“Crowns and suckers taken from the parent plants later than October, should not be planted before the month of February or March; for in the winter time, probably, they would not strike root, but rot: they may be hung or laid in a dry part of the hot-house. By some writers on the culture of the Pine it has been observed, ‘that any off-sets from the Pine will succeed as well when planted in the hour they are taken off, as if laid by to dry till the wound be healed, provided the parent stock received no water for the ten days preceding.’ If off-sets or suckers be grown to such a size, so that they be easily separated from the parent plant, they may be planted immediately; for, in that case, it may be seen that they had begun to push forth roots, and required to be taken off and planted; but withholding water from the mother plant ten, or even twenty days, will not bring its offspring to a state of maturity fit for planting the day when taken off. So that it is best to let unmatured young suckers and crowns lie implanted, till their natural juices be so exhausted that there may be no danger of their rotting after being planted.
“The brick beds of my inventing, in which I struck and reared Pine Apple plants many years, were close and warm, the crannies between the lappings of the glass being filled up with putty; consequently, in these close frames, especially in the short days and long nights in winter, when the sun has little influence, the moisture arising out of the tan lodges on the glass, and drops from it, upon the plants; but, contrary to the opinion of some authors, who have advised to draw the water out of the hearts of plants when it falls into them in winter, I find, by experience, that it does them no harm, if the heat in the place where the plants be, is not too little. Indeed, if plants be kept in a climate which suits their nature, it is only reasonable to suppose that they are possessed of properties capable of disposing of water which happens to fall on them by accident or otherwise.
“No vegetable substance that I know of retains heat so long, and of a less violent nature, than oak bark after being used by tanners; and, as the vapours arising out of it are of a wholesome nature to plants, it is well calculated for helping to make the Pine Apple plant grow vigorously. Where the Pine Apple is wished to be cultivated, and tanner’s bark cannot be procured, horse-dung well prepared, by shaking and breaking it small, will do. If plenty of the leaves of trees can be had, they are preferable to dung. When leaves cannot be collected plentifully, dung and leaves may be mixed together, and used successfully; and if it be ascertained that a good lively heat cannot be kept in the bed for want of good materials, let the heat of the flues warmed by fire, or linings of dung, be close or near to the pit, which will cause the heat in the bed to be more brisk and durable.
“If it be intended to make a bed of leaves, they should be collected as soon as they have all fallen from the trees, and in a wet state, and thrown together in a large heap; and after fermenting a few weeks, they may be put into the pit for the pines. They should be well shaken, and trodden down gently when they get into a fermentation, which will keep them from sinking quickly afterwards, and prevent them from heating violently. When the heat in the bed declines much, it may be increased by turning and shaking the leaves over with a dung-fork.
“It sometimes happens that tanner’s bark heats too violently; but when that takes place, it is either because there is too great a body of it put together, or because the heat of the flues is too close to the bed. If a tan bed get into a violent heat, it will not keep its heat so long as if it heated moderately; for it must lose its heat as hastily in proportion as it is deprived of its moisture by violent fermentation.
“It frequently happens that Pine Apple plants designed to bear fruit do not show their fruit early enough in the spring or fore-part of summer, to ripen their fruit before winter, when there is not sunshine enough to give the fruit any flavour. This may happen because the plants have not come to a proper growth, or their roots may have been injured by too violent a bottom heat, or by being over-watered, or they may have been shifted too late, or been put into pots too large for their roots to have filled them before the end of the growing season. To make Pine plants shew their fruit at an early time in the spring, some authors have recommended the cutting off some of the roots at the autumn shifting; but long experience has convinced me, that cutting off the roots, or destroying them by any means, instead of making them show fruit, is an effectual mean to prevent them from showing fruit, till they have again made long roots. The fruit of the Pine Apple is formed, probably, not less than seven or eight weeks before it appears among the leaves; and if a plant be divested partially or totally of its roots, its growth is stopped till it has made roots of considerable length, when it will grow quickly. And, if before the roots were destroyed, the fruit had been formed in the hidden secret centre of the plant, the fruit will grow and show itself when the leaves of the plant, excepting those on the stem of the fruit, will make no appearance of growing. This, perhaps, may be the reason which induces some persons to think that cutting off the roots of the plant causeth it to fruit sooner than it would do were the roots suffered to remain.
“If Pine Apple plants, intended for fruiting the following year, be shifted late in the autumn into pots, which their roots do not fill well before the month of January, they probably will not show fruit till late in the spring or summer months. For this reason it is advisable, when they cannot be shifted early enough in the month of August or beginning of September, so as to fill the pots with roots before the winter come on, to let them remain unshifted till the fruit appear, and the stem of it be grown to its full height, and then shift the plants into larger pots, in the manner before directed, disturbing the roots of the plants as little as can be helped. After the plants are shifted, they must not get much water till the fresh growth of the roots has somewhat exhausted the moisture of the fresh earth put round them. Of two evils, it is better to give the plants too little water than too much. But let it be remembered, that while the fruit is in blossom, and for some days afterwards, the plants should not be watered all over their leaves, neither should the plants be watered all over their leaves nor fruit, after the fruit is fully swelled, nor should the earth in which their roots are, be, after that time, kept very moist, for they do not require it, because the plant has nearly performed its office, which it never has to do a second time—it dies and leaves its offspring to succeed it.
“Although the Pine Apple plant is of such a nature that it will live upwards of six months without earth or water, yet to bring its fruit to perfection, a plentiful supply of both these is required. From the time that the plants are set in earth till they perfect their fruit, it should be endeavoured to keep them constantly in a clean healthy growing state; and when they be thus managed, they will not fail to show fruit when they be grown to a natural size. For these reasons, I would advise that no methods contrary to nature, but methods to assist, be used to make them fruit at certain periods. If Pine Apple plants be planted in rich earth, and get a sufficiency of heat and water, they grow luxuriantly to a great size, and do not show fruit so soon as they do when they are planted in a poor, hungry, or stiff soil.
“If the roots of Pine Apple plants be not put in too great a heat, it is a difficult matter to raise the heat in a hot-house to such a degree as is able to destroy the plants. In the brick bed of my inventing, a powerful heat can be raised by means of the linings of dung and the sun-beams, and in it the insects on Pine and on other plants may be shortly destroyed by heat and water.