June 1908.] 



529 



Edible Products. 



paper used for wrapping should be 

 tough and strong, but not too thin or 

 too thick. After the pines are suffi- 

 ciently cooled, they should be carefully 

 wrapped and placed where the packer 

 will be able to get to them without 

 moving from the crates. The crates 

 hold twenty-four, thirty, thirty-six, 

 forty, and forty-eight according to size, 

 (forty-eight size being verv small are 

 seldom shipped). Each pine-apple is 

 handled separately, and they are placed 

 head and tail (or top and bottom) altern- 

 ately in the crate. After the package 

 is filled, the fruit should project about 

 one inch above the sides of the crate, and 

 the slats are then nailed. In this oper- 

 ation the slats should be gently pressed 

 down with the knee and never nailed 

 until each slat is firmly pressed down on 

 the sides of the crate ; otherwise, bruis- 

 ing of the fruit will result. Too much 

 care cannot be taken in packing and 

 handling all kinds of fruit. 



Freight on all shipments must be pre- 

 paid, and proper bills of lading should 

 be taken out ; shipments for Canada 

 must be accompanied by declaration 

 made out in triplicate on regular forms, 

 copies of which can be obtained either 

 from agents in Canada or from the Im- 

 perial Department of Agriculture. 



Diseases. 



The pine-apple plant is not affected 

 with many diseases. Blight affects the 

 Ripley and Queen family more than any 

 other kind, and when established is 

 very difficult to cure or to check. It 

 sometimes spreads through fields with 

 great rapidity, and within a short time 

 healthy looking fields may present a 

 withered and ruined appearance. 



Black heart usually affects the Ripley 

 and the Queen family, and can rarely be 

 detected until the pine-apple is cut. 

 Black spots are to be found in the fruit 

 that utterly ruin it. The Ripley is ex- 

 tremely liable to this disease. 



"Varieties. 

 The Abbakka is probably the hand- 

 somest pine-apple grown, but its quality 

 is very inferior. It is watery and 

 flavourless, and a poor shipper. 



Smooth Cayenne.— This is the St. 

 Michael's pine-apple, and the only 

 variety that sells in the London market 

 for the highest prices. This variety 

 cannot be grown with success in the 

 West Indies. It has repeatedly been 

 tried at Jamaica, but has eventually 

 been abandoned. 



The Smooth Cayenne will not endure 

 the severe heat of the West Indies, and 

 whilst some few good specimens have 



been grown, the cultivation has proved 

 a failure. It is a watery pine-apple and 

 is a poor shioper. Its fine appearance 

 only recommends it. It is essentially a 

 hot-house pine, and the expense and 

 great care incidental to its culture in 

 the Azores eomoels the grower to receive 

 high prices for his fruit. 



Sugar Loaf.— This variety is of fine 

 quality, but is too tender to ship with 

 safety. A few grown for local consump- 

 tion and home use are, however, accept- 

 able. There are other sorts that are 

 misnamed ' Sugar Loaf in Jamaica, and 

 few persons really know a genuine pine 

 of this variety, but when once shown, 

 the difference between it and other mis- 

 named varieties become apparent. 



Black Pine or Black Jamaica.— This 

 variety is so worthless that a description 

 is hardly necessary. Suffice it to say 

 that it is a coarse, ugly, watery, and 

 insipid fruit that does not even deserve 

 consideration, except to warn the inex- 

 perienced grower against planting it. 



Antigua.— This pine-apple is well 

 thought of in Antigua, but it is too small 

 and possesses nothing to recommend it 

 in any way for shipping purposes. 



Sam ^ Clark.— This fruit presents a 

 pretty "appearance, as it has a tremend- 

 ous top, but it is only of inferior 

 quality, being small, watery, and insipid. 



Red Spanish (erroneously named in 

 Jamaica, Brdl Head, Cow Boy, etc.). This 

 variety, although subject to slight 

 variations, can be safely classed under 

 one head, namely, Red Spanish. This 

 pine-apple is the oldest variety and 

 must extensively grown in the world; 

 it forms the entire crop of Cuba, Florida, 

 and the Bahama Islands, besides grow- 

 ing wild in many of the islands in the 

 Caribbean Sea. It has proved the only 

 profitable pine-apple to grow, and those 

 contemplating taking up the growing 

 of pine-apples will do well to bear this 

 fact in mind. It is the only kind that 

 sells for remunerative prices in the 

 markets of the world. It is a splendid 

 shipper, and, whilst not of finest quality, 

 it possesses a good appearance, and is of 

 a, large size. Large crops of marketable 

 fruit may be depended upon, for the 

 plants are practically free from disease, 

 and are vigorous and are very prolific 

 in slips and suckers. 



Conclusion. 

 The growing of pine-apples is a pleas- 

 ant occupation, and if followed with 

 care and proper attention, success is not 

 uncertain, if adequate transportation or 

 a local demand, such as canning factories 

 not too distant from the plantation, can 



