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Pineapples

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on March 19, 2017 at 11:34:16 pm
 

 

 

The Pineapple in the Eighteenth Century

 


 

Introduction


(fig.1) The 'Queen' Pineapple

 

 The pineapple (Ananas comosus) is a tropical fruit that has been widely cultivated for its juice, sweet flesh and its strong fibres. A seedless cultigen, (a plant that has been altered by humans through a process of selective breeding), the pineapple has been in cultivation for hundreds of years. Christopher Columbus is believed to have been the first explorer to record a discovery of it. He subsequently named it the piña de Indes, meaning "pine of the Indians" and his introduction of it to Spain made the pineapple the first Bromeliad to be introduced by humans outside of the New World (1). 

 There are many types of pineapple that have been bred, to name a few: the ‘Hawaiian King', the ‘Honey Gold’ (weighing up to 7 kg), the ‘Smooth Cayenne’ (the most commonly found today) and the ‘Queen’. Though they vary in size and colour, being anywhere from yellow to red and purple, the one pineapple believed to have been brought back in the eighteenth century was named the 'Queen' or 'Victoria' pineapple. This in particular, differs from the commonly seen 'Cayenne' pineapple, by its spiky, thorn-like leaves and small rounded shape (see fig.1). 

The pineapple's delicious taste led to its naming by the Caribbean natives, with the pineapple having migrated from Indian explorers, as 'ananas' or 'the most excellent fruit of them all' (***). It was not merely its taste that elicited such desirous reaction, however, but its shape, the fantasy of its place of its origins and the difficulty in obtaining one fresh. This alien plant went onto inspire culinary, literary, architectural and artistic minds of the time and served as an the ultimate emblem of luxury.    

 

 

Sketch of the 'Queen' and 'Red Jamaican' Pineapple, ***

 


 

 

Origins of the Pineapple

 

Map of Colonial Trade of Pineapples, College of Natural Resources.,

 

 

Christopher Columbus’s second voyage to the ‘New world’ in 1493, took him from Cádiz in Spain to an island he later named Domenica. He then continued and between the fourth to the tenth of November he explored Guadaloupe. The travellers discovered the pineapple in a deserted location where the natives had fled out of fear. Though Christopher Columbus’s log book has been lost, his son Ferdinand Columbus, wrote:

 

 “They also saw calabashes and some fruit that looked like green pine cones but were much larger; these were filled with solid pulp, like a melon, but were much sweeter in taste and smell. They grow on plants that resemble lilies or aloes…” (Beauman, 19).

 

The interaction of the pineapple and the public, however, did not occur fully until the seventeenth century. Many pineapples were picked unripe and consequently, were rotten by the time they reached Europe.

The pineapple began to spread across different locations, though it is native to Southern and Southern Eastern America, Paraguay and Brazil predominately, it was thought to have been imported to the Caribbean by native tribes. Captain Richard Ligon, who boarded the ship Achilles from London, wrote and published in 1657 his accounts in Barbados. In it, he wrote how pineapples were made gifts to Kings and the cautious listing process of them upon arrival back in London.

When the pineapple reached Europe, its named was changed in England from the native ‘ananas’ to pineapple because of its exterior resemblance to that of a pine cone. In 1640, John Parkinson, who was Botanist to Charles I, describes his fascination with the new fruit:

 

“Scaly like an Artichoke at the first view, but more like to a cone of the Pine tree, which we call a pineapple for the forme… being so sweete in smell… tasting… as if Wine, Rosewater and Sugar were mixed together.”2

 

The pineapple’s explosive popularity in the seventeenth century is evident through the many accounts written about its presentation in Europe. John Evelyn, a contemporary of Samuel Pepys, wrote in his diary in 1661, that “I first saw the famous Queen Pine brought from Barbados and presented to his Majestie; but the first that were ever seen in England were those sent to Cromwell House foure years since.” (Blumenthal, 385). So, the pineapple gained status as a luxury item and pineapple cultivation spread into Africa, India, China, Java and the Philippines.  

 

 

 

 

Photograph of a Red Pineapple Growing, Leamington Spa Botanical Gardens, I. Reeves 

 


 

 

To Cook a Pineapple

 

 

 


Despite their expensive, pineapples became a part of aristocratic cookery and drinking. Pineapple rum, interestingly, became popular in the latter part of the eighteenth century with John Wilkes writing:


Monday, July 15, 1793. 
'I GIVE my perfect consent, my 
clearest Polly, to wait for the pine-apple 
rum, and orgeat, by the waggon..." (Wilkes, 144)

It later became very popular and featured in certain nineteenth century articles and novels too:


"The American pine-apple rum is fine drinking, and I wonder it is not introduced into this country." (Unknown, 641)

"Mr. Stiggins was easily prevailed on to take another glass of the hot 
pineapple rum and water, and a second, and a third, and then to refresh 
himself with a slight supper previous to beginning again." (Dickens, 276).

