Part 7
Plants intended to fruit in the succeeding year, are shifted finally in the August of the year preceding. The plants are again looked over in the February following, and top dressed; but such as are unhealthy, feeble, and do not stand firm in their pots, he shakes out of their balls entirely, and re-pots in the same, or in smaller pots. “Any plants,” he says, “that have already started into fruit, should also be shaken out, and be fresh potted, as above; which, by the check they receive, will keep them back to a better season of ripening, and by the force of fresh earth, make them swell their fruit larger than they otherwise would have done. I have thus new-potted plants, even in flower, with very much success, and have swelled the fruit to a size far beyond my expectations; of which fact any one may easily satisfy himself, by fresh-potting a few plants, and comparing their progress with others treated in the ordinary way. Let the plants be re-plunged to the brim as before, keeping the pots quite level. If the plants be full-sized, and strong, they will require to be set at about twenty inches apart from centre to centre, on a medium. But they should be sorted; the smallest placed in front, and the largest at back, as in arranging plants on a stage, that they may have an equal share of sun and light. As soon as re-placed in the bark-bed, let them have a little water, to settle the earth about their roots.” In May he again top-dresses, “reducing an inch or two of the earth from off the surface, and adding some fresh mould, which will invigorate the plants, cause them to push surface radicles, and so keep them the more firm and steady. This needs not be done, however, to plants whose fruit are nearly ripe; but chiefly to healthy plants new shown in flower, past the flower, or with the fruit about half grown. And with respect to any that are unhealthy, and whose fruit are less than half grown, do not hesitate to shift them, shaking them out, trimming their roots, and retaining only healthy fibres. This is a very great improvement in the culture of Pines, which I formerly practised, have since advised, and have seen followed with much success.”
The temperature of the fruiting-pit is kept at the same degree as that of the succession department in mid-winter. This is from 60° to 65°; but as spring approaches, he rises gradually to 75°, but not allowing the thermometer to pass 80°. From 72° to 75° is his temperature for March and April. In May, June, July, and August, he requires 75° mornings and evenings, and 80° or 85° at noon. In September, after fire-heat becomes necessary, he keeps as nearly to 65° as possible, and in sunshine, by the free admission of air, to about 70° or 72°. In October, November, and December, he lowers the temperature to 60° mornings and evenings, and 65° in sunshine.
Air is admitted at all seasons in fine sunshine weather, and freely, as the fruit approaches to maturity, in order to enhance its flavour.
He gives water seldom in January, and not oftener than once in six or eight days in February. In March, “water may given oftener than heretofore advised, and also in larger quantities; generally a moderate watering at root once in three or four days, and a dewing over head occasionally, to refresh the leaves, and keep them clean from dust. From the time the plants are out of flower, and the fruit begins to swell, water must be applied in a very liberal manner once in two or three days, always giving the necessary quantity at root, and then a dewing over head. Watering to this extent, however, if the fruit be not in too forward a state, will seldom be necessary before the end of the month, or till April.” In April, “water must be given in a plentiful manner, once in two or three days, in order the better to swell off the fruit. The roots have now much to do in sustaining it, and also the suckers, which will be fast advancing in growth. For this reason, water frequently with dunghill-drainings, or with water of dung, soaked on purpose; and after each watering at root, give a dewing over the leaves, as directed above.” In May, June, and July, “from the time the fruit begin to colour, however, begin also to lessen the quantity of water; and towards its being fit for cutting, withhold water entirely, else the flavour will be very much deteriorated. I shall here observe, with respect to the different kinds of Pines, that the Queen and the Sugar-loaf sorts require considerably more water than the King or Havannah, and the Antigua. The difference in the manner of watering should be more particularly attended to as the fruit approach to maturity; as the latter-named kinds are naturally more juicy and watery than the former.” In August, the plants that have done fruiting being removed, the succession stock which replace them are to be watered freely at root, and occasionally dewed over top. In October and November, the waterings are gradually lessened; and in December, once in eight, ten, or twelve days, will be sufficient.
_Insects._ “If Pine plants,” Nicol observes, “by proper culture, be kept healthy and vigorous, _insects will not annoy, but leave them_. This fact I have repeatedly proved, both with respect to the Pine, and to other plants that are liable to be affected with the coccus, (the only insect that materially injures the Pine), which seems to delight in disease and decay, as flies do in carrion.
“I have received into my stock, plants covered with the _pine-bug_, (coccus hesperidum), without the smallest hesitation; made no effort whatever to get rid of them; and by next shifting time, in two or three months, have seen no more of them. This I have not done once, but often; and I have known my brother do the same thing. In short, I never but once in my life have tried any remedy for the _bug_; and as I was completely successful, I shall here give the recipe, which may safely be applied to Pine plants in any state; but certainly best to crowns and suckers at striking them, or to others in the March shifting, when they are shaked out of their pots at any rate.
