Sect. V.
Culture of the Pine Apple in Italy.
The Pine Apple was grown in Italy before the revolution, by the Pope, at Naples, and by the king of Sardinia, at Turin. The late king of Sardinia sent his gardener to England, to study the culture of this fruit; and he returned and published in 1777, a pamphlet on the subject. He recommends it to be grown in pits, much the same as those of the Dutch, but without flues, which is still the general practice in Italy. After the possession of Piedmont by the French, the royal palaces and gardens were neglected, and in 1819, when we saw them, they were not restored.
At the royal gardens, and those of Prince Leopold, at Portici, near Naples, a few Pines are grown in pits, by two German gardeners, that of Prince Leopold, an intelligent man and a good botanist; but the plants, notwithstanding the fine climate, are etiolated, slender, and pale, with very small fruit. The pits were entirely sunk in the ground, narrow, and without flues, and they were shaded in the day-time with a net. It appeared to us, that they were much too tenderly treated; if uncovered in the night-time, or planted in the open garden, and left exposed all the summer, and covered with double glass frames during winter, without any fire heat; but, if occasion required, surrounded by linings of dung, we have no doubt they would succeed much better.
At Caserta, a royal palace about eighteen miles from Naples, the Pine Apple is grown in a style much superior. The gardens and grounds there, were laid out by M. Græffer, a German gardener, who was formerly a partner in the firm of Gordon, Thomson, & Co. London nurserymen. The hot-houses are built exactly in the English style; the Pines raised and forwarded in pits, and fruited in broad low houses, with vines trained under the rafters, in Speechly’s manner. M. Græffer died in 1816, and his son has still the care of the royal gardens, and in 1819 had the Pines, in what would be considered in this country, middling good order. They were certainly of a much less vivid green than those of England or Holland, and the fruit was smaller; M. Græffer, jun. never having been out of Italy, was not aware of the difference; but on enquiring into his mode of treatment, we were led to suspect a deficiency of water and of moisture, by watering the flues and paths of the house, and too great a heat kept up during the night. The air of Italy is, at most periods of the year, much drier than that of the north of Europe; that of France and Germany is also drier than the air of Holland, Britain, and Russia; and perhaps this difference in atmospheric moisture, and the overheating at night, may, in some measure, account for the difference in the colour of the foliage of the Pine and other plants kept under glass in France and Italy.
There are some Pines grown at Rome, Florence, and Genoa; but they are not much better than those of Portici. The greatest number, and the finest plants and fruit which we saw in Italy, was in the Vice-regal gardens at Monza, near Milan, under the management of a most intelligent Italian gardener, a pupil of Professor Thouin of Paris, Signior Luigi Vilaresi. The treatment is in all respects that of the Dutch; the plants are forwarded in frames, and sometimes in the open air for a month or two during summer; they are fruited in large pits, with a walk behind, and when more plants come into fruit than are wanted, they are retarded, or preserved, by being placed in a division of the pit without bark, and where they receive abundance of air in the day-time, but no water. The plants here were large and long-leaved, but still not so green and stocky as those of England, and the fruit did not appear to be above one and a half, or two pounds in weight. On enquiry, we found no air was ever left to the pits in the night-time.
Sect. VI.
Culture of the Pine Apple in other parts of Europe.
The Pine Apple has been fruited at Stockholm, and in one or two places besides in Sweden; and also in the Court gardens at Copenhagen, and by De Conninck, and some of the rich merchants of Denmark; but we could hear of none being grown in either of these countries, when we visited them in 1813 and 1814.
It is said to be cultivated in Spain, near the sea coast; and also at Lisbon. We know it was grown by the late M. De Vismes, near the latter city; and we believe it is now grown by some English merchants at Seville; but this is all we know. It does not appear to be grown in European Turkey.