PERSIMMON AND PINEAPPLE 4Q5 



bore fruit the same season. The first four or five years, however, all fruit 

 should be picked off. It is during this time, too, that all the pruning is 

 done, just to shape the tree. Picking begins the middle of September and 

 lasts until December. The fruit is then unripe, hard as a green tomato, 

 colored, but not the same as they became later. They are wrapped in 

 papers like peaches, and packed in peach boxes, holding about 30 Ibs.; the 

 largest size being the highest priced. The Tane Nashi variety pays best on 

 account of its size and earliness. Seven main varieties are grown and 

 shipped, as follows: Tane Nashi, Hachiyu, Hyakume (the most important), 

 Maru Kaki, Mikado and Edoishi. 



Some trees yield over 30 boxes, many are not yet in bearing; the crop in 

 1912 was 2200 boxes, in 1913 1500, because the trees bear lighter in alter- 

 nate years. 



New York is the best market, Pittsburg, Philadelphia and Boston being 

 good, while the demand is light in the Middle West. Many are sold in San 

 Francisco, where the average net in 1913 was $1.08^ per box, while the 

 net on eastern shipments was $1.35. The fruit is too hard to eat even after 

 shipment to New York, where it must be stored some time until well 

 ripened. 



More recently the persimmon has commanded higher prices, and 

 the fruit shipped in December 1918 from the J. B. Hamaker ranch 

 in Placer County brought $5.25 a box packed in an ordinary peach 

 container, with some forty to forty-five fruits to a box. Still the 

 persimmon should be regarded conservatively. It does not yet ap- 

 pear that Americans care much for it. 



THE PINEAPPLE 



Casual experiments with the pineapple in the open air in this 

 State have been made for a number of years, the fruit being occa- 

 sionally produced. Most was accomplished by Mr. J. B. Rapp, of 

 Hollywood, Los Angeles County, in the Cahuenga Valley, and in 

 that part of the valley which is famed as frostless, where even beans 

 and tomatoes survive winter temperatures. Mr. Rapp succeeded 

 in getting fruits which weighed from two to four pounds each. If 

 the strongest offsets or suckers are planted they bear inside of a 

 year, and if the fruit sets from May to November it gets good size, 

 but setting at other times in the year is usually undersized on ac- 

 count of the slow growth during the winter and early spring. It 

 seems probable that the pineapple resents the dry air of our sum- 

 mer, as well as the lack of winter heat, and a lath covering and a 

 summer spraying may be desirable. It is very doubtful whether 

 the fruit can be profitably grown in this State on a commercial 

 scale. 



The pineapple thrives best on a fine sandy loam, but will grow 

 well on many soils if well drained and cultivated. The plants can 

 be set three by three or four by five feet, so as to allow cultivation 

 both ways while the plants are young. Plants are secured from 

 "suckers," which come from the root, from "slips," which grow 

 on the stem just below the "apple," and from "crowns," or the tufts 

 of leaves at the top of the fruit. Suckers are said to bear in one 

 year, and slips and crowns in two years. Strong suckers are best 

 for planting, and they should be set out early in the spring, as soon 

 as the danger of cold weather is over. 



