3IO rNF TROPICAL AGRIGULTURIST. [November 2, 1891. 
Planting. — The piue-apples should be planted in rows 
3 feet apart, and 3 feet apart in the rows; at this 
distance an acre will take 4,840 plants. When laying 
out the land for planting, 9-feet stakes should be fixed 
in an upright position, about 50 feet or more apart, 
to mark the lines where the pines are to be planted. 
This will ensure the rows being straight ; this not 
only facilitates working the land, but the fruit, when 
ripe, is easier to gather. Wlien everything is ready 
for planting, lines should be strung between each stake, 
then with a spade or hoe take out just sufficient soil 
to make a mark close to and parallel to the line. A 
straight line might be made, however, with the aid of 
stakes and a very light plough, yoked on to a pair of 
horses driven by a good ploughman. After the line is 
made, a man should then come along with arnisful of 
young plants, and lay them at 3 feet distances ; another 
man should follow and plant them. In planting, 
see that the soil is made considerably firm about the 
young plants ; neglect in this particular will prevent 
them making roots as quickly as they otherwise would, 
which, of course, would also retard their growtli con- 
siderably. After the planting is done, the stakes may 
be taken out. The only attention that the plants will 
require, until the fruit is ready for cutting, is to keep 
them free from weeds, and the soil kept loose between 
the rows by means of the hoe. 
Age of the Flant when the fit st crop of fruit is ready 
/or gathering. — This may safely be reckoned to be at 
from 18 to 22 months, according to the size and strength 
of the suckers when planted. The first crop will be 
quite 4,000 marketable fruits to the acre ; but consi- 
derably more would be procured from the second and 
third year's crops, because the suckers that have for- 
med round the parent plant would bear fruit. If we 
calculate the retin-n per acre at 4,000 pines, these 
would, at 3d. each (both vei-y low estimates), return 
a handsome profit of i'50. The working expenses to 
be set against this sum are not heavy, and our far- 
mers are cultivating crops at the present time at 
far less profit. If the fruit is required for market, 
and it has to travel some distance, it should be cut 
before it is quite ripe ; but if it is required for cann- 
ing purposes, and the cannery is not far distant, 
the fruit may be left on the plant until it is nearly 
ripe. A convenient contrivance for bringing the fruit 
out of the rows is a light hand-cart, made of lattice- 
work, and set on two wlieels with broad tires. Its 
size shoiild be such that it will go between the rows 
of plants. After a plantation has been in bearing for 
four or five years, the plants wjll cease to bear fine 
crops of fruit, and it will hardly pay to keep them 
on the ground. The next best thing to be done is 
to break up the plantation, save the best of the 
suckers for planting a new one, and put the land 
under another kind of crop, or give it a rest for a 
time, and, if suitably situated, plant it again with 
pine-apples. 
leitUisers. — If the land is not very rich at the 
time when the pine-apples were planted, some manure 
should be applied to after the first crop of fruit is 
taken from tlie plants. I have found nothing better 
than bone dust or super-phosphate of lime applied in 
moderate quantites, and with discretion. For instance, 
the manure should not be applied when the fruit is 
forming on the plant, neither should it be applied 
when the fruit is near ripening. 
Insect Pests. — The only insects which I have seen 
preying upon the pine-apple are the Mealy Bug and 
tlie Scale; but neither of these pests are very trouble- 
some to the plant when it is under good cultivation. 
If these insects should, however, establish themselves 
on the plants, spray them with a strong solution of 
tobacco water, at any time except when the plant is 
in bloom and the fruit is near ripening. 
