PINE 



2629 



two enemies of the white pine have developed which 

 require attention. The one, a fungous disease, seems 

 to be an importation from Germany, the white pine 

 blister rust (Peridermium strobi), which attacks young 

 trees and young foliage of the white pine tribe. It 

 needs gooseberry and currant as intermediary host 

 plants. The other pest is the white pine weevil, which 

 works in the young shoots and disfigures the tree by 

 inducing repeatedly new leaders to develop. 



To prune evergreens, and especially pines, requires 

 an artist, or else the result will be malformation: the 

 best plan is to correct form by breaking out the center 

 bud from such shoots as project beyond proper limits; 

 thereby also a more compact growth is induced, which 

 in the pines with their open habit is desirable. If it 

 becomes necessary to prune the branches, the cut must 

 remove also the bolster at the base of the branch; 

 the resinous exudation will prevent decay, and the 

 cambium soon covers the scar if the cut has been made 

 properly. For hedge planting the pines furnish no 

 specially desirable material, being light-needing and 

 therefore thinning out soon in the interior; yet the 

 white pine will stand as a hedge for a considerbale time 

 and also the dwarf P. montana. Perhaps some others 

 may answer the purpose. 



For the botany of the pines, see Pinus. 



B. E. FEKNOW. 



PINEAPPLE. The pineapple (see Ananas) is indig- 

 enous to America. It produces one of the most delicious 

 fruits now regularly on the markets. The finest qual- 

 ities are developed when the fruit is permitted to ripen 

 naturally upon the plant. For distant markets the 

 crop has to be gathered in varying degrees of unripeness 

 to suit the time required in transit. 



The year 1850 seems to be the earliest date at which 

 pineapple-growing was attempted in the United States. 

 This attempt was made near St. Augustine, Florida, 

 according to Taylor. In 1860, planting was begun on 



2952. Cuttings of pineapple, ready to be planted. 



the Keys, but the want of facilities for rapid transpor- 

 tation and the more favored Cuban and Porto Rican 

 plantations, made the development slow. In 1897, 

 about $15,000 worth was imported from the Hawaiian 

 Islands. 



Good pineapple land may usually be obtained f9r 

 $25 to $100 an acre, the higher-priced land being in 

 favored locations at railway stations and near settle- 

 ments. The cost of clearing and preparing varies from 

 $20 to $80 an acre, according to the cost of labor and 

 the character of the growth on the land. 



From 8,000 to 15,000 plants are needed to the acre, 

 varying with the variety and the notion of the planter. 



The price of plants in the field varies from $3 the 1,000 

 for Red Spanish to $350 the 1,000 for the finer varieties. 

 The cost of cultivating and fertilizing an acre for one 

 year varies from about $20 to $150. It requires about 

 eighteen months from the time of setting out to the 

 maturing of the first crop, which yields 50 to 350 crates 

 to the acre. Under favorable circumstances the second 

 crop may be double that of the first. By careful atten- 

 tion the plantation may be continued for eight or ten 

 years without resetting; the second or third crop fre- 

 quently bears the maximum amount of fruit. 



When a common variety is planted, the returns are 

 mainly from the sale of fruit, but with fancy varieties 

 the sale of plants constitutes the main source of returns. 

 Four hundred dollars or more an acre has been realized 

 frequently for a crop of the commonest varieties; in 

 this case increase in plants cannot be considered as of 

 much value. The value of a crop of fancy fruit is about 

 double that of the common, and $1,000 worth of plants 

 may be sold without detriment to the plantation, if it is 

 a variety that is in demand. From this must be sub- 

 tracted the cost of transporting to the markets, which 

 varies more or less with the distance the fruit is hauled. 

 This cost varies with the quantity shipped, from $20 to 

 $80 or more an acre. 



The pineapple thrives in a variety of soils, but what- 

 ever its texture it must not be moist or wet. The pine- 

 apple plant will survive air-drying for months, but 

 decays rapidly in a moist atmosphere. The greatest 

 acreage is located upon dry sandy land, formerly over- 

 grown with spruce-pine (Pinus dausa) or a mixture of 

 spruce-pine and hardwood. Chemical analyses of the 

 soil from pineapple fields show an exceedingly small 

 fraction of a per cent of the essential fertilizer ingredi- 

 ents present. A physical analysis shows that the water- 

 content is very low. A considerable acreage is planted 

 on the Florida Keys. Here there is only a small amount 

 of leaf-mold, often not more than an inch on the aver- 

 age, covering a coralline rock. But for the fact that 

 pineapples actually grow and make crops on such soil 

 it would seem entirely incredible. 



With conditions of soil as described above, it is 

 imperative to fertilize, and under the existing condi- 

 tions in the pineapple belt there is no other remedy 

 than the addition of commercial fertilizers, and noth- 

 ing better. While much is still to be learned about 

 fertilizing this crop, it is fairly well established that for 

 pineapples on spruce-pine land, dried blood, ground 

 bone, and nitrate of soda are good sources of nitrogen; 

 that low-grade sulfate of potash, carbonate of potash 

 and high-grade sulfate of potash are good sources of 

 potash; that acid phosphate should be used in small 

 quantities only or avoided, using pulverized bone 

 instead. A good plan for fertilizing is to drop a small 

 handful of cottonseed meal into the bud immediately 

 after setting out. In October, apply about 600 pounds 

 blood and bone and 400 pounds low-grade sulfate of 

 potash (not kainit) to the acre, or the equivalent of these 

 fertilizers in some of the forms mentioned above. A 

 second application may be made the following Feb- 

 ruary; at this time the amount may be increased 10 to 

 25 per cent, according to the growth the plants have 

 made. A third application may be made in June or 

 July; and if the plants have grown vigorously a still 

 further increase in amount may be made. A fourth 

 application may be made in October, increasing the 

 amount if the plants have grown vigorously. The suc- 

 ceeding applications may be made at the time sug- 

 gested above, and the increasing and decreasing of the 

 amounts may be determined by the progress of the 

 plants. As the average spruce-pine pineapple land is not 

 sufficiently fertile to grow a full crop of pineapples, 

 much more depends upon proper fertilizing than any 

 other one operation. 



This plant is propagated by means of crowns, slips, 

 suckers, and rattoons. The crown is the leafy part 



