678 



tural Departmeot of Nigeria at Old Calabar, "Lagos/' and Oloke 

 Meji and regularly distributed — -^^ Green Ripley " — with the two 

 last-mentioned varieties under cultivation at the Botanic Garden, 

 Victoria, Cameroons (Deistel, Trop, Gart, p. 47) — '' Red Spanish, "- 

 and "Natal" — a small variety largely used for canning; fruit- 

 often not over 6 in. long, very desirable and just large enough to 

 serve at a dinner-table ; origin not known, though in cultivation 

 many years in Natal (Fairchild, U.S. Dept. Agric. Bur. PI. Ind- 

 Bull. No. 25, 1903, p. 20). It is probable that this is the same as 

 referred to in manj^ parts of tropical Africa, growing practically 

 wild — in Nigeria there is a " bush " variety of which the origin 

 would be difficult to trace, and mention is made (Agric. prat, 

 pays chauds, i. 1901-02, p. 158) of a local variety — grown with 



improved varieties " Baronnede Rothschild," *' Comte de Paris, 

 ^nd '' Enville " cviltivated in the Botanic Garden at Conakry in 

 French Guinea. The " Natal Canning " is grown in the Philip- 

 pines and is said to bear fruit averaging 1 kilo in weight,, 

 10 cm. bv 14 era. in size, with an almost entire absence of fibre 

 and possessing very httle acidity (Phihppine Agric. Rev. 1912, 

 p. 32). The "Red Spanish" is the variety most extensively 

 grown in the United States (Kew Bull. 1893, p. 208; Agric. 

 New^s, Barbados, June 16th, 1906, p. 178) and it is the popular 

 fruit for canning purposes in the Bahamas (Agric. News, I.e.) 

 The two leading varieties in Porto Rico are " Cabezona," (the 



"Porto Rico" variety of Florida) — one of the largest varieties 

 grown, 12-15 lb. being a common weight — and '* Red Spanish '' 

 small to medium (Henricksen & lorns, Phihppine Agric. Rev, 

 1910, p. 300). 



The cultivation is comparatively easy ; propagated usually by 

 suckers from the base of the plant ; but may also be increased 

 by seeds, offsets from the base of the fruit, or tops of the fruit„ 

 though as a rule this is not advisable, the plant suckers being 

 more reliable and coming to maturity in from. 12-18 months. 

 Plants are reported to fruit in 12 months after being planted at 

 Oloke Meji (Kew BuU. 1908, p. 200). Seeds w^ould only be 

 profitable when raising new varieties. Given a light well-drained 

 moderately rich soil, a hot cUmate and a fair amount of moisture, 

 the plants grow freely. It is not recommended to grow plants for 

 fruit and fibre at the same time; the leaves of the semi-wilcj 

 plants are better suited for fibre purposes (Morris, I.e.) and the 

 improved varieties as enumerated above for fruit. 



i?e/.— " Pine Apples," in The Fruit-Growers' Guide, Wright, 

 iii. pp. 154-170 (Virtue & Co., Ltd., London, 1892).— ^Pine 

 Apple Fertilizers, Rolfs, U.S. Dept. Agric. Florida Agric. Exp, 



Station, Bull. No. 50, 1899, pp. 1-104. Pine Apple Growing, 



Rolfs, U.S. Dept. Agric. Farmers' Bull. No. 140, 1901, pp. 1-47. 



Report on the Cultivation of Pine Apples, Florida, Thomson, 



Jamaica Board of Agric. pp. 1-9 (Govt. Printing Office, Jamaica, 



1901). "The Pine Apple," in Historical Notes on Economic 



Plants in Jamaica, Harris, Bull. Bot. Dept. Jamaica, viii. Sept. 

 1901. pp. 131-139. -'- Ananassa sativa, Ananas" (" Jardin 



