The different modes of cultivating the pine-apple / From its first introduction into Europe to the late improvements of T.A. Knight, esq.

by J. C. Loudon

As substitutes for tan, leaves are the common resource, but any vegetable matter of slow putrefaction may be employed, as chopped spray of hedges or copse, wood-shavings, saw-dust, &c. and in Scotland, it has been found that flax-dressers’ refuse keeps up a moderate heat for a longer period than any other material.

The mode of employing the vigour remaining in the old stock or plant after the fruit is cut, to nourish, for a certain time, the sucker or suckers which may be growing on it, was practised by Speechly; but scarcely to the extent which it has been carried lately. This, we think, a considerable improvement, if kept within certain limits; but, if carried too far, what might be gained by the sucker coming earlier into fruit, would be lost by the retardation of the plant’s own suckers.

On Nov. 3. 1818. “A Queen Pine, grown by Peter Marsland, Esq. of Woodbank, near Stockport, was exhibited to the Horticultural Society. It weighed three pounds fourteen ounces, measured seventeen inches in circumference, and was peculiarly well-flavoured. The singularity of this Pine was its being the produce of a sucker which had been removed from the parent-root only six months previous to the time the fruit was cut. The plant on which the sucker grew had produced a fruit, which was cut in October, 1817; the old stem, with the sucker attached, was allowed to remain in the Pine-pit till May, 1818; at that time the sucker was broken off, potted, and plunged into a fresh pit; it soon after showed fruit, which, in the course of four months, attained to the weight and size above stated. Mr. Marsland is in the practice of producing Pines in this way with equal success and expedition. His houses are all heated by steam.” Hort. Trans. iv. 52.

On the 17th of Oct. 1819, specimens of the New Providence, globe, black Antigua, and Enville, were exhibited, all which were produced in a similar manner to the above. P. Marsland considers, that “though not of the largest description, yet as far as beauty of form and richness of flavour are concerned, they would not yield to fruit of more protracted growth.” The success which has attended this gentleman’s mode of “treating the Pine, so as to insure the production of fruit within twelve months from the cutting of their previous produce, has been perfectly satisfactory;” and the following is his account of it. “In November, 1819, as soon as the fruit had been cut from the Pine plants, which were then two years old, all the leaves were stripped off the old stocks, nothing being left but a single sucker on each, and that the strongest on the plant; they were then placed in a house where the heat was about sixty degrees, and they remained till March, 1820. At this period the suckers were broken off from the old stocks, and planted in pots from eight to twelve inches in diameter, varying according to the size of the sucker. It may be proper, however, to observe, that the length of time which the young sucker is allowed to remain attached to the mother plant, depends in some degree upon the kind of Pine; the tardy fruiters, such as the black Antigua, and others, require to be left longer than the Queen, and those which fruit readily.

“After the suckers had been planted, they were removed from the house, where they had remained while on the old stock, to one in which the temperature was raised to seventy-five degrees. Immediately upon their striking root, the largest of the suckers showed fruit, which swelled well, and ripened between August and November, being, on the average, ten months from the time the fruit was cut from the old plant, and seven months from the time the sucker was planted. The fruit so produced, though, as may be expected, not of the largest description, I have invariably found to be richer and higher flavoured than that grown on older plants. The suckers of inferior strength will not show fruit in the same season, but in the following they will yield good fruit, and strong suckers for a succeeding year’s supply. Those suckers are to be preferred which are produced on plants that have ripened their fruit in November, for those taken from plants whose fruit is cut in August, or earlier, are apt to show fruit in January or February, while yet remaining on the mother-plant. But whenever this happens, the sucker should be broken off immediately upon being perceived, and planted in a pot so as to form a root of its own, to maintain its fruit.” Hort. Trans. iv. 392.

This experiment shows what can be done; though it must be obvious that a considerable part of the saving in time is lost by the small size of the fruit. Mr. Baldwin, in our opinion, has hit on the proper use of this mode, the principle of which, as already observed, consists in the employment of the otherwise lost vigour of the old stock. He contrives to produce tolerably sized fruit, and to have such a degree of vigour in his suckers, as that they are able, in their turn, to throw out other vigorous suckers to succeed them. In aid of this, he often earths up the old stock, so as to cover the lower end of the sucker; and partially wrenching it off, he, by these means, obtains for it a good stock of roots before he renders it an independent plant.

Where heat is to be supplied from fermenting horse-dung, we should recommend for trial a pit invented by J. West, of Castle Ashby, in Northamptonshire. ([fig. 22.]) Nine years’ experience enable its inventor to recommend it for neatness of appearance, the power of regulating the heat to the greatest nicety, and for forcing asparagus, strawberries, and the most delicate kinds of cucumbers. By raising the walls of the pit higher above the earth, it is evident it would answer equally well for growing Pines, or forcing shrubs or tall growing plants.

The dung is placed in a chamber (E) three feet and a half deep, being about eighteen inches below the surface-line; the walls (G) which surround it are nine-inch brick-work; both on the front and at the back of the chamber are two openings (A), about two feet six inches square each, with moveable doors, through which the dung is introduced; the doors fit at bottom into grooves (B), and are fastened by a wooden pin and staple at top. In front of the doors, is a small area (C) sunk in the ground, surrounded by a curb of wood, by which the introduction or removal of the dung is facilitated. Along the centre of the chamber is a bar (D), which serves as a guide for packing the dung; and across the top, at intervals of twelve inches, are placed, on their edges, cast-iron bars (H), two inches wide, and three quarters of an inch thick, to support a layer of small wood, bushes and leaves (I), over which is laid the soil for the plants (K). Just below the level of the bars all round the dung-chamber, are holes (F), passing in a sloping direction through part of the wall into a cavity (G) in the upper part of the wall at the back front and both ends of the pit. In the exterior part of the back wall, are holes with plugs (L), to let out the steam and heat at discretion.

At the commencement of forcing, half the chamber is filled longitudinally with dung, and if the doors are kept shut, this will afford sufficient heat from twelve to eighteen days. As the heat declines the other half of the chamber is filled, and the temperature is kept up by additions to the top of the dung, on either or both sides, as it settles. When the united heat of the two sides ceases to be sufficient, the side first filled must be cleared out, and mixed with fresh dung and replaced, and so on, adding and turning as circumstances require. Hort. Trans. iv. 220.