 

 

PINEAPPLE RUM  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Images, Plantation Rum, http://spiritsjournal.klwines.com/klwinescom-spirits-blog/2015/7/16/stiggins-fancy.html 

 

 

 

 

 

18th Century Trade Card for D. Negri - Confectioner at the Pineapple 

 

 

Despite the difficulty in obtaining the pineapple, over the course of the eighteenth century, the fruit become available through certain exclusive shops. Preserved fruits became popular, with green slices of the pineapple being kept in sugary syrups and sold as a sweet treat. Certain confectioners cut their pineapple into ‘chips’, which were decorative and easily eaten. Domenico Negri is believed to have made this particularly fashionable and opening his store, The Pot and Pineapple, in Berkley Square, he was a successful confectioner. His store opened in 1760 and brought many Italian delicacies over with him to London, making the role of the confectioner a 'highly regarded social position' (Lambert, 28). Negri found success in selling expensive treats to the upper echelons of society and was also successful in the selling of ice cream, or ices (Nutt, 428).  Ice cream was first recorded as being eaten in 1671, on the menu for the Knights of the Garter feast held in St. George’s hall at Windsor Castle. It was not made available to the public until the second half of the eighteenth century. The luxury grew increasingly popular, as the ices were displayed in many decorative forms: one of them being the pineapple.

 

 Displayed: Bergamot water ice and punch water ice, Royal cream ice, chocolate cream ice, burnt filbert cream ice and Parmesan cream ice.  

Image and history of Georgian ices: http://www.historicfood.com/Georgian%20Ices.htm  

 

The first published recipe for pineapple appeared in Richard Bradley’s “The Country Housewife and Lady’s Director” in 1736 and it is featured below:

 


To make a Tart of the Ananas, or Pine-Apple

 
'Take a Pine-Apple, and twist off its Crown: then pare it free from the Knots, and cut it in Slices about half an Inch thick; then stew it with a little Canary wine, or Madera Wine, and some Sugar, till it is thoroughly hot, and it will distribute its Flavour to the Wine much better than any thing we can add to it. When it is as one would have it, take it from the Fire; and when it is cool, put it into a sweet Paste, with its Liquor, and bake it gently a little while, and when it comes from the Oven, pour Cream over it (if you have it) and serve it either hot or cold' (Bradley, 31).

Pineapple marmalade also featured in the recipe book and the right hand image shows the result of following the eighteenth century recipe for the pineapple tart, to see the entire process:
https://www.thecopperpot.co.uk/single-post/2016/1/24/A-Tart-of-the-Ananas-1736

Below displays a wedgewood flummery with a pineapple design, these were exceptionally popular and many designers replicated Wedgewood throughout the century, even if the cake or treat did not contain pineapple because of its expense, many were shaped into the pattern of one. 

 

 

 

Another recipe from the book shows how to make Pineapple Marmalade:

Richard Bradley, The Country Housewife and Lady’s Director,1736.  

 

 

Below shows a cake or jelly mould to shape sweet treats into the shape of pineapples.

 

 

 

Pineapple Flummery Mould, Wedgewood, c. 1790.  Colonial Williamsburg Museum. 

 

 

 

 

Renting a Pineapple and its Symbolism of Hospitality

 

 

 

 

Genevieve Taylor, Georgian Harvest Festival Food @BBCFoodProg display, 2016.  

 

 

Food display was a significant part of a home, especially if guests were to stay, it ‘declared both the personality and status’ (Olmert, 1) of the family. For the prosperous, food displays contained a competitive element to them. Royal and aristocratic families employed culinary advisors to help create fantastical and memorable meals for their guests. The pineapple’s appeal was not simply because of its innately exotic taste, but also because of its appearance. The pineapple became the ‘King’ of the fruits with its leaves thought of as a leafy crown.

The pineapple, because of its expense, would then be placed in the centre of a table display as the crowning adornment of the feast provided. On many occasions, because the owner would wish to use the pineapple to its full value, it would be kept for as long as possible and only eaten when it had completely perished. Indeed, for most pineapples that did arrive to Europe had already begun to decay and only the fastest ships fortuitously passing through clear weather would be able to provide the public with relatively fresh pineapples. As such, the fresh pineapple was exceptionally rare, the ability to procure one would lead guests at a dinner party to appreciate, not only their host’s wealth but also, his resourcefulness. To buy a pineapple for display, a person would have to have found an exclusive confectioner’s shop and it has been stated that ‘fights’ for fresh pineapples frequently broke out between wealthy cliental (Levins, 1). Interestingly, it was not merely desirous for hosts with culinary desires, it was highly sought after horticulturists who wished to display and analyse them, hoping to grow the pineapple in their homes.

Thus, because of its rarity, the pineapple became emblematic of luxury. Many wealthy and aristocratic families strove to obtain the, sometimes unripe and often rotten, fruit and to display it as a symbol of their wealth. The cost of a pineapple is valued at today’s standards at £5000, or $8000. 

