172 FLORIDA FRUITS PINE- APPLES. 



But let the plant be large and well on toward the fruit- 

 ing time, and then if the leaves are killed the fruit will 

 be small and unmarketable, while if water should be stand- 

 ing in the little cup formed by the center leaves, w r hen a 

 sharp frost sufficient to freeze the water chances that way, 

 woe to the plant itself; 'its tender life currents will be so 

 chilled and shocked as never more to grow, and the plant 

 will droop and die, to be replaced by feeble suckers. 



But there is no need that such mishaps should occur 

 with a careful planter ; a slight protection will insure the 

 safety of the pine-apple in sections where frost sometimes 

 occurs. 



While the plants are small a couple of sticks shingles 

 are convenient for making them stuck down so that their 

 tops meet above the plant, with a handful of the long gray 

 moss so abundant in the hammocks which, by the way, 

 is no moss at all, but belongs to the pine-apple family, and 

 is an air-plant dropped over them, is all-sufficient. 



When they become too large for this, two ten- or twelve- 

 inch boards, nailed together at a right angle, and then 

 placed over the plant like an inverted trough, afford an 

 excellent shelter. If the boards are not over ten feet long, 

 one man can easily lift them into position on the approach 

 of a threatening night, for it is at night that the Florida 

 frosts nearly always occur. 



Another method of protection is to drive down low 

 stakes among the pine-apples, to lay small scantling or 

 rails from stake to stake, and on these pile brush, corn- 

 stalks, any thing that will serve as a shelter ; cloths or 

 bagging are also often stretched over the protecting frame- 

 work, and these, though" a little expensive at the outset, 

 are really economical in the end, since the one expense 

 serves for season after season, while brush must be collected 

 and removed each year. 



