43 



a splendid shipper and the best seller that has been found of 53 

 varieties that have been tried and tested in the years gone by. 



The writer has grown pine-apples for more than 23 years and 

 continues to grow them in large quantities and whilst small lots of 

 various sorts are grown for nursery purposes, the principal crops 

 at Norbrook consist of Red Spanish which is the only pine-apple 

 that is shipped abroad. 



The Red Spanish plant is vigorous, free from disease and easy 

 to grow and with proper cultivation will yield as high as 95 per 

 cent of marketable fruit in 12 months after planting, and the fields 

 will continue to yield profitable crops for 5 to 6 years, which no 

 other variety will do. 



In view of the foregoing facts it is unwise to grow for shipment 

 any other variety of pine-apple but the Red Spanish. It must be 

 borne in mind that the pine-apple grower is expected to supply the 

 consuming public with what they are willing to pay for, and no 

 matter how well the Ripley may be thought of in its native land, 

 we cannot afford to bring sentiment into any business that is 

 expected to pay a profit on the outlay. On the whole the pine- 

 apple business in Jamaica has been most severely and unjustly 

 condemned by those who were supposed to know something about 

 agriculture, and, had they listened to reason, would not have left 

 the island and published their failures far and near, blaming 

 Jamaica for all their shortcomings, and intimidating those who 

 might have felt inclined to invest their money in a business that if 

 properly conducted, should to-day be one of Jamaica's principal 

 industries. 



COTTON. 



I.— OBSERVATIONS ON THE PLANTING OF COTTON 

 IN THE YEAR 1 786.* 

 It is necessary, in the first place, for those who wish to plant 

 cotton with advantage, to take the early part of the year for pre- 

 paring the soil ; which is best done by hoe-ploughing, or laying the 

 ground in small ridges or potatoe hills, which prevents the soil 

 throwing out a crop of weeds, and gives double vigour to the 

 powers of vegetation, The months of May, June or July, are 

 the best seasons in Jamaica for planting; and when the rain has 

 penetrated the ground to the depth of twelve inches, there is every 

 chance of succeeding in getting the plants so strong as to resist the 

 dry season until the October rains come. I recommend immersing 

 the seeds in water for twelve hours before planting them, as they 

 may sooner come up and get strength, than by putting them in the 

 ground in their dry state. The seeds so immersed separate, part 

 sink and part swim ; the heaviest are to be the best depended on. 

 The distance of the plants should be three feet in the line, and 

 eight feet separate between such lines. I find, when so close, the 

 trees are better protected from the dry weather, the ground being 

 sheltered by their foliage ; something resembling the old style of cut 



t Extract from the Jamaica Almanac for 1787. 



