526 



UtTNE 1908. 



EDIBLE PRODUCTS. 



PINE- APPLE GROWING IN THE 



WEST INDIES * 



By G. L. Lucas. 



The growing for export of pine-apples 

 in the West Indies has never been suc- 

 cessfully accomplished, except in the 

 Bahamas and in the Island of Cuba. 



The Bahamas for many years were 

 large producers and exporters of pine- 

 apples. All the fruits were sent to 

 Baltimore in schooners in bulk to the 

 canning factories, but of late years the 

 industry has steadily failed, until now 

 the shipments from these islands have 

 become small. 



The Bahamas islands are composed 

 of coral rocks, and the little soil at any 

 time could be only found in the crevices 

 of these rocks. Repeated plantings have 

 exhausted what little soil there was, 

 until now the planter in these islands is 

 confronted with the problem of how to 

 continue an industry that at one time 

 proved so profitable. 



The Government some years ago passed 

 a law forbidding the exportation of any 

 more pine-apple plants, hoping by this 

 means to save the declining industry, 

 but government laws have failed, be- 

 cause it was the exhaustion of the soil 

 and not the loss of plants that was res- 

 ponsible for the decline. 



Florida, in 1883, produced no pine- 

 apples except on the outlying keys from 

 which, like the Bahamas, the produce 

 was shipped in bulk to Baltimore in 

 schooners to the canneries. In 1884, the 

 few settlers on the eastern mainland of 

 Florida began the experimental plant- 

 ing of suckers that were obtained from 

 the Florida keys. Later, as the busi- 

 ness grew and the demand for plants 

 increased, the Bahama Islands were 

 drawn upon, many hundreds of thousands 

 of plants found their way to Florida to 

 commence the industry that to-day 

 forms one of the principal sources of re- 

 venue of that State. 



The Florida pine-apple grower in all 

 these years has had many discourage- 

 ments to contend with, and aside from 

 poor soil, the greatest enemy has proved 

 to be frost. With this menace con- 

 stantly confronting it, the business has 

 been kept in check, and no doubt will 

 always be kept within certain bounds. 



•Reprinted from West Indian Bulletin, Vol. 

 VIII, p. 151. For previous article by Mr. Lucas 

 eee Bulletin of Department of Agriculture, Vol, V» 



Cuba produces more pine-apples than 

 Florida, the Bahamas, the West Indian 

 Islands combined, and the export of 

 this fruit is increasing rapidly every 

 year. It pays the planter in Cuba to 

 grow pine-apples because of the ex- 

 tremely fertile soil, and the frequent, 

 cheap and quick transportation to the 

 United States, where a reduction of 20 

 per cent, on the duties is allowed on this 

 fruit. Little success could be expected 

 from shipping fruit from the British 

 West Indies to England wichthe present 

 unsatisfactory means of transportation, 

 for the reason that the journey is too 

 long, freight rates are too high, and 

 private shipments generally receive in- 

 different care by the transportation 

 companies. 



Jamaica enjoys direct communication 

 with England by a subsidized line, but 

 this line gives the greater amount of 

 attention to the carriage of bananas, 

 so as to fulfil its contracts with the 

 English and Jamaican governments. 

 Private shippers, therefore, receive 

 secondary consideration, and experience 

 in the past has shown that losses are 

 frequently incurred. During the past 

 three years, such have been the expe- 

 rience of those who have made earnest 

 and repeated trials of private shipments, 

 that now no individual shipments are 

 made in the fruit line from Jamaica. 



Probably the best way of establishing 

 a profitable pine-apple business in 

 Jamaica would be to build canning fac- 

 tories to utilise the fruit on the spot. 

 This can be done by growers combining 

 and erecting a modest factory. Encour- 

 agement should then be offered to others 

 to grow good fruit, which would be 

 purchased for cash delivered at the 

 factory, at a price that will pay the 

 grower handsomely and allow the 

 factory to earn a fair percentage on the 

 investment. There is always a good 

 demand for canned pine-apples in 

 England, and large shipments of such 

 goods are sent from Singapore every year 

 to both London and Liverpool. If Singa- 

 pore can make the canning of pine- 

 apples a profiable business, with its cheap 

 labour, i there are other advantages 

 that are enjoyed by the West Indies 

 that the East can never hope to have. I 

 think that if this subject be given the 

 consideration it deserves, a new industry 

 that can be depended upon to yield 

 revenue to many of the West India 

 Islands would be the result. 



A canning factory was erected in 

 Jamaica in 1905, and it hm given 



