150 
entire field which failed to fruit, and, of these nine, five were 
in 6- A. 
Ten-A was another section in which two plants failed to 
fruit and which was considered poor. The plants were yel- 
low, and during the colder weather almost ceased growing. 
The other sections of plat 10 showed similar symptoms, and 
were not considered even among the average good until the 
fall of 1909 and the spring of 1910, yet all these sections gave 
a yield' equivalent to over 13 tons per acre. Judging from the 
field notes, the best plats would be arranged somewhat in 
this order of superiority : First, 4-D and 3-D, followed by 
11-D and 12-D, then 7-C and 8-C, 6-C, 8-A, 12-B, 3-A, and 4-A 
would be considered fair, and the poor plats were 6-A, 7-A, 
10-A and 12-B. Many of the plats did not show sufficiently 
striking results either way to merit particular attention. In 
general, the field notes have indicated the good and the poor 
plats, but it will be seen by reference to the tabulated results 
that the sections as indicated being the best according to field 
notes did not show the greatest gain per acre or the largest 
profit. It may be said, therefore, that too much confidence 
cannot always be placed in the field notes, although in many 
cases they actually forecast the final results. * 
An important point brought out by field notes and observa- 
tion which could not well be tabulated with the other results 
was that the fertilized plats came to maturity and fruited ap- 
proximately from two to four weeks before the check plats 
had ripened sufiiciently to be weighed. While this tendency 
was noticeable more particularly in 3-D and 4-D, it was more 
or less general throughout the experiment. 
STUDY OF THE CHOP. 
The pineapples have to be picked as they ripen, and this 
necessitates painstaking and constant work in the field, as 
only a small number of pines ripen at the same time. There- 
fore, in order to get the average results the field must be gone 
through every day or two, the ripe pines picked, weighed, and 
recorded under the proper plat and section for a period of 
about seven weeks. The first regular picking was made on 
June 22, 1910, and the last August 15, 1910. In weighing the 
pines all the ripe fruit from one section of a plat w^ere placed 
in a tared box and weighed together, the date, number of 
pines and combined net weight recorded. Owing to the pre- 
mature fruit, difficulty in securing sufficient labor and the fact 
that the experiment ripened during the busy season, it was 
practically impossible to Aveigh every fruit. Nevertheless, at 
least 90 per cent, of the fruit w^as w^eighed in almost every 
section, and in a number of sections every fruit was counted 
and weighed. The average fruit from each section was cal- 
culated from the results obtained and the yield per acre then 
determined. 
