315 



dessert fruit by most persons not only in regions where it is grown 

 1m t in colder ones to which it is exported. This fruit is also 

 cultivated artificially in the United Kingdom and other countries 

 where the climate will not allow it to be grown in the open ground, 

 so highly is the Pine-Apple appreciated. The fruit is extensively 

 used in cookerv and for flavouring confections and liqueurs, and 

 makes delicious jam, jelly, and marmalade. Pine-Apples are also 

 used to a large extent for bottling and canning, for which purpo-i- 



Pine-Apple. 



the fruit is cut into slices or cubes about a-quarter of an inch thick. 

 They are preserved in a syrup more or less dense according to the 

 natural sweetness of the fruit. The process is precisely the same as 

 in bottling and canning other fruits, and for full details see page 74, 

 volume 1. Before the fruit is ripe it is caustically acid, and its use 

 in that state will cause irritating or poisonous effects. In small 

 quantities the acrid juice of the green fruit is used medicinally for 

 worms and other intestinal parasites. In addition to its usefulness 

 as a fruit, the Pine-Apple from its leaves yields a valuable commercial 

 fibre. This fibre, which is known as " Pina," is very fine and strong,, 

 and can be utilized in the manufacture of fine cloth, as also coarser 

 fabrics and cordage. 



Crr/rivATiON. 



As the Pine-Apple is a native of a warm region it can only be- 

 cultivated successfully as a commercial crop in the tropical and 

 sub-tropical portions of Australasia. It is, however, more hardy 



