68 2 THE PINEAPPLE. 



or they may become stunted or seriously retarded. Being a 

 voracious feeder, a liberal dressing of strong nitrogenous fer- 

 tilizers will promote an astonishing luxuriance of growth, 

 causing the leaves to stand often six feet high, and the fruit 

 to swell with fatness. From one to two thousand pounds per 

 acre every year of blood and bone, fish guano, or cotton-seed 

 meal are recommended as continually improving the quan- 

 tity, quality, and size of the fruit. Even three times the above 

 amount has been used to advantage, and the results are better 

 if the materials are made into a compost and well rotted be- 

 fore application. The Florida soft phosphate, combined with 

 kainit or potash salts and cotton-seed meal, makes a very 

 effective and complete fertilizer. There are also some excel- 

 lent formulas gotten up expressly for the pineapple by manu- 

 facturers of the best commercial manures. By this course of 

 liberal feeding, plantations do not become exhausted in a 

 few years as they otherwise would, but steadily improve, bid- 

 ding fair to last for an indefinite period. The first year's crop 

 should average ninety per cent and that of the second year 

 one hundred per cent, or more if several suckers are left to a 

 stalk. Some water is needed, and this is generally supplier 

 by the rains. Much is drawn up by the tap-roots from below 

 and no small quantity is caught in the shape of dew by th< 

 long concaved leaves, and conveyed by them directly to tht 

 stalk and roots. 



Setting. Before setting, the ground should be thoroughl] 

 loosened and fertilized. The offsets are prepared by stripping; 

 away a few of the leaf-butts and paring the ends smoothly, 

 which helps the formation of tap-roots. This brings the em- 

 bryo roots into close contact with the soil and encourages them 

 to strike at once. If not done, they will be slower in starting, 

 and some may not start at all. This is the general practice, 

 but a few growers deem this cutting and trimming to be un- 

 necessary, and plant with the lower leaves spread out and 

 covered with soil, which is firmly tramped around the stalk. 

 The sets should be planted on a level slips about three 

 inches deep ; suckers four to six inches. The centre or bud 

 must be left high enough above the ground to avoid as much 

 as possible the washing in of sand, which may check or even 

 kill the plant. A pinch of cotton-seed meal dropped in as- 



