30 



" Slips or suckers from the base of the fruit above the leaves 

 produced in some kinds of pines are used for planting. They 

 are stated to take not less than 18 months to produce fruit, 

 being slower than the suckers from below the leaves, but the 

 fruit is larger and better. It is recommended that these slips 

 should be removed where possible from the base of the fruit, 

 as they are injurious to the development of the fruit. The 

 tops or crowns of the fruit can be planted if necessary, but this 

 is not recommended except in exceptional cases, as they are 

 very slow of growth. It is not at all uncommon to see plants 

 growing along roadsides or in waste ground which have sprung 

 from tops thrown away by someone who has been eating pines 

 in the neighbourhood. Seed is occasionally produced but not 

 often, at least in the Malay Peninsula, and pines containing 

 seed are generally inferior in texture and flavour. They can 

 be used if required for plantiug, but are practically only sown 

 in the case of hybridization, which is occasionally done in the 

 West Indies and in Florida. 



Soil. 



"The soil used for pine-apple culture in Singapore is the 

 ordinary earthen stiff clay soil of the small hills which cover 

 the island. Most of these hills have been previously used for 

 pepper and gambier and then abandoned, and often are covered 

 with low secondary scrub which is burnt and the ground dug 

 for planting. The soil is usually very poor, especially in 

 potash phosphates and lime. Richer soil does not seem to suit 

 the pine-apple better, but the plant does not appear to be very 

 particular as to its habitat so long as the soil is free and open, 

 and not damp or low lying. 



" Under shade the pine-apple grows and develops long leaves 

 but little or no fruit, and that very inferior. 



u That pines will grow in the very poorest soil so long as they 

 have suitable drainage is shown by the cultivation in Florida, 

 where they are grown in hundreds of acres on coralline rocks 

 covered with a thin layer of soil, with the use of fertilizers. 

 Pines grown in low lying damp ground do not thrive. They 

 fruit badly and are more liable to disease. 



Planting. 



" The Chinese plant the pines in rows, each plant 2| to 3 

 feet apart, with a path of about 4 feet width between each row, 

 so that they can hoe out the weeds between each plant. The 

 Bugis planters plant them about the same distance apart but 

 without a wide path between, each row forming beds about 40 