 

 

 

James Gilray, Substitutes for bread; -or- right honorables, saving the loaves, & dividing the fishes, The British Museum, 1795.

 

 

As such, this led certain wealthy citizens having to make difficult decisions between purchasing ‘a pineapple or a new coach’ (Waterman, 2); the result of these opulent displays also drew particular criticism from classes that were not able to experience this fruit for themselves, and saw the amount of money lavished on food and artifice. Looking at the image by James Gilray, (above) one sees how society was starved by feeding the wealthier classes with expensive exotic foods. Another image painted by Gilray, John Bull taking a luncheon: -or- British cooks, cramming old grumble-gizzard, with bonne-chére, similarly depicts the figure of the traditional Englishman forcibly eating French ships, or perhaps metaphorically, consuming other cultures for personal gain. Thus, if pineapples represented luxury, they also absorbed the issues that excess and exoticism held for the upper classes. In the novel, The Vagabond, for instance, George Walker radically wrote upon this subject:

 

“What right has one man to eat a pine-apple, for which he gave a guinea, when another is starving for want of half-penny worth of bread?” (Walker, 211).

 

 Citizens that were not in poverty but were not exceptionally wealthy could, however, gain possession of a pineapple, albeit temporarily, as it became a business to rent them for parties. To rent one, the price was significantly less than to purchase and for the evening the host could give the impression to his guests that he was successfully affluent (if pineapples were rented this fact was averted or concealed over the dinner table to protect the host’s pride). There were many who still, despite the lower expense, could not afford to rent a pineapple for the evening and for the majority of the public who may have been still fascinated by its shape and texture, instead turned to using its form in everyday cooking. There was a rise in popularity for foods shaped as pineapples: pineapple-shaped cakes, ices, gelatin moulds, biscuits and candies (see, Wedgewood design).

The pineapple, having already been a symbol of good will in Southern America, began to become a token of European and Colonial American hospitality. As such, pineapples would be given a gifts to their hosts, as the ultimate demonstration of gratitude; for example, King Charles II received the first pineapple to be grown in England as a gift from John Rose (see below, Portrait of King Charles II). Pineapple sculptures and carvings were then placed outside homes and in gardens as a ‘symbol of communal friendship and hospitality’ (Olmert, 2). One example of this is William Byrd's house in Virginia which was commissioned by Byrd in 1725 to have appropriate 'hospitable elements' that were to be carved into the exterior of the house (Okihiro, 164 and below).     

So, whilst the pineapple inspired many culinary designs and centrepieces for the home, the desire it elicited from the public encouraged artists and designers to emulate it in their works. The pineapple, as an emblem of elite status, grew sharply in popularity. 

 

 

 

 

 

Shirley Plantation, Geometric Pineapple at the Apex of the Roof, William Byrd, 1730.

 

 

 

 

Wearing the Pineapple

 

The pineapple's appearance became source of inspiration for many designers of the eighteenth century. Fashionable ladies wished to bear the fruit on their dresses, their bags and even their shoes. It has been suggested that after Napoleon Bonaparte's marriage to Joséphine, the exotic became even more fashionable; her childhood which was spent in a french colony in Martinique influenced her choice of dresses. As such, many pieces featured below reveal the interest in the pineapple as an artistic fashion motif and symbol of status.  

 

'A single seed thrown into the hot bed of fashion...all must have their fooleries as well as their Pineries.' 

1758 (Ralph, 41)

 

Photo from Revolution in Fashion 1715-1815, copyright 1990 The Kyoto Costume Institute.

 

 

 

 

The Kyoto Costume Institution's 1799 "Reticule" Bag, copyright 1990 The Kyoto Costume Institute.

(http://www.gancedo.eu/Pine_Apple_Bag.pdf Make your own eighteenth century pineapple bag). 

 

 

Lady's Pineapple Gown, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1773-5. 

 

 

Pair of Lady's Shoes, Spitalfields,Victoria & Albert Museum. London, Photograph copyright Loretta Chase,c. 1735. 

 

Morning dress, , Museum of Fine ArtsBoston, c.1740.

 

Dress Fabric, Spitalfields, Embroided silk, dress fabric, Victoria & Albert Museum. London,1745.

A French Chinoiserie tapestry panel, Gathering Pineapples, from a series of The Emperor of China, Guy Louis Vernansal, Jean-Baptiste Belin de Fontenay, and "Baptiste" Monnoyersecond, quarter 18th century, Sotheybys Auctioneer, London. 

 

Wallpaper, Leicester Square (paper hung) England (manufactured) Mid 18th century (made), Victoria & Albert Museum. London. 

