FRUITS AND NUTS 95 



stump. From the base of the stump fibrous roots develop, and 

 arranged along the upper portion of the stump in a spiral equi- 

 tant fashion are the numerous long, narrow, serrate, and 

 usually spiny leaves which are channeled above and are about 

 2 to 4 feet long. In a few varieties the leaves are not spiny 

 along the edges. At blossoming time the plant bears a spike 

 of small lavender-colored flowers and later produces a conical 

 compound fruit which at maturity varies in size from i to 15 

 pounds or more, according to location and variety. 



The pineapple is propagated by suckers, slips, crowns, or 

 stumps. The suckers are the small plants which develop in 

 the axils of the upper leaves below the fruit stem. The crown 

 is the cluster of short leaves which are formed upon the tip of 

 the fruit. The slips are small plants which develop from the 

 side of the fruit stem just at the base of the fruit, while the 

 stump, as already indicated, is the short stem of the pineapple 

 plant. Ordinarily, propagation is by means of suckers since 

 plants grown from suckers produce fruit more quickly than 

 from any other method of propagation. If suckers are taken 

 for planting at the right stage of maturity, the resulting plants 

 will produce pineapples within 15 to 18 months. The crowns 

 are allowed to remain on fruit for fresh shipment and can 

 therefore only be secured for planting purposes from the fruit 

 which are canned. It requires nearly two years for plants 

 grown from crowns to ripen fruit. From slips the mature 

 fruit are obtained somewhat more quickly than from crowns, 

 but not so soon as from suckers. Stumps are occasionally used 

 for planting purposes and have the advantage of producing a 

 very vigorous growth. They may be only half buried in fur- 

 rows or may be entirely covered over. In fact, the methods 

 used in planting pineapple stumps are similar to those em- 

 ployed in planting sticks of seed cane. The pineapple stump 

 is composed largely of starch comparing favorably in this re- 

 spect with sweet potatoes and cassava. The stump has, there- 

 fore, been found more serviceable than the sucker in planting 



