inches; and the path which surrounds it should not be narrower than
twenty inches; but two feet, or for the back pit two feet and a half,
will be better. The vines are introduced under the sill of the front
glasses, and trained up the rafters; and Mr. M’Phail’s practice is not
to withdraw them in the winter season as is done by other gardeners. The
surface of the tan-bed should not be nearer the glass than five or six
feet. Two houses, each forty feet in length, joined together, can be
kept warm with two fires, better than one house of forty feet; but in
cold, exposed situations, he would recommend diminishing the length.
With respect to pits, M’Phail observes, “Succession Pine plants grow
exceedingly well in pits covered with glazed frames, linings of warm
dung being applied to them in cold frosty weather. The north wall of a
pit for this purpose had best be only about four feet above the ground;
and if about two feet high of it the whole length of the wall beginning
just at the surface of the ground four feet below the height of the
wall, be built in the form of the outside walls of my cucumber bed, the
lining will warm the air in the pit more easily than if the wall were
built solid. The linings of dung should not be lower in their foundation
than the surface of the tan in the pits in which the plants grow (for it
is not the tan that requires to be warmed, but the air among the
plants); and as during the winter the heat of the air in the pit among
the plants, exclusive of sun heat, is not required to be greater than
from sixty to sixty-five degrees, strong linings are not wanted: one
against the north side, kept up in cold weather nearly as high as the
wall, will be sufficient, unless the weather get very cold indeed, in
which case a lining on the south side may be applied. In cold frosty
weather a covering of hay or of straw, or of fern, can be laid on the
glass above mats in the night-time.
[Illustration: 10]
“The brick bed of my inventing, (fig. 10.) for forcing early cucumbers,
answers well for growing small succession plants. A pit built on the
same construction, but of larger dimensions, without cross flues, is a
suitable one for growing Pine Apple plants of any size; for by linings
of dung the air in it can be kept to a degree of heat sufficient to grow
and ripen the Pine Apple in summer, as well as it can be done with fire
heat, only it will require a little more labour and plenty of dung.
_Soil._ “The Pine Apple plant will grow very well in any sort of rich
earth taken from a quarter of the kitchen garden, or in fresh sandy loam
taken from a common, long pastured with sheep, &c. If the earth be not
of a rich sandy quality of darkish colour, it should be mixed well with
some perfectly rotten dung and sand, and if a little vegetable mould is
put among it, it will do it good, and also a little soot. Though Pine
plants will grow in earth of the strongest texture, yet I have found by
experience that they grow most freely in good sandy loam not of a
binding quality.
_General management._ “The method which I used to cultivate the Pine
Apple is the following: The fruit being partly over, and a cucumber
brick bed prepared for unstruck crowns and suckers, towards the end of
August or September, I planted them in rich earth in pots suitable to
the size of the plants; I then had the pots plunged to their rims in the
tan bed in which there was a good growing heat; the lights were then
shut down close, and as great a heat kept among the plants as the heat
of the tan and sunshine could raise, and when the sun shone long and
very bright, the plants were shaded a few hours in the middle of the
day. The plants were thus managed till they had struck root and begun to
grow, when a gentle watering was given to them, and a little air
admitted daily. About the end of October or beginning of November, if
the state of the bed required it, a little fresh tan was added, and if
the plants by growth had become crowded, some of them were removed into
another place, and the remainder plunged into the tan bed, in which they
continued till February or March, when of course the bed required an
addition of fresh tan, which was given it, and the plants plunged again
into it at such distances one from the other as to give them room to
grow; here they remained till May or June, at which time they were
shifted into larger pots with the balls of earth about their roots
entire, and at this shifting, if the tan bed wanted it, fresh tan was
added to and mixed with the old, which in general enabled it to retain a
sufficient heat till the month of August or September, when the plants,
with their roots unhurt, were shifted into pots large enough to admit
earth easily round their balls between their roots and the sides of the
pots. In these pots I let the plants remain in general till the fruit
was over. At this time of shifting, the rotten part of the tan was taken
away, and a sufficient quantity of new tan added, which generally, with
an addition to the upper part of it, retained its heat till the latter
end of February or beginning of March; at this time the plants were
divested of a few of their lower leaves, to let young roots spring
freely out of their stems, the surface of the earth in the pots cleared
down to the roots, and fresh earth laid on, pressing it close to the
stems of the plants. After this dressing, the plants needed not to be
moved again till they ripened their fruit, unless they required more
bottom heat. This is the general process which I used, though I found it
necessary to vary according to occurring circumstances, regarding the
heat of the tan bed, the condition of the plants, and the state of the
weather.