 

 

 

The Painted Pineapple

 

 

One of the first recorded paintings of the pineapple was a painting by the artist John White, ‘The Pyne Frute’(1585-1593), which hangs in the British Museum. The pineapple was, however, in the seventeenth century was only beginning to emerge as a curiosity of the discoveries in America, and because of this not many records in texts or paintings of the pineapple exist. This contrasts with the sharp rise in the pineapple’s popularity in art, architecture and pottery in the eighteenth century. As pineapples became more readily available, so fashion and paintings began to use the pineapple to represent the symbol of the idealised exotic.

 

In paintings, the presence of the pineapple showed not only one’s wealth, but one’s connection to progressive times in a world of new discoveries. For example, King Charles II’s receiving of a pineapple was the first example of a pineapple successfully grown in England, a rare achievement that only occurred several times during the century. The latter painting, holding Dido Elizabeth Belle and Lady Elizabeth Murray, was thought by certain art critics as displaying the wealth of the white Lady Elizabeth by having her slave hold exotic fruit. This, however, was not the case, as Dido Elizabeth Belle was the adopted daughter of Sir John Lindsey, and as such, despite the pineapple’s presence in her arms, it has been argued that the pineapple only serves to elevate both characters in the portrait. Another portrait present depicts a gardener, John Sibbard holding a pineapple he had grown, which is another example of how the achievement of growing a ‘European’ pineapple was seen as a worthy moment of portraiture; many portraits, because of their cost, were painted to display the status of an aristocratic or wealthy family.  

 

 

 

Theodorus Netscher, Portrait of a Pineapple, Grown in Matthew Decker’s Garden at Richmond, Surrey, Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge, 1720. 

 

 

 

Unknown, Dido Elizabeth Belle and Lady Elizabeth Murray, Scone Palace. 

 

 

Hendrick Danckerts, Gardener John Rose Presenting a Pineapple to King Charles II, 1670s. 

 

Unknown, English Print of James Sibbald, Gardener to Thomas Devlaval, Holding a Pineapple, 1775. 

 

 

Paulus Theodorus van Brussel, Fruit and Flowers, 1789.

 

 

 

 

Technical detail of a thrown and turned 'Pine Pedistall', 1820.

 

The Pineapple Spode.

http://spodehistory.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/spode-and-pineapples.html

 

  Edward Warburton (maker), Fenton Teapot, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1765.  

 

Unknown, Liverpool (made) tile, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1765,

 

 

 

To Europe with Gardens

 

 

 

 

 

A General Treatise of Husbandry and Gardening in 1721, Henry Telende, 

 

 

 

 

The Dunmore Pineapple House, General Floor Plan and Elevations, Atlas Obscura. Web. http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-dunmore-pineapple-house

 

 


James Justice’s plan of the pineapple stove published in The Scots Gardiners’ Director, 1754 

Illustration of hothouse and pinery-vinery from Loudon’s An Encyclopedia of Gardening

 


The Dunmore Pineapple Summerhouse,Scotland,  built for the fourth Earl of Dunmore. It stood between hothouses. 

 

Gardening:

The pineapple was brought to northern Europe by the Dutch from their colony in Surinam. The first pineapple to be successfully cultivated in Europe, is said to have been grown by Pieter de la Court at Meerburg in 1658.[29] In England, a huge "pineapple stove" needed to grow the plants had been built at the Chelsea Physic Garden in 1723.[30] In France, King Louis XV was presented with a pineapple that had been grown at Versailles in 1733. Catherine the Great ate pineapples grown on her own estates before her death in 1796.[31] Because of the expense of direct import and the enormous cost in equipment and labour required to grow them in a temperate climate, using hothouses called "pineries", pineapples soon became a symbol of wealth. They were initially used mainly for display at dinner parties, rather than being eaten, and were used again and again until they began to rot.[32] By the second half of the 18th century, the production of the fruit on British estates had become the subject of great rivalry between wealthy aristocrats.[32]John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore built a hothouse on his estate surmounted by a huge stone cupola 14 metres tall in the shape of the fruit; it is known as the Dunmore Pineapple.[33]

None the less, Le Normand No 1 managed to produce France’s first pineapples at the Potager in the 1730s and had considerable success with coffee, annually producing around 10lb, which Louis XV apparently enjoyed brewing and serving himself. With the French Revolution, pretty much everything, including 800 pineapple plants, was auctioned off and the Potager began a new life as a school for horticulture and landscape architecture.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/gardens-to-visit/inside-the-17th-century-versailles-vegetable-garden/

 

Abercrombie, John, 1726, printed for J. F. and C. Rivington, T. Longman, B. Law, J. Johnson, G. G. J. and J. Robinson, and 6 others in London Every man his own gardener. Being a new, and much more complete gardener's kalendar, and general director, than any one hitherto published. 

https://data.historicaltexts.jisc.ac.uk/view?pubId=ecco-1081300300&terms=pineapple&filter=service%7C%7Cecco&tab=date&pageTerms=pineapple&pageId=ecco-1081300300-150

 

 

231

 

 

‘the superiority of this fruit over all others is taste and excellence, has made it the great article of polite gardening’

 

‘the soaf-loaf kind is we recommend to all who are about to begin a Pinery’ – ‘leaves are streaked on the inside with purple or brown are preferred above all others’

 

 

 

Eden: or, a compleat body of gardening, both in knowledge and practice ; directing the gardener in his work, for every distinct week in the year, ...

