Vol. VIII. No. 181. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS, 



lor 



iUiv. This distance bctwueii tlie rnws permits the eiiltivatinii 

 of the crop with horse oi- mule hiboiir and machinery, and 

 leads to tlie iiroduction of large attracrtve fruits. I'lants s'-t 

 out at this rate of spacing often produce fruits averaging irora 

 6 to 9 lb. each. 



For canning purposes, smaller fruits are more desirable, 

 ;ind smaller size is to a certain e.xtent ensured by closer 

 planting. The plants are therefore set out in rows i feet 

 ;ipart, and at distances of about 2 feet from plant to plant, 

 which requires about G,000 plants per acre ; or, at distances 

 of 2-i feet by 2 feet, when 10,000 plants per acre are required. 

 If there is a good stand, and the plants are in a healthy 

 condition, about 90 per cent, may bo counted on to bear 

 fruit in from eighteen to twenty-four months after planting. 



When an acre of land is planted with 6,000 pines, the 

 first crop will average about 10 tons. The second, or ratoon 

 crop, will be somewhat liigher, because many of the plants 

 produce two sucker.s, both of which liear fruit. The yield 

 of the ratoon crop of pines has run as high as 20 tons per 

 acre under exceptionally favourable conditions. 



The cultivation consists in keeping the soil between the 

 rows in good condition and free from w^eeds. The pine-apple 

 is a crop that gives best results with perfectly clean cultiya- 

 tion. Where the plants are set in rows 4 feet apart, all of 

 the cultivation for tlie first twelve or fifteen months may be 

 done with horse or nude labour. When the plants fiower, and 

 as they begin to ripen their fruits, the leaves of tlie plant 

 -spread out, .so that it is no longer possible to take machinery 

 between the rows, and after that time hand labour is 

 necessary. The cost of production in the Hawaiian Islands 

 varies from $10 to $15 per ton of pine-apples, and at the 

 canneries, prices of from $20 to .$27 per ton are paid for the 

 fruit. If the fruit is sliip|ied fresh to the Pacific or Eastern 

 markets, prices as high as from $200 to $240 per ton may 

 be realized. 



The chief variety of pine-apple cultivated in 

 Hawaii is the Smooth Cayenne, which is the kind 

 grown in the Azores, and the one which commands the 

 highest price in the London market. This variety does 

 not do well in the West Indies, where the Red Spanish 

 is the most popular and satisfactory kind to grow. The 

 Red Spanish is also grown to a small e.xtent in the 

 Hawaiian Islands. It may be added that the e.xperiments 

 in shipping pine-apples, conducted by the Hawaiian 

 Experiment Station, have shown that this fruit, if 

 carefully handled and packed, can be shipped success- 

 fully to distances of at least 5,000 miles. 



fruitgrowers in m.any countries. The following particu- 

 lars have been abstracce<l from a review of the experi- 

 ments in <iuestion which appeared in Nature of 



Pel 



last: — 



THE PLANTING OF FRUIT TREES. 



Although it might seem that the results of experi- 

 ments as to methods of cultivation conducted under 

 English conditions can have little bearing on the 

 problems presented by tropical agricidture, yet the 

 experimental work carried out at the Woburn Fruit 

 Farm of the Duke of Bedford, in England, includes 

 investigations, which have more than a local interest, 

 and are indeed, in some cases, of universal importance. 

 Such an investigation is one lately described in the 

 ninth annual report of the Woburn Fruit Farm. This 

 deals with the methods of planting fruit trees, and it 

 is notable that the results of the work point to 

 conclusions that are in direct opposition to piinciples 

 which have long been accepted without question by 



Fruit growers in England and other countries have long 

 held the belief, which, however, does not appear to be based 

 on any experimental investigation of the matter, that fruit 

 trees must be planted in a somewhat elaborate manner, and 

 according to certain fixed principles if success is to be 

 attained. The soil is thoroughly prepared : a wide, but not 

 deep hole is made in which the roots are spread out in all 

 directions, and arranged near the surface, with a slight up- 

 ward bearing at the ends. It has always been customary, 

 too, to observe many precautions in filling in the soil. Small 

 ipiantities of finer earth are first worked in among the roots, 

 hollow places caused by archings in the stouter roots are 

 filled up, and then the rest of the soil is put in, trodden care- 

 fully down, and the whole left to the compacting influence ui 

 rain. 



The investigations made at the Woburn Fruit Farm, 

 and ill one or two other districts, by the same experimentors, 

 point to the conclusion, however, that all the elaborate 

 precautions mentioned above, are not only useless, but 

 actually detrimental to the best development of the young 

 tree, and especially of its root system. The experiments, 

 which seem convincing enough, indicate that the proper way 

 to plant a fruit tree is to double the roots up anyhow, and 

 stick the tree in, throw in the soil, and ram it down as if 

 one were fixing a gate-post. 



According to the figures given in relation to the 

 experiment.s, the results in the case of .59 per cent, of the 

 trees were in favour of ramming down the soil, 27 per cent, 

 showed no difference (i.e., all the elaborate detail of the 

 ordinary way of planting was simply a waste of time), and in 

 only 14 per cent, of the cases were the results unfavourable 

 to ramming. 



Examination of the trees shows that ramming has led 

 to a cojHous develoiJinent of fibrous roots. Direct experi- 

 ments showed that the fibrous and small roots produced in 

 the nursery before lifting play no great part as roots during 

 the subsequent life of the tree ; the important point is to 

 induce fresh root formation, and the ramming does this more 

 rapidly than the orthodox method of planting. No harm 

 was done, and .sometimes even good resulted, when the old 

 roots were deliberately damaged before planting. 



These residts of the Woburn work have, of course, 

 not been received altogether favourably by fruit growers 

 in England, but their publication will undoubtedly lead 

 to further investigation on the subject. The points 

 elicited are commended to tke notice of persons who 

 are planting or about to plant fruit trees in the West 

 Indies. 



Curators of Botanic Stations especially, would be 

 well advi.sed to make experiments, if only on a small 

 scale, similar to those described. In order to test the 

 application of the \Voburn results to the planting of 

 oranges, limes, mangos, cacao, etc., in these islands, it 

 would be siirticient to .set out a short row of each kind 

 of tree, alternate trees in the rows being planted 

 according to the old and the new methods, respectively. 

 Where space is not limited, these trees need not be 

 regarded as part of the permanent crop, but may be 

 dug up later, in order to < ompare the eft'ects of the two 

 methods of planting upon the development of the roots. 



