343 
it is most successfully grown on friable volcanic soil. In other 
countries it does well on sandy soils, especially those of coraline 
formation, with a thin layer of vegetable mould on the surface. 
The pineapple is a biennial plant, not unlike a miniature aloe, 
but the leaves are much thinner. Is seldom propagated from seeds, 
unless new varieties are desired. Most good pineapples, besides, 
are seedless, but seedling plants are generally very slow growers, 
and do not bear for 10 years or so. 
The crowns or the tufts of leaves at the top of the fruit are 
sometimes grown, but they require two to five years to mature. 
For that reason the extensive propagation of this fruit is effected 
by means of slips and of suckers. The slips are produced from 
buds on the fruit stalks under the fruit. They are smaller than 
the suckers, but are more abundant. If it is intended to use them 
for planting, all but two are rubbed off; they are planted as 
quickly as possible after they mature, which takes place when the 
stem under the leaves turns brown. Slips fruit about 18 months 
after planting, and produce fine fruit; suckers, which spring from 
buds below the soil, fruit about a year to eighteen months after 
planting. Two or three are generally left on the plant, one of 
which replaces it after fruiting, the others being removed for further 
planting. 
The plants are set in lines at distances of 5ft. x 2ft., if a 
horse-hoe is used, and 3ft. x 3ft. if manual labour is employed. 
These will number 4,356 and 4,840 plants to the acre respectively. 
and with proper treatment should give from 3,000 to 3,500 fruits 
at the end of two years. The sets or suckers should have their 
basal leaves trimmed, and the contracted hard buds by which they 
are attached to the parent plant partly cut off. They are firmly 
set into the ground to a depth of 3in. to 4in. Fertilisers are 
worked into the ground between the rows. The practice of broad- 
casting chemical fertilisers is injurious to the leaves, as the salts 
of ammonia and of potash so used exert a caustic effect. Weeds 
should be kept down. After some years, and unless the suckers 
or rattoons are largely removed, the beds become almost im- 
penetrable. The period of usefulness of a plantation lasts from 
five to eight years. 
When the fruit is marketed to long distances, it is cut before it 
is quite ripe, a portion of the stalk being left attached, or else the 
fruit will bleed. The crown is also left intact, and should not be 
trimmed, so as not to rob the fruit of its decorative appearance. 
The pines are packed in large crates, but its advisable to provide 
partitions in these crates, so as to separate fruit in lots of four to 
half a dozen each. 
At present we annually import some £4,000 worth of this fruit 
and do not grow any. 
