat must be given to the plants, until they begin in the middle of February, or at farthest in the beginning of March, to show their fruit, which then, with good summer weather and proper treatment, will attain to maturity in the beginning of July, and thus are five months ripening; the fruit, which shows itself in the beginning of March, wants at least a fortnight more to ripen; that which appears in the middle of March wants a month more, and consequently is six months coming to maturity; that which shows itself in April wants still more, and seldom becomes so ripe as to obtain its proper taste and smell. The agreeable smell which the ripe Ananas emits on lifting up the sashes, is the surest proof of maturity: it is then of a deep yellow, and the knobs have brownish yellow spots.

The time for removing the plants from the bark bed into the flued pit, and hence again into the bark bed, cannot be fixed, as this depends on the weather, and on the length of summer or winter. In some years I have been obliged to put them in a hot-house in September, and keep them there until April; but in common years they are moved into the hot-house on the 10th or 12th of October, and from thence again into the hot-bed of tan in the middle of March. The flues must be dried by heating them before the plants are brought into the hot-house, not only to remove the damp which, on the first heating, is powerful and injurious, but also to discover whether there are any openings by which the smoke may escape into the hot-house, for they must be carefully stopped up. This pit or wintering house may be of any convenient length or breadth; supposing two joined together, then the fire flues (fig. 1. a. a.) may be formed at the extreme ends; the smoke may first enter and fill a vault of the whole width and length of the pit (b.); it may afterwards enter a flue (c. c.) and pass round the pit, and then out by a chimney in the back wall.

The sashes of the pits at Drieoeck are six feet wide, and three and a-half feet broad, and each has a cover of boards which are raised up and let down by means of cords and pullies, the better to retain the heat in the winter months (fig. 2.) Their slope forms an angle, with the horizon of about twenty degrees.

In these pits a boarded stage is formed, on which the plants are set, so as to be almost touching the glass during winter; during summer a bed of tan is substituted for the boarded stage, and no fire-heat is applied, but the plants plunged in the tan.

The following is the general course of temperature aimed at:—

Temperature during the first fourteen days in October, when the plants are removed from the hot-beds of bark to the stages in the flued pits, 87° Fah.

Temperature from this time till the 20th of the January following, from 55° to 64°.

Temperature from January to March not under 55°. Lowest degree admissible during winter 42°. Highest summer heat 105°.

Temperature of the bark hot-beds, in which the plants are placed to fruit when air is given, 103°.

Ordinary summer heat for the fruiting plants 96°.

In Holland and Flanders, at the present day, the Pine Apple is never grown in any other manner than in pits and hot-beds. The crowns and suckers are struck and forwarded, from three to six, or nine months, in hot-beds, and afterwards removed to pits. These pits differ from ours in being rather steeper in the roof, and generally the fruiting pits have a passage at the back, with a flue against the back wall, and an entrance door to the passage at one end. In some the passage and flue are in front, and in others a passage and flue are conducted round the house, leaving the pit in the middle; but this is rather an uncommon form, and chiefly to be met with in pits or stoves for ornamental plants. The fuel in general use is peat, and the glass is well covered with boards and matting or canvas or thatch every night after sun-set, excepting in the warmest part of the season.

The soil used by the Dutch is good garden earth, mixed with a third part of well-rotten hot-bed dung, or cow dung, and a sufficient quantity of sand to render it free and pervious to moisture. The gardeners there are by no means so particular in the article of soil, as many are in this country; their object seems to be to make it rich and free; without being very anxious as to employing virgin soil only, or any particular kind of dung. They generally, however, keep the mixture some time in heaps, and turn it over once or twice before using it. At the same time we have seen them shifting Pines, and using a black rich earth newly dug out of an adjoining plot of turnips; only mixing it with a little rotten dung and white sand.

They shift their plants in spring, and refresh the surfaces of the pots in autumn, and they seem on the whole to fruit them in larger pots than we do; but they leave off shifting them nine or ten months before the fruit is expected to appear, wishing to have the pots filled with roots at this crisis. They seldom fruit a crown plant under two years, and more generally three, from the time it is taken from the fruit; large suckers they fruit earlier, according to their size when taken off the mother plant; some which come out from near the bottom of the stem they earth up, and do not take off at all. These come early into fruit, but it is not large.

Sect. II.
Culture of the Pine Apple in Germany.

