FRUITS OF QUEENSLAND. 33 



Like the banana, the pineapple is a tropical fruit, and is very sensitive 

 to cold, hence its culture is confined to frost-less districts. It is grown all 

 along our eastern seaboard, where, when planted in suitable soils and under 

 mutable conditions, it is, undoubtedly, our hardiest fruit, and is practically 

 immune from any serious disease. Its culture is entirely in the open, no shelter 

 \\ liau-ver being given, so that we are not put to the great expense that growers 

 of this fruit in Florida and some other pineapple-producing countries must 

 incur if they wish to secure a crop. Here we have no severe freeze-outs, and, 

 though dry spells retard the growth at times, we have never suffered any serious 

 injury from this cause. In the Southern part of the State, the coolness of the 

 winter retards growth somewhat, and occasionally the tops of the leaves and 

 young fruit are slightly injured, particularly in low-lying land, or where the 

 plants are growing on land having a cold subsoil. When grown under more 

 favourable conditions, however, they sustain no injury, and produce fruit, more 

 or less, all the year round. Pines are always in season, though there are times 

 when they are comparatively scarce. There are usually two main crops a year 

 viz., a summer and a winter crop. The former is the heavier of the two, and 

 the fruit is decidedly the best, as its sugar contents are much higher. The 

 main summer crop ripens in the North from the beginning of November, and 

 in the South from January to as late as March in some seasons. The main 

 winter crop is usually at its best in July and August, but there is always more 

 or less fruit during the other months of the year. The pineapple likes a warm, 

 free, well-drained soil, that is free from frost in winter, and that will not 

 become soured by heavy rain during summer. Sandy loams are, therefore, our 

 best pineapple soils, though it does well on free loams of basaltic or alluvial 

 origin. Unlike the banana, the pineapple does not do too well in newly burnt 

 off scrub land, owing to the difficulty in working the ground and keeping it 

 clean. It requires a thorough preparation of the soil prior to planting in order 

 to be grown to perfection. In the case of new land of suitable texture, the 

 timber should all be burnt off, and all stumps and roots taken out of the soil, 

 which should then be carefully broken up and reduced to a fine tilth, all weed or 

 grass growth being destroyed. It should then be again ploughed, and, if 

 possible, subsoiled, so as to permit of the roots penetrating the ground to a fair 

 depth instead of their merely depending on the few top inches of surface soil. 

 Careful preparation of the land and deep stirring prior to planting will be 

 found to pay well, and turn out far the cheapest in the end. Given suitable soil, 

 well prepared, the growing of pineapples is not at all difficult, as the plants 

 soon take root, and once they become established, they prove themselves to be 

 extremely hardy. Pines will grow and thrive on comparatively poor soil, pro- 

 vided it is of suitable texture, but in such soils it is necessary to supplement the 

 plant food in the soil by the addition of manures, if large fruit and heavy crops 

 are to be obtained. Pineapples are propagated by means of suckers coming 

 from the base of fruit-bearing plants, or from smaller suckers, or, as they 

 are termed, robbers or gill sprouts that start from the fruiting stem just at 

 the base of the fruit. They are also sometimes propagated by means of the 

 crown, but this method is usually considered too slow. Well-developed suckers 

 are usually preferred, as these come into bearing earliest, but equally good, 

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