“Take soft soap, one pound; flowers of sulphur, one pound; tobacco, half a pound; nux vomica, an ounce; which boil all together in four English gallons of soft water to three, and set it aside to cool. In this liquor immerse the whole plant, after the roots and leaves are trimmed for potting; and this is the whole matter. Plants in any other state, and which are placed in the bark-bed, may safely be watered over head with this liquor; and as the _bug_ harbours most in the angles of the leaves, it stands the better chance of being effectual, on account that it will also there remain longest, and there its sediment will settle. In using it in this latter way, however, if repeated waterings be necessary, the liquor should be reduced in strength by the addition of a third or a fourth part water.
“The brown scaly insect, also a coccus, is often found on the Pine, and other stove plants; but I never could perceive that it does any other injury than dirty them, and so is of less importance than the other species, which eats or corrodes the leaves, in so far as it leaves them full of brown specks or blotches. The above liquor, however, is a remedy for either, and indeed for most insects, on account of its strength, and glutinous nature.
“Ants are also to be found in the Pinery; but I never could observe that they do the plants any harm, though they are generally to be found in the pots, and among the bark. They are most frequently to be met with there, if the coccus be present; and seem to feed on its larvæ, or perhaps on its fæces.”
_Fruit produced._ He does not state any determinate object as to this subject; if the object be to have large fruit, he says, all suckers of the root and stem must be twisted off; and to retard the progress of fruit that is shown too early, he recommends re-potting the plants in February. He says, “If Pine Apples be not cut soon after they begin to colour, that is, just when the fruit is of a greenish yellow, or straw colour, they fall greatly off in flavour and richness; and that sharp luscious taste so much admired, becomes insipid.”
SECT. IX.
_Culture of the Pine Apple, by Mr. William Griffin, Gardener to J. C. Girardot, Esq. at Kelham, in Nottinghamshire, and now to Samuel Smith, Esq. of Woodhall, in Hertfordshire._
Mr. Griffin has been a most successful cultivator of the Pine Apple; perhaps more so for the limited means which he possessed at Kelham, than either M’Phail or Baldwin.
_Form of House._ This is so nearly that of Speechly, that we do not consider it necessary to give the details.
_Soil._ Mr. Griffin laughs at those who prescribe “many different strange ingredients for composts;” adding, that, “after numerous experiments made with mixtures of deers’, sheeps’, pigeons’, hens’, and rotten stable-dung, with soot, and other manures, in various proportions and combinations with fresh soil of different qualities from pastures and waste lands, I can venture with confidence to recommend the following: Procure from a pasture, or waste land, a quantity of brown, rich, loamy earth, if of a reddish colour the better, but of a fattish mouldy temperature; that by squeezing a handful of it together, and opening your hand, it will readily fall apart again: be cautious not to go deeper than you find it of that pliable texture; likewise procure, if possible, a quantity of deers’-dung: if none can be conveniently got, sheeps’-dung will do, and a quantity of swines’-dung. Let the above three sorts be brought to some convenient place, and laid up in three different heaps ridge-ways, for at least six months; and then mix them in the following manner, covering the dung with a little soil before it is mixed: four wheelbarrows of the above earth; one barrow of sheep’s-dung, and two barrows of swine’s-dung. This composition,” he adds, “if carefully and properly prepared, will answer every purpose for the growth of Pine-plants of every age and kind. It is necessary that it should remain a year before applied to use, that it may receive the advantage of the summer’s sun and winter’s frost; and it need not be screened or sifted before using, but only well broken with the hands and spade, as when finely sifted it becomes too compact for the roots of the plants.”
_General management._ In rearing the young plants, he generally plants the crowns in the bark till they have struck root; but the suckers he pots at once, unless they are small and green at bottom, when he treats them like the crowns. The pots he uses for both crowns and suckers are five inches diameter, and four inches deep, unless the suckers are very strong, when he puts them in pots seven inches and a quarter wide, by six and a half inches deep. The plants are shifted in the March following into pots nine inches in diameter, by eight inches deep, “turning each singly out of its present pot, with a ball of earth entire around its roots, unless any appear unhealthy or any ways defective, when it is eligible to shake the earth from the roots, and trim off all the parts that appear not alive. He plunges them in the bark (refreshed as at each shifting) eighteen inches from plant to plant in the row, and twenty inches distance row from row.”
Mr. Griffin shifts for the last time in the October of the year preceding them in which the fruit is expected; the pots he uses are twelve inches in diameter, and ten inches deep. He plunges them in the bark-bed, about twenty inches plant from plant, and two feet distance from row to row. He says, “place the first row eighteen inches from the kirb, angling them in the rows as you go on.”
