July 8, 1896.] 



Garden and Forest. 



275 



The fruit grows large, of fine texture and good quality. 

 Enville City is another strongly marked variety of the bet- 

 ter Pines. In place of the central strong leaves usually 

 produced at the apex of the fruit many small crown slips 

 grow. Besides these varieties there are others that pro- 

 duce large fruit of good quality. 



PROPAGATION. 



There are two general ways of propagating Pineapples. 

 The most common and desirable method is from buds 

 which form at the ground-level, or just below, and come 

 up in the form of young plants. These produce a crop 

 about a year earlier than the slips. They are usually called 



may be planted and 



others very sparingly. The seeds 

 germinated in the ordinary way. 



SHEDS. 



It has long been an established fact that pineapples 

 grown indoors in England are of finer texture and superior 

 flavor to those grown in the open air of the tropics. The 

 structures used in Florida are novel. Posts are set at con- 

 venient distances from ten to twenty feet apart in checks. 

 Suitable rafters are then placed from post to post uniting 

 them in rows. Crosswise of these rows is laid one-by-four- 

 inch sheeting, allowing a distance between the slats j ust equal 

 to the width of a slat, so that one-half of the space is cov- 



Fig. 38. — The Cultivation of Pineapples under Sheds in Florida. — See page 274. 



suckers. Slips is the ntame applied to smaller plants that 

 are produced immedia ely below the fruit. Sometimes they 

 are allowed to remain on the plants until they are large 

 enough to be set in the field. A fruiting plant will often 

 produce twenty or more, and the slips are the most prolific 

 way of reproduction, though not the most desirable, since 

 they take a year longer to come to maturity. The crown 

 of the Pineapple when taken out and planted will produce 

 sets. This has, been resorted to with high-priced varieties, 

 but is not usually practiced. It is quite generally believed 

 that Pineapples do not produce seed. This, however, is 

 quite as erroneous as the belief that pineapples grow on 

 Pine-trees. Some varieties produce seed quite freely and 



ered. The illustration on this page shows a shed constructed 

 near Palm Beach. The posts have been tied together both 

 ways ; the picture represents a view across the slats, mak- 

 ing the cover appear continuous. The posts are long 

 enough to raise the shed from six to nine feet above the 

 ground, giving room for cultivation. Lumber can be 

 obtained from the mills at $6 or $8 a thousand feet ; the 

 cost of sheds varies from $400 to $600 per acre. At first 

 they were constructed to prevent injury from slight frosts, 

 but as they were allowed to remain during the summer it 

 was soon discovered that the fruit was considerably larger 

 than that grown in the open field. The size of the fruit is 

 not the only advantage, but the texture is more tender and 



