17 



the fruit on the spot. This can be done by growers combining 

 and erecting a modest factory. Encouragement should then be 

 offered to others to grow good fruit, which would be purchased 

 for cash delivered at the factory, at a price that will pay the 

 grower handsomely and allow the factory to earn a fair percent- 

 age on the investment. There is always a good demand for 

 canned pine-apples in England, and large shipments of such 

 goods are sent from Singapore every year to both London and 

 Liverpool. If Singapore can make the canning of pine-apples a 

 profitable business, with its cheap labour, there are other advan- 

 tages that are enjoyed by the West Indies that the East can never 

 hope to have. I think that if this subject be given the considera- 

 tion it deserves, a new industry that can be depended upon to 

 yield revenue to many of the West India islands would be the 

 result. 



A canning factory was erected in Jamaica in 1905, and it has 

 given successful results. Many obstacles were encountered be- 

 fore the business could be made profitable ; mistakes were made 

 and losses incurred.* 



Another canning factory is now being erected in Trinidad, which 

 may prove a profitable investment to those who have had the 

 courage to lay out their money in a new enterprise. Every en- 

 couragement should be given the promoters by the planters in 

 Trinidad who if they planted largely, would find ready sale for 

 all their fruit at remunerative prices. 



ESTABLISHING FIELDS. 



To establish a pine-apple plantation needs some knowledge as 

 to the proper methods to follow, and although Cuba produces 

 millions of fine pine-apples, the method of laying out fields in 

 Cuba are somewhat crude. 



The Cuban method is to plough the land, turn 'up ridges about 

 3 feet apart as for sweet potatoes, and then to plant the pine- 

 apple suckers along the top of these ridges about 8 inches apart 

 in the rows. This method of planting is not to be recommended, 

 for the plants are too far apart between the rows and too close 

 together in the rows. The plants receive no support from one 

 another, and when they fruit, the weight causes them to turn over. 

 In consequence, the fruit becomes sunburned, the plants become 

 uprooted, and the suckers find much difficulty in striking their 

 roots into the soil. The fields soon deteriorate, as the sun bakes 

 the soil and burns the roots of the plants. 



The Cuban possesses an idea of drainage but his understand- 

 ing of this necessary part of pine-apple cultivation is very crude, 

 and it might be anticipated that if he only knew more about the 

 proper cultivation of pine-apples, much better results would be 

 obtained. 



After twenty-four years devoted to the growing of pine-apples 

 both in the sandy soils of Florida where no drainage is ever 



* The late earthquake 'destroyed all the stock of goods that had been made up, 

 which happened to be stored in the city of Kingston. 