837 pages

ECCO

Author: 

Hill, John. (1714?)

Printer/Publisher

printed for the author; and sold by all the booksellers

Publication date

1773

Publication place

London

Pineapples originate from the Orinoco basin in South America, but before their introduction to Europe, the date of which is uncertain, they were distributed throughout the tropics. Later, this led to some confusion about their origin. The Gardener’s Dictionary of 1759 by Philip Miller, for example, gives the origin of the pineapple as Africa. The pineapple is a terrestrial, tropical plant but is remarkably desiccation-tolerant as it possesses a range of leaf adaptations that help it to cope with drought. This must explain why the plant’s distribution was so successful long before the invention of the Wardian case (the 19th century forerunner of the terrarium).

EARLY HISTORY

European pineapple cultivation was pioneered in the Netherlands. The early success of Dutch growers was a reflection of the trade monopoly the Netherlands enjoyed in the Caribbean in the form of the Dutch West India Company, established in 1621. As a result, plant stock could be imported directly from the West Indies in the form of seeds, suckers and crowns, from which the first plants were propagated.

Agnes Block is believed to be the first person to fruit a pineapple in Europe, on her estate at Vijerhof near Leiden. Many eminent Dutch growers joined the challenge, including Jan Commelin, at the Amsterdam Hortus botanical garden between 1688 and 1689, and Caspar Fagel at his seat De Leeuwenhorst in Noordwijkerhout. Pieter de la Court, a wealthy cloth merchant at Driehoek near Leiden, devised his own system for growing pineapples and many British gardeners were sent to his estate to learn about his cultivation techniques.

Dutch methods of pineapple growing became the blueprint for cultivation in Britain, undoubtedly endorsed after the Glorious Revolution of 1688 cemented Anglo-Dutch relations. William Bentinck, close adviser of William III, is thought to have shipped the entire stock of Caspar Fagel’s pineapple plants over to Hampton Court in 1692. The fruits were, however, ripened from this stock of mature plants and therefore did not count as British-grown pineapples. Pineapples had been ripened in this way before, as commemorated in Hendrik Danckerts’ painting of 1675 depicting Charles II being presented with a pineapple by John Rose, gardener to the Duchess of Cleveland. Danckerts’ painting led to the common misconception that Rose was the first to grow a pineapple in Britain.

 

Illustration of hothouse and pinery-vinery from Loudon’s An Encyclopedia of Gardening

THE 18TH CENTURY

The first reliable crop of pineapples in Britain was in fact achieved by a Dutch grower, Henry Telende, gardener to Matthew Decker, at his seat in Richmond between 1714 and 1716. Decker commissioned a painting in 1720 to celebrate this feat and this time the pineapple takes pride of place as the sole object of admiration. From this point on the craze for growing them developed into a full-blown pineapple mania. The list of gentlemen engaged in this rarefied horticultural activity reads like a who’s who of Georgian society and includes the poets William Cowper and Alexander Pope and the architect Lord Burlington.

The period is mainly associated with the English landscape movement and glasshouse cultivation is a rather neglected subject. The latter was, however, an important part of 18th century horticulture and many of the associated inventions that we now take for granted were developed or refined during this period, such as the use of angled glazing, spirit thermometers and furnace-heated greenhouses called hothouses or stoves.

STRUCTURES DESIGNED FOR PINEAPPLE GROWING

The appearance of innovations seems to follow no clear chronological order. Early attempts at cultivation were made in orangeries, which had been designed to provide frost protection for citrus fruit during the winter months. Orangeries, however, did not provide enough heat and light for the tropical pineapple, which grew all year round. Heating in glasshouses during the mid 17th century was provided by furnaces placed within the structure, but fumes often damaged or killed the plants. Hot-air flues were then devised, which dissipated heat slowly through winding flues built into cavity walls. These ‘fire walls’ were heated by hot air rising from furnaces or stoves and required constant stoking with coal. This was a dangerous method and many early ‘pineries’, as they later became known, burned down when the inevitable accumulation of soot and debris within the flues caught fire. A light environment with even, fume-free, continuous heat was still only an aspiration.

 

 

 

 

James Justice’s plan of the pineapple stove published in The Scots Gardiners’ Director, 1754

 

Henry Telende’s method of pineapple cultivation was published in Richard Bradley’s A General Treatise of Husbandry and Gardening in 1721. Telende grew the young plants, called ‘succession plants’, in large cold frames called tan pits. The fruiting plants would subsequently be moved into the stove or hothouse to benefit from the additional heat provided by the hot-air flues.