The Germans took their horticulture from the Dutch, as they did their landscape gardening from the French. They seem to have tried the culture of the Pine Apple almost immediately after its introduction to Holland; for, according to Beckmann, it was ripened by Dr. Kaltschmidt at Breslaw in 1702, who sent some fruit to the Imperial Court; but he states also that its culture was first attempted by Baron Munchausen, a great encourager of gardening, and a botanist who had a fine demesne and garden at Schwobber, near Hamelin, in Westphalia. From the account of these gardens in the Neuremberg Hesperides, they appear to have been grown both in pits, and on stages in larger houses.

The king of Prussia grew the Pine Apple extensively at Potsdam; he followed the Dutch manner in every thing, and had a gardener from that country who attended exclusively to the forcing department at Sans Souci. The quantity of glass there was greater than any where else in Germany: the whole was kept in high order and good culture for many years; but after the king’s death, in 1786, it soon fell into neglect; the glass of most of the peach-houses and vineries was removed or destroyed; the Pine plants were neglected and diminished in numbers, from time to time. In 1813 the royal gardens at Sans Souci contained only about two dozen of Pine plants, which were kept in a lofty opaque roofed conservatory, and these, as may be easily imagined, were by no means in a thriving condition.

Before the French Revolution, the Pine Apple was cultivated at most of the court gardens in Germany; but in the year 1814, there were very few in the empire.

Sect. III.
Culture of the Pine Apple in Russia.

The Pine Apple is extensively cultivated in the imperial gardens in the neighbourhood of Petersburg and Moscow, and also in those of a few of the greatest nobility and mercantile men adjoining those cities. Nothing can be more wonderful than to contemplate the resources by which this plant, requiring not less than from 50 to 70 degrees of heat at all times of the year, is preserved in existence through a winter of seven months, during the whole of which the ground is covered with snow, and Fahrenheit’s thermometer, often for weeks together, at 20° below Zero.

The head gardeners of the emperor, and the great nobles of Russia, are, for the greater part, Britons; and the sort of houses they erect, and the mode of culture they follow, is as nearly as circumstances will admit, those of Speechly or Nicol.

The culture of the grape is, to a certain extent, combined with that of the Pine Apple; the former is trained on the rafters, and the latter grown in a pit, surrounded by flues and a path. In addition to the flues, many of the fruiting-houses have stoves built in them, on the German construction, which are used in the most severe weather. Sometimes there is a double roof of glass; but more generally the roof, ends, and fronts, are covered with boards; which not only prevents the weight of sudden falls of snow from breaking the glass, but by admitting of a coating of snow over them, prevents, in a considerable degree, the internal heat from escaping. This covering, or a covering of mats or canvass, as practised near Moscow, and from which the snow is raked off as fast as it falls, is sometimes kept on night and day for three months together. The plants being all the while in a dormant state, it is remarkable how little they suffer.

The best ranges of hot-houses in the neighbourhood of Petersburg, have been imported there from Leith, or London. At Moscow, where the same facility of importation is not afforded, they are constructed on the spot, in a very rude manner; in the best of them, the interstices between the sashes and rafters are so large, that they have to be stuffed with moss. Still it is astonishing how well the Pine Apple is preserved in them through a long winter, and what excellent peaches and grapes they produce during summer. The cause seems to be owing to the great care and skill of the gardeners, in keeping the plants in a dormant state, when there is but little light; and in applying powerfully all the agents of growth and culture, during the short, but warm Russian summer.

There are some German gardeners in Russia, who cultivate the Pine Apple in pits as in Holland; and crowns and suckers are forwarded in this way by them, and also by the British gardeners settled in that country.

Sect. IV.
Culture of the Pine Apple in France.

The culture of the Pine Apple does not appear to have been commenced in France till after the middle of the eighteenth century, and then only in the royal gardens at Versailles, in those of the Duke of Orleans at Mousseaux, and one or two others. It has never been cultivated by above a dozen persons in that country; nor is it grown by so great a number at the present time. The best are in the garden of M. Boursault, within the boundary of Paris; and the next those of the king at Trianon and Versailles, and of the banker Lafitte, at his country-seat, a few leagues from the capital.

M. Boursault grows them in low houses, which may be termed pits, being without glass in the front or ends; the plants are plunged in tan, and kept as near the glass as possible; and the soil used is good garden earth, or free soil (terre-franche), with about half its bulk of poudrette, or desiccated nightsoil. M. Boursault tried them formerly in the poudrette alone, but found they did not succeed so well as when a smaller quantity was used. He produces fruit from half a pound to two pounds in weight, and it is said of a good flavour.

Rosier states, that M. Mallet, a curious horticulturist, grew ananas in a peculiarly constructed frame of his own invention (fig. 3.); but we could see none of these frames in use in any way, and were informed by different persons, that they were too expensive in their first cost to succeed.