THE AZORES 



533 



when the cattle graze in the fields, the rent 

 is based upon the alqueire ; but in summer, 

 when they are driven to the hills, where 

 the land is not measured, the charge is 

 based upon the size of the herd. 



The men who attend to the milking go 

 up into the hills in the evening, where 

 they sleep in caves, in order to round up 

 the cows early in the morning and milk 

 them. The milk is then taken to town in 

 large tin cans packed on burros. 



Fields of broad beans and lupine are 

 everywhere in evidence. These products 

 are used as fertilizers. Walls of lava 

 stone divide the green fields into small 

 squares, giving the hills a characteristic 

 checkered appearance. 



HOTHOUSES HEATED BY FERMENTATION 



Formerly, oranges were the principal 

 article of export, and in 1872 300,000 

 boxes were shipped abroad, representing 

 a value of about $500,000. From that 

 time on the orange industry gradually 

 declined, as a result of the destruction of 

 the trees by disease, and agriculturists 

 turned their attention to the growing of 

 pineapples. 



The first pineapples were grown in a 

 small town, Livramento, but now the 

 principal centers are Ponta Delgada and 

 Villa Franca. The fruit is not planted in 

 fields, as in the warmer climates of Mex- 

 ico and Central America, but carefully 

 nursed in hothouses, without artificial 

 heat. To produce the necessary heat, beds 

 of special fermenting material are made. 

 The hothouses, approximately 40 by 90 

 feet, face north and south and contain as 

 many as 3,000 plants. The young pine- 

 apples need replanting, and therefore 

 several hothouses are used before the 

 fruit is ready for market. 



In the first house the earth is prepared 

 by covering a heavy layer of small 

 branches with soil that has been previ- 

 ously used. This is turned over and 

 watered. 



The young plants are placed about a 

 foot apart and covered with a layer of 

 loamy soil. After being carefully watered, 

 they are allowed to remain undisturbed 

 for about 12 weeks. When they appear 

 above the ground the glass roofs are 

 covered with a coat of whitewash to 

 soften the light of the sun. 



The plants are transplanted to the sec- 

 ond hothouse after they have reached a 

 height of about six inches. The beds in 

 the second hothouse consist of three lay- 

 ers, the bottom one being old soil that has 

 been used in the hothouse ; the second, 

 new earth; and the top, a thoroughly 

 rotted hothouse soil. The plants are 

 placed two feet apart and allowed to 

 grow until they are one foot high. 



Then follows the interesting process of 

 smoking the plants. This method is the 

 result of an accidental discovery. Years 

 ago the furnace in one of the hothouses 

 began to smoke and filled the entire house 

 with fumes. The planter believed that his 

 crop was ruined, but discovered later, to 

 his surprise, that all his plants not only 

 matured more quickly, but also simultane- 

 ously. Since then it has been learned that 

 pineapples requiring several years to ma- 

 ture under the old system will show signs 

 of bearing forty days after being smoked, 

 and then mature more evenly. 



The furnaces used for smoking are filled 

 with green grass or foliage and allowed 

 to smoke three nights in succession. The 

 plants mature in about one year from the 

 time of planting. 



The average cost of producing one pine- 

 apple, packed for export, is about 24 

 cents. While this is expensive, the fruit 

 is remarkably free from all fibrous sub- 

 stances. The pineapples are packed in ex- 

 celsior and shipped to England on fruit 

 boats devoted especially to this . trade. 

 The pineapples raised in St. Michaels 

 sell for four and five shillings apiece in 

 London. 



A GREAT WINE COUNTRY 



The second great industry of St. 

 Michaels is the manufacture of wine. It 

 sometimes happens that the crop is so 

 great that there are not enough pipes on 

 the islands to hold the wine, and growers 

 have to build special cement tanks. 



Several kinds of sweet and sour wines 

 are manufactured, but that most widely 

 used is a red wine (vinho de cheiro). It 

 contains a very small percentage of alco- 

 hol and has a rich grape flavor. A liter 

 of this pure wine is sold for 60 reis, or 

 about five cents in American currency. 

 It is almost impossible to become intoxi- 

 cated on this "vinho de cheiro," and 