The tan pits were lined with pebbles at the bottom followed by a layer of manure and then topped with a layer of tanners’ bark into which the pots were plunged. The last of these elements was the most important. Tanners’ bark (oak bark soaked in water and used in leather tanning) fermented slowly, steadily producing a constant temperature of 25ºC-30ºC for two to three months and a further two if stirred. Manure alone was inferior, in that it heated violently at first but cooled more quickly. Stable bottom heat is essential for pineapple cultivation and tanners’ bark provided the first reliable source. It became one of the most fundamental resources for hothouse gardeners and remained in use until the end of the 19th century.

James Justice, a principal clerk at the Court of Sessions at Edinburgh, was also a talented amateur gardener. On his estate at Crichton he developed an incredibly efficient glasshouse in which he combined the bark pits for succession and fruiting plants under one roof. (Justice published a very elegant drawing of it in The Scots Gardiners’ Director in 1754.) In a letter to Philip Miller and other members of the Royal Society in 1728, he proudly announces: ‘I have eight of the Ananas in fine fruit’. The letter makes Justice the first documented gardener to have grown pineapples successfully in Scotland, which may be one of the reasons why he was appointed fellow of The Royal Society in 1730. The genus Justicia, named after him, commemorates his horticultural legacy.

 

 

The extraordinary Pineapple Summerhouse at Dunmore, Scotland was once flanked by hothouses (1761–1776)

 

An interesting variant growing structure was the pinery-vinery, first proposed by Thomas Hitt in 1757. Here, vines created a canopy for an understorey of pineapples. The vines would have been planted, as was customary in vineries, outside, and fed into the structure through small open arches built into the low brick wall. A fervent admirer of this method was William Speechly, gardener to the third Duke of Portland, and grandson of William Bentinck, who had sent the first batch of pineapples to Britain in 1692. Portland inherited Welbeck Abbey in Nottinghamshire in 1762, and his passion for growing pineapples nearly ruined him. Nevertheless, he sent Speechly to Holland like many before him to study all the latest techniques.

Speechly published his now greatly refined methods in A Treatise on the Culture of the Pineapple and the Management of the Hot-house in 1779, with a detailed plan of his ‘Approved Pine and Grape Stove’. Overall, however, the structure is very similar to Justice’s earlier design of 1730, and Speechly may have drawn important lessons from it. The profile is virtually identical and he also combined the tanners’ bark pits for young and fruiting plants into one structure, the former at the front, the latter at the back.

The most stunning setting for pineapple hothouses was in the kitchen garden at Dunmore, Scotland, the seat of John Murray, Earl of Dunmore. The roof of the summerhouse, built into the sheltered south-facing wall, is carved into the shape of a giant stone pineapple and still commands the walled orchard today. Its gothic ogee-arched windows terminate cleverly into the midrib of the leaves that curve outward in beautiful arches four feet wide. Above, the leaf-like bracts and plump fruitlets give it an incredibly naturalistic look. The structure is completed with a spiny-leafed crown. To anyone familiar with pineapple varieties it is immediately obvious that the cultivar ‘Jamaica Queen’ must have been used as the model, a variety with fiercely spiny leaves, outward projecting fruitlets and a perfectly egg-shaped outline tapering more towards the top.

Although this outstanding work of art survives, the hothouses which would have flanked it have gone; the chimneys for the flues, beautifully disguised as Grecian urns are now the only evidence that this exotic fruit once flourished here. Astonishingly, both the architect and the date of this extraordinary building are unknown, but it is thought to have been carved by Italian stonemasons due to the fine quality of the work. The portico, a pedimented Venetian arch, was built in 1761 but the stone pineapple roof is thought to have been added later, between 1761 and 1776.

 

 

 

‘Smooth Cayenne’ pineapples fruiting in their clay pots at the Lost Gardens of Heligan, Cornwall

 

 

 

‘Charlotte Rothschild’ pineapple illustrated in J Wright’s The Fruit Grower’s Guide Vol V

Although Philip Miller and John Abercrombie extolled the virtues of tanners’ bark while lamenting the flaws of manure, many structures that used dung as a heating method were devised into the mid 19th century. Adam Taylor wrote a tract titled A Treatise on the Ananas or Pine-apple in 1769 in which the use of horse manure was promoted, probably for the first time, as a method of heating a pineapple pit. The difference here is the use of pits compared to hothouses; pits require less heat to warm the air around the pineapples. Crucially, however, the pots were still plunged into tanners’ bark to provide bottom heat near the plants, with the added bonus of a slightly better odour. The dung was confined to two outer bays flanking the structure, and the fermenting manure released heat, which was conveyed into the structure through pigeon holes. These glasshouses were effectively large cold-frames and this moderate version of a pineapple hothouse meant smaller estates could afford to serve a pineapple at the dinner table. (Pineapples could be hired for dinner parties but cost a guinea each, two if eaten.)

