174 FLORIDA FRUITS PINE- APPLES. 



sidered of much importance in its commercial value, and 

 the Spanish to-day is the favorite pine-apple with the 

 "large" Florida planter. 



SUGAR-LOAF. 



This is a superior fruit, fragrant and delicious in flavor, 

 but inferior in size to the Spanish, and for this reason not 

 so generally cultivated for market. The Egyptian Queen 

 or Trinidad, and the smooth-leaved Cayenne are fine va- 

 rieties, the fruit of the former being considered superior 

 to the Sugar-loaf, while the large fruit and the smooth 

 leaves of the Cayenne makes it a very desirable sort to 

 cultivate ; one of the drawbacks to pine-apple culture be- 

 ing the torn clothes and flesh that are apt to follow quick 

 or careless movements among its prickly leaves. 



In the Azores where, as in Florida, freezing winds some- 

 times sweep over the islands, pine-apple culture is one of 

 the great staples, and vast conservatories are built on pur- 

 pose to preserve the fruiting plants from the uncertainties 

 of the climate. 



Fruiting plants, we repeat for there is a distinction 

 made between plants too small and those large enough to 

 bear fruit the former are left in the open ground to take 

 their chances as best they may, until they are nearly ready 

 to fruit, then they are carefully taken up and placed in 

 the conservatory, where the whole energies of the gar- 

 dener are devoted to the task of coaxing out of them the 

 largest and finest pine-apples possible. 



This plant, as we have seen, does not fruit at any given 

 time of year, but according to its size : and it is a point 

 with Azorians to place their best fruit in the London mar- 

 ket during the Christmas festivities and the height of the 

 " season." They have found a method of making their 

 plants fruit at the proper time by constant attention, to 