It is of some consequence to remark, that Griffin’s practice in not divesting the plants at any one shifting of their balls of earth, differs from that of Speechly, Nicol, and most other practitioners, excepting Baldwin. It appears highly probable, that by not disturbing the balls of healthy plants, they will produce their fruit both earlier and of a larger size; for the cutting off the roots must produce a check in the growth of the plant, and their renewal must occupy its chief energies for some time, and thus lessen the vigour of the leaves; since the leaves and roots of all plants assist each other alternately as occasion requires.
Those who advocate the practice of shaking off the balls of earth, and cutting off the roots of Pines in the second year’s spring shifting, say, that though, at first sight, it has an unnatural appearance, yet, on more minute enquiry, it will be found congenial to nature. In the first place, they say that they only cut away the lower decaying roots, and preserve all the others, unless they are bruised by the shaking off the ball; or injured by disease, or otherwise. In the next place, they state, that on attentively examining the Pine-plant, it will be found, that, in its mode of rooting, it may be classed with the strawberry, vine, and crowfoot, which throw out fresh roots every year, in part among, but chiefly above, the old ones. This done, the old ones become torpid and decay, and to cut them clear away, if it could be done in all plants of this habit, would, it is said, be assisting nature, and contribute to the growth of the new roots. At the same time, it is to be observed, that encouraging, in any extraordinary degree, the production of roots, though it will ultimately increase the vigour of the herb and fruit, will retard their progress to maturity.
Speechly has the following judicious observations in allusion to those who recommend always shifting with the balls entire.
“First, It is observable, that the Pine-plant begins to make its roots at the very bottom of the stem, and as the plant increases in size, fresh roots are produced from the stem, still higher and higher; and the bottom roots die in proportion: so that, if a plant in the greatest vigour be turned out of its pot as soon as the fruit is cut, there will be found at the bottom a part of the stem, several inches in length, naked, destitute of roots, and smooth: now, according to the above method, the whole of the roots which the plant produces being permitted to remain on the stem to the last, the old roots decay and turn mouldy, to the great detriment of those afterwards produced.
“Secondly, The first ball which remains with the plant full two years, by length of time will become hard, cloddy, and exhausted of its nourishment, and must, therefore, prevent the roots afterwards produced from growing with that freedom and vigour, which they would do in fresher and better mould.
“Thirdly, The old ball continually remaining after the frequent shiftings, it will be too large when put into the fruiting-pot, to admit of a sufficient quantity of fresh mould to support the plant till its fruit becomes ripe, which is generally a whole year from the last time of shifting.”
In giving air and water, Mr. Griffin differs nothing from Nicol; he waters moderately in winter, and more liberally in the growing season, from March till October; want of water to keep the plants moist, he considers one of the reasons of their showing fruit prematurely. He never waters over the leaves in any stage, nor gives much at the roots in damp weather.
With respect to temperature, this author differs from most others who have written on the Pine, but not from many very successful practitioners. He recommends 60° as the heat proper for the Pine in every stage, not exceeding five or six degrees over or under. The bottom heat, which he considers proper, is from 90° to 100°. _Treatise on the Pine Apple_, p. 60. and 66.
_Insects._ After many trials and experiments, he found the following the most effectual wash for destroying insects on Pines:--
“To one gallon of soft rain-water, add eight ounces of soft green soap, one ounce of tobacco, and three table spoonfuls of turpentine; stir and mix them well together in a watering-pot, and let them stand for a day or two. When you are going to use this mixture, stir and mix it well again, then strain it through a thin cloth. If the fruit only is infested, dash the mixture over the crown and fruit, with a squirt, until all is fairly wet; and what runs down the stem of the fruit will kill all the insects that are amongst the bottom of the leaves. When young plants are infested, take them out of their pots, and shaking all the earth from the roots, (tying the leaves of the largest plants together,) and plunge them into the above mixture, keeping every part covered for the space of five minutes; then take them out, and set them on a clean place, with their tops declining downwards, for the mixture to drain out of their centre. When the plants are dry, put them into smaller pots than before, and plunge them into the bark-bed.”
_Fruit produced._ Mr. Griffin’s object seems to have been to produce large fruit in the proper season. In the year 1802, when gardener to J. C. Girardot, Esq. at Kelham, near Nottingham, he cut twenty Queen Pines, which weighed together eighty-seven pounds seven ounces. In 1803, one weighing five pounds three ounces. In July, 1804, one of the New Providence kind, weighing seven pounds two ounces. In August, 1804, one of the same kind, weighing nine pounds three ounces. And in 1805, he cut twenty-two Queen Pines, which weighed together one hundred and eighteen pounds three ounces.
SECT. X.
_Culture of the Pine Apple, by Mr. Thomas Baldwin, Gardener to the Marquis of Hertford, at Ragley, in Warwickshire, from 1805 to the present time._
Mr. Baldwin is reputed the first Pine cultivator in England; he has given some account of his practice in a tract of a few pages, which, being sold much above the usual price of printed books, never obtained so much circulation as manuscript copies of it, which were handed about among the principal Pine-growers near London.