“Some large kinds of Pine Apple plants require three seasons to grow
before they can bring large sized fruit, such as the black Antigua, the
Jamaica, the Ripley, &c.; therefore in the month of April or May, after
they have been planted upwards of a year, it is best to take them out of
the pots, and to cut off all their roots close to the stem, or leave
only a few which are fresh and strong, and then plant them again in good
earth in clean pots, and plunge the pots in a tan bed with a lively heat
in it. After this process, a stronger heat than usual must be kept in
the house, till the plants have made fresh roots and their leaves be
perceived to grow, when a little water may be given to them, which,
together with a good bottom and top heat, will make them grow finely.
“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.
“Some persons may think that the Pine Apple cannot bear to be watered
all over its leaves in winter, because it is of a succulent nature, and
able to live long in a hot-house without being planted in earth or set
in water. But, for instance, the common house-leek is of a very
succulent juicy nature, and will bear the greatest heat of a hot dry
summer on the warm tiles of a house: but it is well known that this
plant thrives best when it gets occasional showers of rain. The case is
exactly similar respecting the Pine Apple, and several other plants, of
a similar nature. In regard, however, to the best method of cultivating
the Pine Apple, there have been and will be persons who differ in
opinion. I here give my opinion, which is founded on practice, that
there is not the least danger in watering the plants plentifully all
over their leaves in winter, or in any time of the year, provided there
be a sufficient heat kept up in the tan bed and in the air of the
house. But remember, I do not recommend watering the Pine Apple plants
all over their leaves in winter as a general rule, only when it is
necessary to free the plants from insects and filth; then the heat in
the house among the plants must be kept strong, not lower than 70 in the
morning, and raised to 85 or 90 in the course of the day.
“It is indeed evident that some of the most able writers on the culture
of the Pine Apple have wanted that experience which may by practice be
obtained. They have asserted, that it is impossible to keep the Pine
Apple plant throughout a severe winter without the assistance of fire.
But ingenious practical gardeners have ascertained, that Pine Apple
plants require nothing more than a gentle heat in the tan bed, in which
the pots of plants must be plunged, and a medium heat of air of about 60
degrees, to keep them through the most severe winters in England. To
maintain this temperature of heat without the assistance of fire, is no
difficult matter; it can be done by the assistance of horse-dung; for a
dry heat is not at all necessary to preserve the plants, and to keep
them in good health, in the brick beds, in which I kept Succession Pines
all the year round without the aid of fire heat. The sun for about two
months in winter had very little effect to warm or dry the leaves of the
plants, so that during the dull months in winter, the plants were
continually in a moist state, and water standing in the hearts of some
of them, and the heat of the air among them was from 55 to about 65;
and I do not recollect of having any of the plants die for want of heat.
_Insects._ By many experiments which I made, it is evident, I think,
that in the process of managing and cultivating the Pine Apple, all
injurious insects may be destroyed, and prevented from breeding on them,
by a judicious application of the elements necessary, though in a less
degree in regard to heat, for the production of any vegetables or fruits
whatever. That this is true, may be proved by a reference to the state
of fruits and vegetables growing, either spontaneously or assisted by
cultivation, in every part of the kingdom, without the aid of artificial
heat or impregnated air. For instance, the strawberry, the raspberry,
and some other fruits, which grow naturally in some parts of this
country, and peas, beans, cabbage, and cauliflowers in gardens, and the
different sorts of corn and grass in the fields. These, in unkind
seasons, we see affected by blights and by insects of various kinds,
which prevent them from coming to good maturity, and make them less
productive than we wish them to be. But in propitious seasons, the earth
being refreshed occasionally by showers of rain, they are preserved from
the inroads of insects and from blights, and are enabled to produce
abundant crops, for the use of man and beast.”
Mr. M’Phail has thus the merit of being one of the first practical
gardeners who freed themselves from the trammels of receipts and secrets
for destroying insects. He says, “after having studiously observed the
nature and causes of the vigorous growth and healthfulness of plants,
and of fruit-trees of different kinds, I have been induced to believe
that a fruit-tree or plant of any sort requires nothing but proper
cultivation in good earth, and in a kindly climate adapted to its
nature, to prevent it from being injured by insects, or by blights of
any kind, and to enable it to produce, of its kind, abundant crops.
