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lions and in limited quantity had been cultivated near Lajas for a 

 great many years, but nothing was known beyond the fact that pine- 

 apples would thrive there in a certain restricted locality, and it was 

 believed that they would not thrive on soils less than a half mile 

 distant. The practice of the last few years has shown be}^ond ques- 

 tion that pines can be produced on soils of widely different character, 

 although the best quality of fruit is produced on soils somewhat 

 resembling those of Florida. 



The three requirements of the pineapple plant are that the roots 

 must have a limited amount of water, the necessary supply of plant 

 food, and an unlimited amount of air. It will be understood that 

 a well-drained sandy soil in which the individual soil particles are 

 coarse fills some of the requirements. It will need frequent stirring 

 of the top soil until the plants become large enough to shade and 

 protect it from evaporation. The plant food, of course, will have to 

 be supplied. 



In clay soil and in loam and even in fine sand the conditions are 

 not so readily controlled. A heavy rain will pack the surface, ex- 

 cluding the air from the roots, and, unless the land is bedded, the 

 water is likely to remain in the soil long enough to cause serious 

 injury to the roots. 



Aeration is really the underlying principle of pineapple cultiva- 

 tion. The pineapple plant is not adverse to water, but the water, 

 when filling up the soil, excludes the air. We have grown plants 

 in jars of water for months and found the root development to be 

 vigorous and healthy and the increase in weight of the plant equal 

 to plants grown in soil. We have also grown plants in tubes filled 

 with gravel previously washed with hydrochloric acid and distilled 

 water and in similar tubes which were perfectly empty, and we found 

 that by watering every da}^ with a very dilute plant-food solution 

 roots were developed and the plants increased in weight, not alone 

 in the tubes containing gravel, but also in those which were empty 

 and that served only to support the plant and protect the roots from 

 light. These methods are not recommended as practical, but they 

 serve to illustrate the nature and requirements of the pineapple plant. 

 Methods quite similar are followed on the Florida Keys, where pine- 

 apple- are often planted in a few inches of leaf mold on top of the 

 hare coral rock, and whenever the amount of soil is insufficient to 

 support the plant a few pieces of rock are used to hold it in place. 

 Under such conditions pineapples will grow and produce fruit until 

 the leaf mold is all exhausted. The reason for not producing longer 

 is not so much the lack of soil for root formation as the exhaustion 

 of plant food. This is further illustrated in the pineapple regions 

 in Florida, where the soil only serves as a support for the plant and 

 all the necessary plant food must be added. These are some of the 



