September, 1910.] 



219 



Edible Products. 



Where small slips are set in sandy soil 

 it is not unusual to find them filled with 

 sand, especially" after a heavy rain or 

 wind. This is detrimental to the plant, 

 and the sand should be washed out by 

 pouring water directly into the heart 

 from a sprinkling can with nose removed. 

 It may also be prevented by dropping 

 a pinch of cotton-seed meal, dried blood, 

 or tobacco dust, or a mixture of any of 

 these materials into the heart imme- 

 diately after planting. This, by filling 

 the cavity, will prevent the sand from 

 entering, yet, unlike the sand, it will 

 not choke the plant. 



Cultivation. 

 On account of the shallow root growth 

 and the close planting cultivation is con- 

 fined almost entirely to hand work. With 

 the single-bed or narrow-bed system 

 some horse work can be done the first 

 season, but after that the leaves interlace, 

 and with horse cultivation more or less 

 damage is caused by breaking and tear- 

 ing the leaves. The extent of the damage 

 compared with the difference in the cost 

 of cultivating will naturally determine 

 the best method to be employed, but 

 some hand work will always be neces- 

 sary. On the sandy soils in Florida the 

 scuffle hoe is generally used, but on the 

 heavier soils, in the West Indies it is 

 necessary to use the ordinary hand hoe, 

 not alone on account of the heavier soil 

 but also because of the much more abund- 

 ant growth of weeds. Wherever the 

 land is weedy cultivation should be 

 strictly attended to, because a crop cf 

 weeds is detrimental to the growth of 

 the pineapple plant ; and if left to grow, 

 large weeds are much more difficult to 

 eradicate than if attended to in time. 



Fertilisers. 



A great many soils in the West 

 Indies can produce pineapples without 

 being fertilised, but the writers have 

 noted a single instance where an 

 application of the proper kind of 

 fertiliser did not exert a beneficial in- 

 fluence, either on the fruit or on the 

 plant or on both. Although the pine- 

 apple belongs to the natural order of 

 Broiueliacew, many of which are air 

 plants, the pineapple requires more than 

 air for its development. It is true that 

 it does grow in poor soils, but the 

 Florida planter learned many years ago 

 that no fertiliser meant few pineapples, 

 most of which were too small to ship. 

 In the West Indies the soils always 



Sroduce the largest plants but never the 

 est grade of fruits, and here fertilisers 

 become necessary in order to improve 

 the quality. 



Action op Fertilisers. 



In dealing with fertilisers the only 

 elements in which we are interested are 

 nitrogen, potash, and phosphorus. The 

 action of nitrogen is specially important 

 in the formation of foliage ; therefore a 

 soil containing large amounts of it com- 

 pared with potash and phosphorus 

 produces large plants. For fruit potash 

 is the ingredient specially needed, and 

 its part seems to be to give firmness and 

 shipping quality as well as flavour. The 

 stimidating action of a fertiliser can 

 often be detected in the plant a few days 

 after it has been applied, and with a 

 little experience the grower can tell 

 when his plants need fertilising. The 

 lack of fertiliser is usually main tested in 

 a turning of the leaves from dark to a 

 lighter green, often light-red colour. 

 The change of colour can also be caused 

 by a lack or an excess of moisture or by 

 insects at the roots, but often, even in 

 those cases, an application of fertiliser 

 will restore the normal colour. 



On account of the method of appli- 

 cation, it is essential that the fertiliser 

 ingredients should not be caustic or acid 

 so as to injure the foliage. As all 

 inorganic salts cause more or less injury 

 when applied in the heart of the plant, 

 it becomes necessary to employ some of 

 the ingredients in an organic form: For 

 nitrogen neither nitrate of soda nor 

 sulphate of ammonia can safely be used 

 in the crown. As a source of nitrogen 

 cotton-seed meal is very good and dried 

 blood is very desirable also, as well as 

 high-grade tankage, 



For phosphorus it is not safe to use 

 the acid phosphate in large quantities, 

 especially the double acid phosphate, 

 which seems to be more acid than the 

 regular 14 to 15 per cent, product. 

 Steamed bone is very good ; it causes no 

 injury, and the pineapple will be able to 

 take from it as much phosphorus as is 

 needed, provided it is thoroughly 

 steamed and well disintegrated. A 

 ground bone in which the particles are 

 granular is not so valuable because the 

 phosphorus in it is too slowly available. 

 Basic slag can also be used, but although 

 it does not cause as much damage to the 

 foliage as acid phosphate it should be 

 used with caution. 



For potash the sulphate should be 

 used, either the high grade, containing 

 50 per cent, potash, or the low grade, 

 containing about 27 per cent, potash. 

 Ordinarily these salts cause no injury, 

 but experiments have shown that it is 

 not safe to apply potash alone to small 



