474 CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



Recently, however, the local demand has increased because of 

 the large numbers of Japanese who are now upon the Pacific 

 Coast and a shipping demand for the fruit from Seattle to the Ha- 

 waiian Islands and other Pacific ports, has arisen. The removal 

 of astringency while the fruit remains firm has been successfully 

 accomplished by Mr. George C. Roeding of Fresno, following a 

 Japanese method. It is simply to place the fruit in tubs, from 

 which saki, or Japanese " rice beer," has been lately removed. The 

 tubs are hermetically sealed, and the fruit left in them from eight 

 to ten days. When it is then removed, it is found to have alto- 

 gether lost the puckering power. Mr. Roeding says that he used 

 eight large saki tubs, each of which would hold twenty-five gallons, 

 and in those treated one thousand pounds of persimmons. 



THE PINEAPPLE 



Casual experiments with the pineapple in the open air in this 

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

 sionally produced. Most has been accomplished by Mr. J. B. Rapp, 

 of Hollywood, Los Angeles County. Mr. Rapp's place is in the 

 Cahuenga Valley, and in that part of the valley which is famed 

 as frostless, where even beans and tomatoes survive winter tem- 

 peratures. Mr. Rapp set out his first twenty-five plants in 1891, 

 and a number of his neighbors also set out groups of plants, but 

 two years finished up all but his. In 1893 the first of his plants 

 fruited, but they did not seem to take kindly to the situation at 

 first. They grew very slowly and the first fruit only weighed half 

 a pound. After setting out his own acclimated plants, they have 

 done better each year, and the fruit which Mr. Rapp has sold 

 recently has weighed from two to four pounds each. If the strong- 

 est offsets or suckers are planted they bear inside of a year, and 

 Mr. Rapp is endeavoring to have his fruit set from May to Novem- 

 ber, as the fruit setting at other times in the year is usually under- 

 sized on account of the slow growth during the winter and early 

 spring. It seems probable that the pineapple resents the dry air 

 of our summer as well as the lack of winter heat, and a lath cover- 

 ing and a summer spraying may be desirable. It is very doubtful 

 whether the fruit can be profitably grown in this State on a com- 

 mercial 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 



