PINEAPPLE rn/rrRE IN SOUTH AFRICA 



to remove the lower or basal leaves correspondingly lengthens 

 the period before the tirst crop will mature. The sucker will, 

 under tropical conditions, produce its first crop in from 12 to 

 IS months, and in a cooler temperature will take from two to 

 three years, the shorter period with the stronger and more 

 vigorous plants and the longer with the weaker ones. If a 

 plantation is being broken up, the simpler way is to remove 

 the plants and cart them over to the new site, when the best 

 of the suckers can be selected and any doubtful ones discarded. 

 My previous remarks on the selection of plants for their fruiting 

 and freedom from excessive suckering must be borne in mind. 

 Slips are prepared in the same manner as that described for 

 the sucker, except that they are removed from the stalk at 

 the same time as the crop is harvested. As at such a time most 

 of the hands are too busy with the crop to undertake any frest 1 

 planting, the slips are thrown into a shed and allowed tv 

 remain there until such time as the land is ready or the hands 

 are free. There is more difficulty in handling slips for planting 

 than suckers, as in many cases they are very short, and are 

 difficult to firm in the ground, particularly if the ground is of 

 a loose, sandy nature. 



ROTTING OF SLIPS FROM SAND. 



Owing to the shortness of the individual leaves, the cup-like 

 formation of the centre or heart of the slip, it is not unusual 

 to find after a heavy rain, (if the soil is of a sandy nature), 

 that the centre is filled up with sand; this, unless removed, 

 Ls likely to cause rot of the heart of the plant, which may 

 finally destroy it during its first year of existence. In order to 

 avoid this, it is the custom in some parts of IHorida to drop 

 a small quantity of cotton seedineal into the heart; this meal 

 becomes a congealed mass; as soon as the first rain falls, the 

 young leaves as they grow push the ball so formed out of the 

 plant, and by the time this occurs the danger from the sand 

 is a thing of the past. If this method is not adopted, it may 

 be necessary to wash out the sand by pouring water from the 

 spout of a can, with sufficient force to wash out the sand. As 

 a general rule the time taken for the slip or crown of the plant 

 to develop fruit is from 6 months to a year longer than in the 

 case of the sucker. It must be remembered that the Pineapple, 

 being largely of the nature of an air plant, can thrive on a 

 much smaller rainfall than many other crops; the formation 

 of the leaves assists in carrying all the moisture which falls 

 or settles on them, down to the base of the plant ; the leaves 

 acting as channels is of great assistance to the plant, especially 

 in districts where the rainfall is comparatively light, but in 

 which owing to other conditions, heavy dews or mists are fre- 

 quent; every drop which settles on the leaves is In this way 

 conveyed to the roots. 