However, I wish it not to be understood that I disapprove of using means
of any kind to destroy insects which are injurious to plants; but I
conceive that all methods used for that purpose, ought to be such as are
conducive to accelerate the growth of vegetables, by having at least a
tendency to purify the air, and to make the circumambient atmosphere
about them congenial to their nature, unless when the destruction of the
insects by the hand is effected.”
“Every insect has its proper plant, or tribe of plants, which it
naturally requires for its nourishment, and on which it generally lays
its eggs, and that on the most concealed parts of the plant; and the
plant, and insect which attacks it, are always natives of the same
climate, and therefore endure the same degrees of heat and cold;
consequently, when plants are attacked by their natural tribe of
insects, it is an exceedingly nice and curious operation to exterminate
them without injuring the plants, or stopping them in their natural
growth. But observing that insects increase rapidly in hot dry weather,
and that they appear impatient of moisture, was the means of inducing me
try which would bear the greatest heat and live.”
“To ascertain what degree of heat a Pine Apple plant can endure without
destroying it, I filled four vessels with hot water. The water in the
first vessel was 130 degrees hot; that in the second 140; that in the
third 145; that in the fourth 150. Into each of these vessels I put a
few Pine plants, divested of their roots, of their fibrous roots, and
suffered them to remain in the water about an hour. The plants which had
been immersed in the water heated to 140 and 145 degrees, were a little
hurt in the extremities of their leaves, but after being dried in the
hot-house, they were planted, and grew as vigorous as if they had not
been put into hot water; the plants put into water 130 degrees warm were
not in the least injured; but those put into water heated to 150 degrees
were entirely destroyed.
“By this experiment I ascertained that a vegetable can endure, without
hurting it, 130 degrees of heat, according to the degrees on
Fahrenheit’s thermometer. I am inclined to think that no animal is able
to endure such a heat and live. Undoubtedly, insects increase rapidly in
hot weather in the open air, especially on the peach tree, and on other
trees, against warm walls, both in the spring and summer months; and
they increase most rapidly in dry weather; but the heat in the open air
against walls seldom rises to 100 degrees. And in the hottest countries
in the world, where vegetables and animals exist, the heat in the shade
seldom rises to blood heat, which is about 97. Having considered these
things, and ascertained that a plant can endure a heat of 130 degrees, I
determined to try another experiment, that is, to ascertain whether heat
and water would destroy insects, and keep plants alive. I therefore
thought of, and determined to try, the following method:
“In the month of June I selected about twenty large Pine plants, some of
which had green fruit on them, and their leaves, fruit, and roots, were
almost covered with insects. These plants I plunged in a tan bed, with a
very gentle heat in it. The tan bed was in a brick frame designed for
rearing succession plants: it was nearly five feet wide, twenty feet
long, and the glass frames were close and in good repair. These plants I
watered frequently and plentifully, sometimes twice a day, with water
not less than 70 or 80 degrees, and sometimes 100, warm: in short, I
kept the plants constantly in a moist air, by plentiful waterings
without measure; and, excepting the time of giving water, I kept the
lights constantly close shut down, even in the hottest sunshine, without
shading the plants. In this frame I had no thermometer, but the heat
was, I think, sometimes about two or three o’clock in the afternoon,
upwards of 120 degrees. This great heat and much moisture caused the
plants to grow most vigorously; and having subjected them to the said
mode of management for a few weeks, the insects, in the course of that
time, were totally destroyed, many of them lying dead on the leaves and
fruit. In the spring-time, before this operation, the plants had been
strewed with sulphur, which, at least, is a harmless dressing to plants
of any kind, and probably may be of use in preventing insects from
breeding numerously, or the means of depriving them of part of their
natural food. This circumstance, however, I just here mention, because,
from experiments which I have tried since then, it is probable that the
effluvia arising from flour of sulphur, being scattered on the leaves,
or about in the hot-house, in conjunction with heated air and moisture,
may more suddenly destroy insects than heat and moisture alone; but it
ought to be remembered, that if sulphur be by any means set on fire in a
confined place, among plants of any kind, it will either totally destroy
or greatly injure them.