216 HORTICULTUEAL MANUAL. 



of growing au acre of corn, if the level-surface plan is 

 adopted, with the exception of the added cost of planting 

 the suckers. The soil is well supplied with phosphate 

 pebbles and does not seem to need fertilizing except the 

 adding lightly of vegetable matter of some kind on old 

 lands, to give fresh humus to the soil when a new planta- 

 tion is started. 



In Florida it is claimed that the lath covering used to 

 protect the plants in winter are a gain in summer in 

 screening the foliage and fruit from the hot sun. But in 

 Cuba the plantations are in open exposure with heated 

 cultivated soil between the rows, yet we never saw 

 healthier foliage nor tasted richer flavored fruit in any 

 country yet visited. 



In Florida in 1894 over four million pineapples were 

 marketed. But the freeze of 1894-95 killed the plants, 

 except at the extreme south and on keys. This resulted 

 in the starting of new plantations south of the latitude of 

 Tampa, under the shelter of lath-covered sheds, with lath 

 spaced about the same as the frames used for evergreen 

 seedlings in the West (13). Under the sheds the plants 

 are set out much thicker than in Cuba, using, it is said, 

 from eight to fifteen thousand plants to the acre, as varied 

 by variety and the different opinions of the planters. 

 The plants begin to bear in about eighteen months after 

 setting out if strong suckers are planted, and with syste- 

 matic care the plantations prove profitable for eight years 

 or more. Those grown under sheds ripen a large part of 

 the crop in winter, when larger prices are secured. But 

 on Florida keys, where sheds are not used, the fruit does 

 not rij)en until April, and continues well into summer. 



213. Increased Use of the Pineapple. — The pineapple 

 may be said to be a new commercial fruit. Europe pro- 

 cures the main supjoly from the Azores at prices out of the 



