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A considerable interest has been excited in the Horticultural world by the experiments of T. A. Knight, Esq. on the culture of the Pine Apple. Our object is to add our efforts to those of that eminent Horticulturist, in promoting the culture of that king of fruits.

The means which we consider as most likely to attain our object, is the bringing together accounts of all the different modes of treating that Plant, which have hitherto been adopted in Europe; and the sources from which we have drawn the means, are the different publications which have appeared on the Pine Apple, and our own observations on its management, by those Gardeners who are its most successful cultivators.

The British publications which treat exclusively, or principally, of the Pine Apple, are:

1767. John Giles, of Lewisham. A Method of raising Pines and Melons, 8vo.

1769. Adam Taylor, Gardener at Devizes, in Wiltshire. A Treatise on the Ananas and on Melons, 8vo.

1779. William Speechly, Gardener to the Duke of Portland, at Welbeck, in Nottinghamshire. A Treatise on the culture of the Pine Apple, and the management of the Hot-house, &c. 8vo.

1808. William Griffin, Gardener to J. C. Girardot, Esq. at Kelham, near Nottingham. A Treatise on the culture of the Pine Apple, 8vo.

1818. Thomas Baldwin, Gardener to the Marquis of Hertford, at Ragley, in Warwickshire. A Treatise on the culture of the Ananas, &c. 12mo.

The Authors who have treated on the Pine Apple, as a part of their general subject, include nearly all those who have written on Horticulture since the commencement of the 18th century; the principal are, Bradley, Miller, Justice, Abercrombie, M’Phail, and Nicol, in their respective works; and T. A. Knight, Esq., and Peter Marsland, Esq., in the Transactions of the London and Caledonian Horticultural Societies.

The Foreign publications on the Pine Apple are few, and of little value; because the Continental Gardeners have never been very successful in its culture. Professor Thouin and M. Bosc, are the principal French Authors who have noticed the subject, and this only in general works, such as Rosier’s Dictionary, &c. Kirchner is almost the only German writer who has written on this fruit, in his Practische Anleitung für Gartenkunst, published in 1796, and devoted more particularly to the culture of the Pine and the Grape. Some other foreign tracts on the subject in the Banksian Library are merely translations from La Cours chapter on the subject, and from English authors.

The most eminent cultivators of the Pine Apple in England, at the present time, are, Mr. Thomas Baldwin, Gardener to the Marquis of Hertford, at Ragley, in Warwickshire; Mr. William Griffin, Gardener to Samuel Smith, Esq., at Woodhall Park, Hertfordshire; William Townsend Aiton, Esq. Gardener to the King, at Kensington; Mr. James Andrews, Commercial Gardener, Lambeth; and Mr. Isaac Oldacre, Gardener to Lady Banks, at Springrove, Middlesex.

A number of other gardeners might be mentioned, as excelling in the culture of this fruit; but the above have been first-rate cultivators for several years.

On the Continent the Pine Apple is cultivated most extensively in Russia; it occurs but seldom in France or Germany; and only in a few gardens in Italy. It has happened to us to have visited the principal Continental Gardens, as well as the English ones alluded to above, and various others; and we mention this to justify the extension of our remarks, not only to domestic, but foreign practices; and to account for our not confining ourselves merely to what is contained in books, but discussing also the modes of culture actually practised in different gardens. We shall first notice the introduction of the Pine Apple into Europe, and next the different varieties in cultivation; we shall then glance at the Continental practices, and finally detail those of our own country.

This Day is published,

By Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, & Brown, London,

An ENCYCLOPÆDIA of GARDENING;

Comprising the Theory and Practice of Horticulture, Floriculture, Arboriculture, and Landscape Gardening; including all the latest Improvements, a general History of Gardening in all Countries; and a Statistical View of its present State, with Suggestions for its future Progress, in the British Isles.

By J. C. LOUDON, F.L.S. H.S. &c.,

Author of “A Treatise on forming and improving Country Residences.”

Complete, in One large Volume, 8vo. of 1500 Pages, closely printed, with Six Hundred Engravings on Wood, Price £2. 10s.

This Work claims the Attention of the Public:

1. By the comprehensiveness of its plan, by which, for the first time, every part of the subject of Gardening is brought together, and presented in one systematic whole.

2. By its being the only work which contains all the modern improvements in Gardening, foreign as well as domestic.

3. By the addition of a Kalendarial Index, by which the practical part of the work may be consulted monthly, as the operations are to be performed; and a copious General Index, by which the whole may be consulted alphabetically. Thus the work will serve as a Gardener’s Kalendar, and Gardener’s Dictionary: both, it is confidently hoped, far more complete than any hitherto presented to the public.

By means of a copious page, by condensed descriptive tables of fruits, culinary vegetables, and flowers, and by the local introduction of such illustrative engravings as greatly shorten the necessity of verbal description, this immense body of matter has been comprised in one thick volume.