Evelyn in his Diary mentions tasting a pine-apple from Barbados at the table of Charles II., and this is we believe the first mention of the fruit in English literature. A picture, of which a copy may be seen at the rooms of the Royal Horticultural Society of London, represents the royal gardener, Mr Rose, presenting on bended knee the first pine-apple grown in Britain, and it is surmised that this may have been grown from the “suckers” of the fruit above alluded to by Evelyn, though it is generally considered that the pine was not cultivated in England till 1712. In spite of the great improvements in the quality of pines, and the great progress that has been brought about in the rapidity and facility of production, pinegrowing is still attended with considerable expense, and much expenditure of time and labour. At the same time great attention has been given to pine culture in the West India Islands, the Azores, &c., and very large quantities of fruit of fine quality are imported into Britain at relatively low prices. But for pines of the highest flavour in the winter and spring seasons Englishmen must still look to their own gardens. See Horticulture.