11 



necessary attentions are of much interest from the responsive nature 



of the plant. It resj ds freely in fact to good cultivation, and will 



not thrive excepl under good cultivation. It, must be kepi free from 

 weeds, constant tillage ami a free loosening of the soil being of obvious 

 advantage in the steady and useful growth of the foliage, which is a 

 necessary preliminary to the growth of the fruit. The native; sorts of 

 nines lend themselves readily to a rapid mode of reproduction, by the 

 growth of slips and offsets: even the small slips often formed at the 

 base of the crown of the fruit known as cockscombs, may be used for 

 multiplication, and they will come true to the mother-plant, but these 

 modes are not advisable from the practical point of view. The best 

 mode of reproduction is to make use of the offsets which spring mostly 

 from the lower foliage of the plant, but which also sometimes spring 

 up through the soil from the roots and are then known as " suckers." 

 An offset or sucker should be taken and set out when it is about ten 

 to twelve inches in length: if taken later it will be almost sure to give 

 a plant which will mature too soon and give an imperfect fruit that 

 will be of no value, whereas if taken at the proper period mentioned, 

 the result will be a plant that will attain full maturity and yield in 

 due season a good marketable fruit. When an overgrown offset or 

 sucker has to be set out, it would be better to stop its flowering at the 

 first moment and so obtain a good multiplication of better plants. 



Besides the native sorts, chief amongst which are the three Rip- 

 leys, Green, Red, and the Queen Ripley, the smooth Cayenne ranks 

 best as a " fancy pine." This sort has gained its excellent qualities 

 chiefly by long cultivation under glass, at first, it is believed, in 

 England, but later in the Azores. In Jamaica there are two sorts of 

 Smooth Cayenne, a good sort and a very poor sort, the latter being 

 known as the Honolulu, on account of the place of its principal 

 production. This variety should not be chosen by good growers who 

 wish to obtain choice fruit. 



The pine-apple readily responds to proper manuring. The writer 

 has tested with advantage the various applications of sulphate and 

 nitrate of potash, applied experimentally to very young plants. The 

 sulphate had a visible effect when applied alone ; the effect was mark- 

 edly increased when lime was added along with the sulphate, but the 

 best effect resulted from the application alone of nitrate of potash, or 

 saltpetre, in small and repeated quantities. The nitrate of potash, 

 however, is too expensive for general cultivation. Therefore, as a 

 practical manure we had to fall back upon leaf-mould, so highly 

 recommended by Mr. Spon. At Limetta. in Clarendon, we had a good 

 supply of leaf-mould obtained from the base of a large Mountain 

 Guava, growing wild in the forest, where it formed a heap of spent 

 vegetable material at the base. Leaf-mould is in fact made up of 

 most of the mineral substances mentioned in Mr. Bowrey's analysis, 

 and is usually rich in lime. Practically, it helps both the foliage and 

 the fruit. 



Annual cultivation is now coming into vogue, that is, the offsets 

 are set out annually in recently worked soil, and it is claimed that an 

 advantage is gained thereby. Experience is wanted, however, to 

 determine the value of this mode. The distance apart at which the 



