L2 



plants should be set is also a matter which is undergoing a chang) 

 among good growers in Jamaica. Formerly it was considered good 

 practice to set out the plants in rows at two feel apart and at one loot 

 and a half between each other in the row. Later, this practice is 

 being changed to much closer planting, eighteen inches apart being 

 the distance now grown in newer cultivations, with drains or working 

 paths between the rows, six plants in width and ten or twelve in the 

 row. This compact method of planting gives a large increase in the 

 number of plants for the area taken up, and it is held to be of special 

 advantage for the cheaper and commoner sorts, though in point of 

 fact the fancy Smooth Cayenne has been subjected to the same treat- 

 ment. Experience will have to determine among growers which of 

 these plans will suit their soils the best. 



The slips should always be prepared prior to being set out. This 

 is done by removing the lower scales and leaves from the offsets or 

 suckers. If these leaflets be left on, the young plant will be retarded 

 in its growth from the fact that the young rootlets formed in the 

 axillary buds of the leaves will be forced to wind round the plant 

 before arriving in the soil which is their obvious destination. This 

 important fact is easily susceptible of demonstration. The plan is 

 practised by the best growers. 



Second only to the important part played by careful weeding and 

 good tillage, is the pruning of fruit. This consists in the early 

 removal of buds and slips from the stem of the fruiting plant, with 

 the object that the sap shall be wholly diverted to the nourishment of 

 the forming fruit. It is the plan of the early English and Scottish 

 hot-house growers, who did much in the last century to bring the cul- 

 tivation of pine-apples to perfection in their pineries and bark -pits. 

 By close observation they were enabled to attend to the daily wants of 

 the fruit, and their records of cultivation handed down to this day are 

 not unworthy of examination. 



Drainage of the soil plays a very important part in the proper 

 cultivation of this very sensitive and susceptible plant. In a wet sub- 

 soil it is sure to be attacked by a fungoid disease known mostly as 

 •'Ripley spike." Plants so attacked should be removed to drier 

 ground. If. on being taken up. they are seen to be only partially 

 a fleeted, much mtiv be done to arrest the disease in the root by 

 immersing it in a solution of sulphate of iron, which is one of the 

 best of cryptogamicides. as we know from the experience of French 

 horticulturists, who make frequent use of this agent. This substance 

 is usually employed in solutions of about live per cent., but weaker 

 solutions often answer a useful purpose. Concentrated infusions oi 

 strong tobacco, made from the stems, are also in use for the same pur- 

 pose, and for helping the young plants to take on a healthy growth 

 when planted out. 



The packing of plants for market is a special matter, much 

 advance in this respect having been made in Jamaica of recent date by 

 our growers, who now prefer to pack good sorts in much smaller crates 

 than was recently the case. It is a matter for congratulation that 

 crates are now being made in tie island from native woods, and that 



