452 



THE PINE-APPLE. 



the parent plant, owing to sufficient space being provided for eacL 

 plant. Now, estimating the return from each crop at 4000 pines, the 

 result, at 6d. each, gives lOOZ. per acre. The pine fields ought to be 

 cleaned five or six times a year, each cleaning costing say IZ. an acre, 

 or 61. for the year ; and this constitutes the whole cultivation. 



Azores. — The pine-apple is now being cultivated with energy in St. 

 Michael's. The produce of the recent cultivation having realized very 

 considerable profits in the English market, and the quality being 

 recognized as superior to those of foreign growth generally, con- 

 servatories on a large scale have been constructed. The pine-apple 

 of large size and of first quality now returns the grower from 16s. to 

 20s. each, which is a remuneration of 35 to 40 per cent. ; and some 

 choice specimens have been sold for as much as 60s. each. 



They attain to a greater size than those received from the West 

 Indies, some weighing 12 to 13 lbs. having come to hand. Great care 

 is taken in packing them, to secure their arriving in England in sound 

 condition. The stalk is cut several inches below the fruit ; an ordinary 

 large-sized flower-pot is then filled with mould, into which the stalk 

 is inserted in such a manner that a casual observer would almost 

 take it to be the way it was grown. Each pine is then put into a 

 skeleton wooden case made just large enough to hold it, so that it can 

 be safely handled without the risk of being bruised or injured, the 

 pine itself being frequently wrapped round with paper as a further 

 protection. 



India. — The pine-apple is said to have been introduced into India 

 by the Portuguese in 1594, and now grows abundantly at the foot of 

 the Himalayas and in Assam. It grows in thickets near Rangoon, while 

 in the Tenasserim provinces the plant has become so naturalized as 

 to appear indigenous. A bag made on the Kliasia hills, in Assam, of 

 pine-apple fibre, was presented by Dr. Wallich, as far back as 1836, to 

 the local Agri-horticultural Society. He mentions the enormous quan- 

 tity of pines grown on that range, and that the plant appears as if it 

 were quite a natural production. In the Tenasserim provinces the 

 fruit is so abundant as to be sold in the months of June and July at 

 2s. the boat-load. The natives do not seem to be acquainted with the 

 fibre yielded by its leaves. Some attention is being given to the 

 culture of this fruit in Queensland, as there were 86 acres returned 

 under culture with it in 1876. 



Pine-apple Fibre. — The plant affords fine foliaceous fibres of prac- 

 tical utility from the leaves, which are about 3 feet long by 1^ inches 

 to 2 inches wide, strongly edged with spines. These may all be 

 worked when the fruit is cut, the plant being perpetuated by shoots 

 from its base. Two skeins of the pine-apple fibre were sent by the 

 Court of Directors of the East India Company to the Society of Arts, 

 for a report on their properties, so far back as January 1836, but 

 the specimens were too small for a tibial of their tenacity. 



From some tests on the strength of this fibre when made into 

 cordage, conducted at the arsenal of Fort William, on a rope of 

 8J inches in circumference, it appears to be remarkably strong. The 

 Government proof is, that a rope of this size should bear a weight of 

 42 cwts. ; but it bore no less than 15 cwts. more, that is, it broke with a 



