19 



up and planted again. If the labourer who plants them is charged 

 for his mistakes, he will be more particular in future as to getting 

 them perfectly straight. 



CULTIVATION. 



After the plants have been set out, they can be left alone for 

 five to six weeks to allow them to become well rooted, unless 

 weed growth becomes too vigorous. If weeds become at all pre- 

 valent, the beds must be hoed without delay, for during this early 

 stage of growth weeds and grass should never be allowed to grow 

 or get ahead so as to cause the plants to receive a check, as plants 

 that have their growth checked at this early stage rarely, if ever 

 recover. 



Nothing but a push or scuffle hoe should be used in the cultiva- 

 tion of pine-apples, A special hoe, 10 inches wide and about 3 

 inches deep and sharpened on both sides with a handle about 8 

 feet long, has proved a very useful tool.* 



The hoer should be a careful worker and should be instructed 

 to stand in the trenches between the beds. He should never be 

 be allowed to walk among the plants or to trample down the soil. 

 The usual method of cultivation is to hoe from each side, pushing 

 the hoe between the plants, gauging so that the hoe will cut about 

 \ inch beneath the surface of the soil so as to cut off every weed 

 or piece of grass showing. Great care should be taken not to 

 disturb the plants by knocking the hoe against them, because 

 when they are just beginning to take root the slightest jar will 

 check their growth. 



In about six weeks after the suckers have been planted, they 

 should, undtr favourable conditions, be showing growth. The 

 best time to plant is probably during June, July, and August. It 

 is frequently a difficult matter to procure plants before July, for 

 the reason that suckers and slips are hardly ripe enough for plant- 

 ing. If gathered immature they are liable to rot. 



After the plants show growth, an application of tobacco dust 

 will prove highly beneficial, This dust contains 6 to 8 per cent. 

 of potash, 3 to 4 per cent, of ammonia, and about 2 per cent. 

 of phosphoric acid. Besides being a good fertilizer, it is an in- 

 secticide, and this makes its use doubly valuable. The best 

 method of applying tobacco dust is to have the labourer 

 handle it in buckets. He carefully walks among the plants 

 and drops a pinch of the dust into the heart or bud of each. 

 This, of course, necessitates walking on the beds, but it can be 

 done with care and the beds can receive another hoeing after- 

 wards. Dust is often applied before hoeing, so that the beds are 

 left in a good condition. 



Tobacco dust should be applied at intervals of two to three 

 months in small doses, each application requiring about 600 lb. 

 per acre if carefully distributed. Such applications can be con- 

 tinued until three months before flowering of the plants, when 

 all applications should cease. As pine apples generally blossom 



*Such hoes may be obtained from Messrs. Parkes, Birmingham. 