I'iue-cjiple Fibre. — Besides the splendid fruit that 
tliis phuit produces, it has another important economic 
product in the capital fibre that can be obtained 
from its leaves. But it would not pay in Australia 
to cultivate tlie plant for its fibre alone. However, 
it would be a very good thing to take in hand as an 
auxiliary )jroduct," for the preparation of the fibre for 
liiarket; since it is claimed tliiit jiiaclunery can be 
brought into use lo clean and turn it into a nuu- 
^LelaW« vvmui9(lity. We cpuld uevcr hopu t9 sepaifvie 
the fibre from the spiny leaves of the pine-apple by 
hand, as it is done by the Chinese, and then compete 
with them in the market with the produce. Neither 
is it desirable that we should; for not only is the 
process a tedious one ; but the spiny leaves will, on 
coming in contact witli the flesh, often cause sores. 
Leaves that are wanted for making fibre from should 
be taken from the plants soon after the fruit has been 
gathered. Cut the leaves as iow down as possible; 
but, at the same time, care must he taken that the 
suckers are not interfered with, because it is from 
these that the future crops of fruit are expected. 
Pine-apple fibre is remarkably strong — as has been 
proved from some tests conducted at the arsenal. Fort 
VVilliam, with a rope made of this fibre 3J inches in 
circumference. The Government proof was, that a 
rope of this size should bear a weight of i2 cwt. ; but 
it bore no less than 15 cwt. more, that is, it broke 
with a weight of 57 cwt. The following extract from 
a Singapore paper describes the process that the 
Chinese follow in preparing the pina fibre for market : 
—"The process of extracting and bleaching the fibre 
is exceedingly simple. The first step is to remove the 
fleshy or succulent sides of the leaf. A Chinese, as- 
tride of a narrow stool, extends on it in front of him 
a pine-apple leaf, one end of which is kept firm by 
being placed beneath a small bundle of cloth on which 
he sits. He then, with a kind of two -handled plane 
made of bamboo, removes the i succulent matter. 
Another man receives the leaves as they are planed, 
and with his thumb-nail loosens and gathers the fibre 
about the middle of the leaf; this enables him by 
one effort to detach the whole of them from the outer 
skin. The fibres are next steeped in water for som^ 
time, after which they are washed in order to free them 
from the matter that still adheres and binds them 
together. They are now laid out to dry and bleach 
on rude frames of split bamboo. The processes of 
steeping, washing, and exposing to the sun are repeat- 
ed for some days, until the fibres are considered 
properly bleached. Without fiurther preparation, they 
are sent into town, for exportation to China. Nearly 
all the islands near Singapore are more or less planted 
vi'ith pine-apples, which, at a rough estimate, cover an 
estimate of 2,000 acres. The enormous quantity of 
leaves that are annually allowed to putrify on the 
ground would supply fibre for a large manufactory of 
valuable pina cloth. The fibres should be cleaned on 
the spot." — AgncuJtnral Gazette. 
TEA AND COFFEE SUBSTITUTES. 
Laukine/b. 
67. iS'a.^safras officinale, l'^ees.—Al&]^ge tree of North 
America, well-known for its aromatic bark, which is 
used in medicine as atonic. A decoction of the root 
is used in America under the name of Sassafras tea, 
as a warm, mucilaginous, aromatic drink, especially 
in fevers, bronchitis, catarrh, <fec. In military encamp- 
ments in America, Sassafras tea is said to have been 
at one time in almost daily use both by officers and 
men as a favourite substitute for green tea. It has 
a reputation as a blood purifier, and was many years 
ago used in this country for the same purpose, and 
as a warm aromatic drink, being sold in the early 
morning at the temporary coffee-staUs which then 
existed at the corners of the streets in the southern 
and eastern parts of London. 
Proteace/E. 
08. Brahejum stellatum, B. Br. — A shrub 8 to 10 feet 
high, growing in thickets and woody ravines on the 
east side of the Table Mountain, and in many other 
localities at the Cape of Good Hope. It is known 
as the wild Almond, in consequence of the fruit and 
seed being Almond-shaped, the latter, after beiirg 
soaked for some days in water, are eaten by the natives 
who also roast and grind them and use them as coffee. 
Santalace;e. 
G2. Osyris arhorea, Wall. — This plant is described as 
))cing very common around Simla. In Kimiaon it is 