A restored 19th century manure-heated pineapple pit can be seen in action, complete with steaming dung pits and fruiting pines, at the Lost Gardens of Heligan near St Austell in Cornwall. Unfortunately, tanners’ bark can no longer be obtained, making it even more difficult to achieve a healthy crop without the aid of artificial heating. Despite this, large crops were achieved in 1997 and 2002, the latter without the help of tanners’ bark. The first fruit was sent to the Queen, thereby honouring the tradition initiated by Matthew Decker over 250 years ago.

 

  • J Abercrombie, The Complete Forcing Gardener, Lockyer Davies, London, 1781
  • DP Bartholomew et al (eds), The Pineapple: Botany, Production and Uses, CAB International, Oxon, 2003
  • F Beauman, The Pineapple: King of Fruits, Chatto & Windus, London, 2005
  • S Campbell, Charleston Kedding: A History of Kitchen Gardening, Ebury Press, London, 1996
  • J Lausen-Higgins and P Lusby ‘Pineapple-growing: Its Historical Development and the Cultivation of the Victorian Pineapple Pit at the Lost Gardens of Heligan, Cornwall’, Sibbaldia, No 6, 2008
  • P Miller, Gardener’s Dictionary, 7th edition, J Rivington, London, 1759
  • P Minay, ‘James Justice (16981763): 18th-century Scots Horticulturalist and Botanist – I’, Garden History, Vol 1, No 2, 1973
  • WA Speechly, A Treatise on the Culture of the Pineapple and the Management of the Hot-house, A Ward, London, 1779
  • M Woods and A Warren, Glass Houses: A History of Greenhouses, Orangeries and Conservatories, Aurum Press, London, 1990
  • J Wright, The Fruit Grower’s Guide, JS Virtue & Co Ltd, London, 1892

 

 

 

 

 

 

How to Steal a Pineapple

 

 

 

https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/images.jsp?doc=180707010052

 

https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/images.jsp?doc=176102250028

 

 

 

 

Q. Did you buy the pine apples. - A. Yes, I gave him fifty-five shillings for them. I told him as I bought the pine apples of him, and they were not ripe, he should give me the refusal of the other fruit when he came to town. I put them in the window; Mr. Carpmeal and Frazer, the gardener, came together; they went into the parlour; I put the pine apples I bought of the prisoner on the table. They desired I would take care of them, which I did.

 

555. ANN TAYLOR (19) , Unlawfully uttering counterfeit coin.

MR. POLAND conducted the Prosecution.

MARY ANN BOSTELL . I live at 21, West Street, Borough, and am assistant to Mr. Thomas Leech, a confectioner, at 11, New Gut—on 3rd September the prisoner came there about 11.30 a.m., and asked for 1d. worth of pine apple rock—she gave me a shilling in payment, and I gave her 11d. change, and she left—I put the shilling in the till; there was no other silver there—the prisoner came in again about 3.30—I had not pat any other shilling in the till in the meantime, and no one else had been serving but me—she asked for a 1d. worth of French almond rock; I served her—she gave me a shilling—I said "I think this is bad"—I tried it and bent it—she said "Oh, I see it is bad"—I went and called a policeman, and gave her into custody—I then went to the till and examined the first shilling and found it was bad—I said "This is the shilling you gave me this morning"—she said "No, I never gave you a shilling"—l am positive she is the woman who gave me the shilling in the morning—I gave the two shillings to the constable.

GEORGE PIKE (Policeman L 95). On 3rd September I went to Mr. Leech's shop in New Cut—the prisoner was given into my custody, and I received 2s. from Miss Bostell.

ELIZA RUMBOLD . I searched the prisoner at the station and found two parcels of sweetstuff, 2 1/2 d., and a purse containing a ticket.

WILLIAM WEBSTER . I am Inspector of Coin to Her Majesty's Mint both these shillings are bad.

GUILTY .— Nine Months' Imprisonment.

 

https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?id=t18750920-555&div=t18750920-555&terms=pine|apple#highlight

give him these bottles which I marked—I then went with another officer to the Boar's Head and remained there till 5.30 and then saw the prisoner and Wallis come in and saw him give the prisoner these bottles—on the Wednesday I marked these bottles and then went to the Boar's Head and saw Wallis give them to the prisoner, they had some conversation together and I then went up to the prisoner and said "We are detective officers, we are going to take you into custody for inciting a lad to steal from Messrs. Megeson and Co., wholesale druggists; what have you about you"—he said "I have nothing"—I said "Where are those bottles this lad gave you?"—he said "I have no bottles"—I felt his pocket and from the outside I felt them—I said "Who is that lad that left you?"—he said "I shall answer no questions" or "I shall give you no explanation "—at that time he had a pine apple—I took him to the station and saw these two bottles taken from his coat pocket—I had information through Wallis that the other bottles could be found at a tavern in the Mile End Road and I went and fetched them—the barmaid is not here—the prisoner gave his address in Brick Lane, I inquired and found he was not known there.

