PINEAPPLE CULTURE IN SOUTH AFRICA 



Pineapple Culture in South Africa 



INTRODUCTION TO ENGLAND. 



England may be looked upon as the best market for the pine- 

 apple as it is for other fruits raised in South Africa; it may be. 

 well, therefore, to give a short resume of its ir.te^duction into 

 that country. It was known as far back as the . .iimt of Charles j( 

 II, and, as far as can be ascertained, was firpt' imported into that 

 country during his reign. Both Buckingham am! the droll old 

 diarist, Pepys, make mention of it then. Several 'of the best 

 varieties have been disseminated from the hot houses of England, 

 and it is only during the last half century that this fruit has 

 been imported in large quantities from other lands, English hot- 

 houses being up to that time the principal source of supply. As 

 the price of the hot-house fruit was anything from 20s. to 5|jr 

 each, according to size and condition, it will be realised that the '* 

 demand was somewhat limited. 



WHERE THE PINE THRIVES. 



Given suitable soil the pineapple may be said to thrive any- 

 where 25 degrees north or south of the Equator, provided the 

 altitude is not too great and the district free from frost. There 

 are areas beyond those latitudes in which the plant thrives by 

 reason of special local conditions, and in like manner there are 

 areas within those latitudes, which owing, perhaps, to altitude 

 or cold winds coming off high mountains in the neighbourhood, 

 are unsuitable yet the pine will grow and thrive where many 

 other crops are more or less a failure ; it will not, however, stand 

 frost. 



FREEDOM FROM FROST. 



In frost-free climates with a high summer temperature, such 

 as that of the Bahamas, the pineapple produces heavy crops, but 

 as, in most of these tropical or semi-tropical islands, the soil is 

 either very shallow or very sandy, the period over which paying 

 crops can be reaped is a short one, necessitating continuous re- 

 planting or new fields. I shall deal with these matters at a 

 later stage. 



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