Aug. 1, 1903.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 
8b 
Gated results of the experience of last year. The 
fact was, that when the basic superphosphate was 
brocglit before Ihose ia authority who had oppor- 
tnaities of making experiments, they took no noace 
of it. He thought Mr. Hnghes had proved that 
the basic super might prove a valuable adjunct, under 
certain circumitances. to the soil of the country, 
la some experiments, in which he had ttied the basic 
superphosphate with nitrate of soda and potash, as 
against superphosphate, fulphate of ammonia, and 
potash, the results were astonishingly in favour of 
the basic superphosphate. Experiments were being 
carried on, and, in course of time, results of great 
value would bs published. 
Mr, James Hudson said that for years past h^ 
had beed impressed with the fact that ftuit grower" 
made too free use of nitrogenous manure, especially 
ingrowing tomatoes. He had proved over and over 
again that regular successions of crops of cherries 
could be grown by the use of phosphatic manure, 
finely ground, as suggested by Mr. Hughes. He 
agreed that the constituents of the soil must be 
kuowu before the right artificial manure could be 
applied. 
Dr. Teed expressed the opinion that Mr. Hughes's 
discovery would be of the greatest benefit to the 
agriculture of the country. 
Mr. D. A. Louis thought Mr. Hughes suggestion 
of mixing lime with a superphosphate was exceed- 
ingly valuable, because it enlarged the scope of the 
superphosphate. It made it appropriate to many 
soils, where it would otherwise have been very 
harmful. 
Mr. Hughes, in: reply, said the Chairman had 
alluded to certain cases in which the soil, although 
not deficient in lime, had given good results by the 
use of basic slag, but had afterwards stated that the 
soil was clay. It was well known that clay had 
the property of holding water to a considerable 
extent, and in his paper he laid great stress 
upon water as a factor in rendering slag 
soluble. He was, therefore, not surpcised that 
it gave good results on clay. Further, bicarbonate 
of lime was often found in water ; certainly as car- 
bonic acid it usually came from decomposed organic 
matter ; and if it so happened that organic acid came 
in contact with lime in the soil, one might be quite 
sure that Ihe water that passed away fronr the soil 
was largely impregnated v/ith carbonate of lime. 
The Chairman and other speakers had suggested the 
mixture of raw phosphate with the super. The 
object of mixing lime was to neutralise the 
acidity of the superphosphate ; and if a ma- 
terial costing only 18s. or 20}, a ton in the form 
of lime could be used, why should raw phosphates, 
which cost il3 a ton, be used ? Assuming that raw 
phosphates were used, the tables showed the extent 
to which they were acted upon by the weak solution 
of citric acid ; only one-third of the phosphate would 
be saturated by the acid, two-thirds being wasted. 
He could not understand the remarks made in advo- 
cating the use of lime. He endeavoured to lay down 
very clearly that it was t;ir more expensive to supply 
sufficient lime, so that every square inch of a held 
should contain enough lime to neutralise any acid, 
brought in contact with it. After adding about 2'J 
per cent, of lime to the superphosphate, Buffioieut 
to neutralise all the acid and produce a slight excesg 
in order to give it a distinctly alkaline character, every- 
thing was done that was required. He thought, there- 
fore, the mixture of lime and superphosphate was one 
of the most profitable ways in which lime and phosphat 
could be applied to ordinary soils. He quite agreed 
with Mr. Voss, that any acidity in the superphosphate 
was due to the presence of free phosphoric acid and 
sulphuric acid. He top-dressed a row of peas with 
superphosphate and nearly killed them, which led liirn 
to the conclusion that there must be conditions -in 
which superphosphate used as a top-dressiug was 
anything but beneficial. If it was injurious to the 
leaf, he submitted the acidity was equally in- 
jnrioQs to the small rootlets of the plant, and 
on that principle his mmuie ought to be beue- 
ticial. Although basic slag was ■ only soluble to 
ihe extent of 6 per cent, in ordinary water there hid 
been a great demand for it : it had been of very 
great benefit, and many farmers were thoroughly 
satisfied with ii. When slag was brought out the 
practical manure manufacturers ail discarded it, 
and yet without any recommendation it had forced 
its way forward and demonstrated that an alkaline 
phosphate was the best form in which phosphatt^s 
could be applied. No criticism had been olfered 
on his remark that all the natural manures 
of the farm were alkaline and not acid, a 
point of great impirtanoe. Surely they must da 
well if nature was foifowed as a guide. He thoroughly 
believed in superphosphate and did not wish to detract 
from its merits, but its use should be restricted to soils 
which contained plenty of lime, just as basic slag was 
confined to soils which were particularly sour, and the 
new manure to intermediate soils. As time went 
on, with judicious use, it would bs found there was 
plenty of room for all the manures. 
On the motion of the Chairman, a vote of thanks 
was accorded to Mr. Hughes for his paper. 
— 4, 
PINEAPPLE CULTURE. 
The culture of the pineapple has been developed 
much more carefully and upon a much more scientific 
bas.is on the Florida coast, or rather on the Florida 
peninsula, than in any other part of the globe. Of 
course we refer to open-air culture as distinguished 
from green-house culture under glass. Sheddmg for 
frost protection ia carried on to some extent, but 
whether it pays as well as open air culture is still 
an open question. In this article we will simply con- 
sider the best methods adopted in open-air cultiva- 
tion, leaving out the question of shedj entirely. There 
has nolhiug particularly now developed during the 
past year in this line, but for tha benefit of beginners 
we are going over the same old ground again. 
In the first place, select land which has as good a 
growth of timber as possible, and it is also very 
desirable to have yellow sub.50il as near the suifaco 
as possible. Spruce pine and hickory are generally 
the growth on such land, but long-leaved pine is the 
timber on some of it. As a general thing hamock 
laud uuless largely hickory, is not dssiraold pine- 
apple soil, and cabbage palmetto or too much saw 
palmetto is not a gooa indication. Neither are shells 
or lime rock, as a general thing. Ou such soils the 
pineapple is very liable to suffer from disease and 
insects. In clearing the land, the spruce pine stumps 
may be left, as they soon rot out, but every little 
root of the hardwood or saw palmetto should be 
removed, if possible. If the land is very poor, an 
application broadcast of a ton of steamed bone, and 
two tons cut tobacco stems per acre may be plowed 
in with advantage before planting. Select the heaviest 
slips, and pUnt as early as good, heavy six-inch slips 
can be obtained ; no matter if some are longer, but 
have sis inches the minimum. Set as deep as you 
can without danger of sand washing into the bud. 
The butt end should be trimmed ' by cnttinf off a 
slice one quarter to a half inch thick with a° sharp 
knife and peeling off a few of the lower scale-like 
leaves. 
About twenty inchss is the distance preferred for 
setting the Red Spanish variety, (the one which we 
are considering in this article), and the laud can be 
marked off rapidly with a marker made like a lar^e 
wooden rake, having teeth twenty inches apart 
After marking out the whole field one way with 
parallel lines, mark off similary at right angles and 
plftut where the lines iuterteJt. After the field i oil 
