The most convenient time to take away the suckers is from the middle of June to the end of the month. Both suckers and crowns must be put in sandy earth in little pots, as in this manner they strike their roots best; but when the plants have grown larger, they must be transplanted in the following year in richer and less sandy earth, and in larger pots, care being taken that the earth is not loosened from the roots in shifting them. The most convenient time for transplanting them is in March, when the plants must be taken from the hot-house and put in a bed of earth under a frame. Care must be taken in shifting them into other pots, to make the earth adhere well to the roots, and to water them well afterwards, and not to use too large pots, as they take up more room, are not so easily handled, and are less proper for growing large fruit than those of a moderate size; the most convenient pots for transplanting are ten inches in diameter within the rim, seven inches at bottom, and ten and a half inches deep. The plants, when growing, commonly require a great deal of water, and more when they set their fruit. They should then be watered frequently all over their leaves. Afterwards they must be treated with more caution, and be less watered; for too much water would be injurious about the time of the ripening of the fruit, which would get watery, and of a transparent greenish yellow, and be of inferior taste and smell. Too little water dries them up, and makes the _marrow_ perish in the leaves, the first signs of which are, when you hold the green leaves towards the light, you will perceive them speckled with yellowish spots. To produce proper fruit, the plant of a sucker or crown must have grown well and bulky, at least for three years; the first sign of setting fruit is, that its leaves spread a little, and the plant opens a little in the heart where the fruit soon shews itself like the head of a large nail. As the fruit and stalk grow higher, the fruit grows rounder, with pointed little leaves like thistles, on some reddish, and on others whitish spreading leaves. After the fruit has grown about a month, and is of the size of a walnut, there appears out of each knob a three-leaved pointed little flower, which, in the Common Ananas, is of a pale blue colour; on the Red Ananas, deep blue; and on the third sort, the Smooth Ananas, almost violet. This flower does not fall off with the increase of the fruit, but shrivels up, and leaves some visible remains behind when the fruit has attained its full maturity.