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.”
“It is a peculiar recommendation of this plan, that the plants reared in frames without fire, the first year seldom or never run to fruit; whereas, on the contrary, when stoves are used first for a nursery for young plants, and next for succession plants, and lastly, for plants for the fruiting-house, it is seldom that one-third of the plants come to the forcing-house, because so many of them have run to fruit; and even those that stand are necessarily dried and stunted, being subjected to the attacks of various insects; not to mention the enormous care and expence attendant upon a three years’ cultivation. The above appears to me to be the most easy and economical plan to raise Pines; one-third of the coals are sufficient, and less than one-half of the labour and buildings required for that purpose.” Culture of the Ananas, p. 28.
Insects. After, as usual, many fruitless attempts, he at last discovered the following method: “Take horse-dung from the stable, the fresher the better, sufficient to make a hot-bed three feet high, to receive a melon frame three feet deep at the back; put on the frame and lights immediately, and cover the whole with mats to bring up the heat. When the bed is at the strongest heat, take some faggots, open them, and spread the sticks over the surface of the bed on the dung, so as to keep the plants from being scorched; set the plants or suckers bottom uppermost on the sticks; shut down your lights quite close, and cover them over well with double mats, to keep in the steam. Let the plants remain in this state one hour, then take out the plants and wash them in cold water previously brought to the side of your bed, set them in a dry place with their tops downwards to drain, and afterwards plant them. This treatment is sure to kill every insect. You will observe likewise, that if your suckers are kept in the frames all the winter, stuck in the tan without soil or fire, the effluvia from the linings are sure to kill all the bugs.” Culture of the Ananas, p. 33.
Fruit Produced. The general crop is produced in the usual season, viz. from June to September, or October; but some are produced every month in the year. The large sorts, as the New Providence, &c. require three years to bring them to perfection, but the Old Queen, and Ripley’s New Queen, may be brought to perfection in three months; though from the circumstances requisite to render this practicable, viz. plants fruiting in February, or the beginning of March, it must be considered more a matter of accident or curiosity than of any real advantage. It is evident, at all events, that it can never become general; for certainly no gardener would desire all his plants to come into fruit in February or March. Mr. Baldwin grows his fruit to a very considerable size even when produced in so short a period. “At a meeting of the Horticultural Society of London, held in October, 1817, T. Baldwin, gardener to the Marquis of Hertford, at Ragley, presented a Queen Pine of great beauty and superior flavor. It measured sixteen inches in circumference, seven inches in length, and weighed four pounds. The plant on which it was produced was little more than fifteen months old.” Hort. Tr. vol. iii. p. 118.
Remarks. The following judicious remarks on Mr. Baldwin’s plan are by Mr. M’Phail. “Mr. Baldwin’s method,” he says, “appears to differ nothing in principle from the methods I practised; but we differ a little in practice, that is, in the manner of the application of the elements necessary to make the plants grow fast and vigorous, and to produce fine fruit; and likewise in the mode of disrooting and planting, which difference I conceive to be of little consequence. He grows his plants in good earth, enriched with plenty of well-rotted manure. He keeps the plants in a strong heat, and gives their roots plenty of water. He sets his fruiting plants in a bed of tan in the month of September, and there it appears they are stationed till the fruit be ripened the following summer. Now, I think, a bed made up in September, is not able to retain a sufficient heat for the growth of the Pine Apple plant for so long a period of time.