Cross-examined. You said you lived in Brick Lane, but did not give any number, you also said your brother lived in Brick Lane, I went and saw him and he said he had given you 5s. a week to keep you out of trouble, and he did not want to see you any more, as you had cost him too much money now—I have made no inquiries about you except at the public-house where these things were, and they knew nothing about you except that you lived at some coffee-house somewhere.

HENRY ERNEST ATTWOOD . I am a partner in the firm of Hugil, Megeson and Co., wholesale druggists, Mill Lane—on Tuesday 20th July I was present when Mr. Hugil gave Wallis these bottles of the firm to take to the prisoner—these four are worth 12s. 6d., and these two 10s.

The prisoner in his defence stated that Wallis had frequently thrust himself into his society, and that he had had to go into another compartment to get out of his way, that he had brought him sweets and handed him these bottles, but if he had known they were stolen he should not have taken them there and then stood in front of the counter, he also stated that he was not sober at the time.

GUILTY .— Ten Months' without Hard Labour.

 

https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?id=t18860803-810&div=t18860803-810&terms=pine|apple#highlight

 

 

 

 

 

Pineapples on the Page

 

 

 

Letters written by the late Right Honourable Lady Luxborough, to William Shenstone, Esq.

423 pages

423 pages

ECCO

Author: 

Luxborough, Henrietta Knight, Baroness. (1699)

Printer/Publisher

printed for J. Dodsley

Publication date

1775

Publication place

London

 

Ananas: or, a treatise on the pine-apple. In which the whole culture, management, and perfecting this most excellent fruit, is laid down in a ...

64 pages

ECCO

Author: 

Giles, John, gardener..

Printer/Publisher

printed for the author; and sold by S. Bladon; and S. Noble

Publication date

1767?

Publication place

London

 

A treatise on the culture of the pine apple and the management of the hot-house. Together with a description of every species of insect that ...

222 pages

ECCO

Author: 

Speechly, William.

Printer/Publisher

printed for Luke White

Publication date

1786

Publication place

Dublin

 

 

Travels through Spain, with a view to illustrate the natural history and physical geography of that Kingdom, in a series of letters. ...

475 pages

ECCO

Author: 

Dillon, John Talbot, Sir. (ca. -1740)

Printer/Publisher

printed for G. Robinson

Publication date

1780

Publication place

London

 

 

39

 

50he adventures of Peregrine Pickle. In which are included, Memoirs of a lady of quality. In four volumes. ... (Volume 1)

312 pages

ECCOII

Author: 

Smollett, Tobias George. (1721)

Printer/Publisher

printed for R. Baldwin. sic and Robinson and Roberts; and T. Becket and T. Cadell

Publication date

1776

Publication place

London

 

 

A compendium of authentic and entertaining voyages, digested in a chronological series. The whole exhibiting a clear view of the customs, manners, ... (Volume 1)

296 pages

ECCO

Author: 

Smollett, Tobias George. (1721-1771)

Printer/Publisher

printed for W. Strahan; J. Rivington; W. Johnston; J. Dodsley; T. Caslon; T. Lowndes; W. Nicoll; Richardson and Urquhart; T. Jefferies; and B. Collins at Salisbury

Publication date

1766

Publication place

London

 

The pineapple and the bee – William cowper

The pineapple entered the broader Georgian culture in a number of ways. The phrase ‘a pineapple of the finest flavour’ was a metaphor for the most splendid of things. In Sheridan’s popular play The Rivals, Mrs Malaprop exclaims: ‘He is the very pineapple of politeness.’

 

 https://data.historicaltexts.jisc.ac.uk/view?pubId=ecco-0290802400&terms=sheridan%20rivals&pageTerms=pine%20apple&pageId=ecco-0290802400-1700

Sheridan The Rivals

170 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Footnotes:

 

Primary Sources:

 

1. Kew Gardens, http://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:12322-2

 

 

 

 

 

Secondary Sources:

 

 

Historic Heston Blumenthal Bloomsbury London 2013

Theatrum Botanicum: The Theater of Plants, or, An Herball of Large Extent(London: Printed by T. Cotes, 1640)

https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009281777

 

 

 Nutt, Mason, Charlotte The Ladies Assistant London 1775 p.428

Lambert, Abbot, Robert, The Housekeeper’s Valuable Present London nd. c. 1790 p. 28.

 

Richard Bradley’s “The Country Housewife and Lady’s Director” in 1736

 

Letters, from the Year 1774 to the Year 1796 By John Wilkes, 1805. Page 144. 

 

Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine 1824. Page 641: 

The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club By Charles Dickens. 1838. Page 276: 

James Ralph, The Case of Authors by Profession or Trade Stated With Regard to Booksellers, the Stage, and the Public (London: Ralph Griffith, 1758), pp. 41–42.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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