_Form of House._ The succession, or nursing pits, according to Mr. Baldwin’s plan (fig. 11.), in which the young plants are to remain both winter and summer, should be constructed of timber, seven feet wide, and seven feet three inches high at the back, the front being in the same proportion. The method of preparing the bed is as follows:--“Sink your pit (2.) three feet three inches deep, as long as you require, and sufficiently broad to admit of linings on each side (1, 1.); make a good drain at the bottom of the pit to keep it dry; then set posts, about the dimensions of six inches square, in the pit, at convenient distances, (say about the width of the top lights,) and case it round with one inch and a half deal wrought boards, above the surface, and below with any inferior boards or planks. The dimensions of my succession-bed or frame, are thirty-nine feet long, and seven feet wide; containing two hundred and seventy-three square feet, which will hold three hundred and fifty suckers, from the end of September till the seventh of April.”
_Soil._ “From old pasture or meadow ground strip off the turf, and dig to the depth of six or eight inches, according to the goodness of the soil; draw the whole together to some convenient place, and mix it with one-half of good rotten dung; frequently turn it over for twelve months, and it will be fit for use. This is the only compost dung for young and old plants.”
_General management._ The general practice of Mr. Baldwin is to take the suckers from the fruiting plants about the end of September, and lay them in a warm place for about three days; he then pulls off a few of their bottom leaves, which makes them ready for planting. “In making your bed,” he says, “lay three-fourths of new tan at the bottom of the pit, and lay old tan upon that, to reach within three inches of the top; on the surface of this sift old tan to the thickness of three inches, beating it down well with the spade, then plant the suckers in the tan about four or five inches apart, according to the size of the plants, placing the tallest in the backside of the frame, and the shortest in the front. In this situation let them remain till the month of April following; then take up the plants out of the tan-bed, and divest them of all their root; and remember that at any future transplanting the roots must not be taken off. Plant them in pots of five, six, and seven inches diameter, according to the size of the plants, but before planting let the pots be filled with the prepared compost already mentioned. About the middle of June following, when the pots are beginning to be filled with roots, take out the plants with their balls whole, and plant them in pots about nine inches in diameter, being filled with the same rich compost, replanting them into the bed, and let them remain there till the end of September. Be careful at each transplanting, while the plants are out of the beds, to have the beds put into a proper state by the addition of fresh tan, &c.
“When the plants are out of the stoves in the month of September, prepare the pits in the same manner as directed for the succession-beds, with three-fourths of new tan at the bottom, &c.; then shift the plants into pots about fourteen inches diameter at the top, and plant them at suitable distances for fruiting; plunge the pots at first halfway into the tan, till the heat diminishes to a safe temperature, then fill up the interstices between the pots with tan, and as the plants are now stationed, let them so remain till they are fruited off for the table. The plants, young and old, had best be near the glass, and small stoves are to be preferred, because they require less fire. The glass should be closely puttied, to keep out the cold air, and to retain the warm.
“The fruiting-house during the winter should be kept at about seventy of Fahrenheit’s scale. It may be left in the evening about seventy-five, and it will be found in the morning about sixty-five, so that no attendance during the night will be necessary.
“There should be no water given to the young suckers from September till April, while they remain in the tan without pots. After they are potted they require to be watered two or three times a week during the summer, according as the temperature may be. When they are removed into the fruiting-house in September, they should be watered cautiously till towards February, and as the spring advances they will require a large supply. Never water the plants in the common broad-cast method, over their heads and leaves.
“Give air in the stoves and frames, both in summer and winter, when the weather will permit, from the back and ends, but not from the roof.
“_Expeditious cultivation._ The New Providence, Black Antigua, Jamaica, and Enville, and the other large sorts of Ananas, will require the cultivation of three years to bring them to perfection, but the Old Queen and the Ripley’s New Queen may be brought to perfection in fifteen months. To effect this, it must be observed, that some of the plants will fruit in February, or the beginning of March, and consequently that the suckers may be taken off in June, or the beginning of July; make then a good bed of tan with linings of litter round the outside to keep in the tan; make the bed to fit a large melon frame; put the suckers into pots of about nine inches diameter, filled with the compost; plunge them into the bed prepared in regular order, and throw a mat over them in hot weather for shade till they have taken root; let them remain till the end of September, and then shift them into pots of about twelve inches diameter, and plunge them in the fruiting-house.” He has had fine crops of Pines raised from these suckers, many of them four pounds each, from plants only fifteen months old. “This method, in point both of time and expence, has greatly the advantage of the common plan of raising Pines in three years by fires, when the fruit at last is frequently small and ill-flavoured.”