146 
It will be seen by comparison that the soil differs greatly 
from either that of Florida or Australia. It is a heavy clay, 
very sticky when wet, and forms in a shotty condition when 
dry, due probably to the flocculation of the clay. From a 
chemical standpoint it contains many times more plant food 
than either of the above mentioned soils. Nevertheless it has 
been noticed that the pines on these soils respond readily to 
the action of certain fertilizers, which might indicate that in 
spite of the quantity of plant food present it is not sufficiently 
available for the needs of the plants. 
In order to ascertain in what proportion the mineral con- 
stituents were removed from the soil, ash analyses were made 
of the pineapple plant and fruit. Following are the results : 
Plants Fruit 
Phosphoric acid 07% .018% 
Nitrogen 1.380 .073 
Potash 656 .263 
Lime 124 .034 
Other investigators found the following percentage of plant 
nourishment in the pineapple fruit: 
Al B2 
Phosphoric acid 0423 .040 
Nitrogen 0707 .110 
Potash 2256 .342 
These results correspond as closely as might be expected and 
tend to show that the per cent, of phosphoric acid, nitrogen 
and potash removed does not vary considerably. Tolman and 
Munson^ found that the ash of pineapples did not vary ap- 
preciably, even with different varieties. 
While proper conclusions as to fertilizer requirements can 
not be based upon the proportion of the mineral matter in the 
fruit with any degree of accuracy, yet a knowledge of their 
proportion allows an estimate to be made of the amount of 
plant food removed by the crop. Considering the plant food 
removed and also the mineral content of the soil, it was de- 
cided that an application of seventy-five pounds per acre of 
each of phosphoric acid, nitrogen and potash would be amply . 
sufficient for the production of one crop of fruit, and this 
quantity was therefore arbitrarily taken as the amount to be 
applied. 
DETAIL PLAN OF EXPERIMENT. 
The experiment was ^aid out in twelve plats, each 12x182 
1 Miller and Blair, Florida Bulletin No. 83. 
2 Wilhelm Bonewitz, Chemiker Zeitimg, No.' 15, 1908. 
3 U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bulletin 87, Bureau of Chemistry. 
