■No. 2527. 
NEW YORK, JULY 2, 1898. 
PER YEAR. 
PINEAPPLE CULTURE IN FLORIDA. 
AN INDUSTRY WITH POSSIBILITIES. 
Good Words for Florida Climate. 
About 25 years ago, pineapples were first planted on 
the Florida Keys, as the islands about the southern 
part of this State are called. These plants were of 
the Red Spanish variety, the common commercial 
kind. Their cultivation there proving profitable, they 
were a few years later introduced on the mainland, 
and their cultivation was largely extended. After a 
few years, finer varieties were introduced, experi¬ 
mented with and proved profitable. A few men, be¬ 
lieving that still larger profits could be made from 
this fruit, kept studying and experimenting for its 
best development, importing and testing new and 
rare varieties, and different methods of growing, until 
after several years, it was demonstrated that partial 
shade was needed, and irrigation was advisable to 
reach their best development. This best way was in 
reality the cheapest, for a larger profit on the cost 
was thus obtained. Of all varieties experimented 
with, the Smooth Cayenne was decided 
the best all-'round fruit, as it gave most 
profit. 
While the pineapple will grow fruit, 
and give fair profit with little atten¬ 
tion, there is, probably, no fruit in the 
world whose cultivation can be made so 
profitable with good and proper atten¬ 
tion. The Smooth Cayenne is the 
favorite variety with most of the best 
growers. This has a smooth-edged leaf, 
making it most agreeable to work 
about. It is a good grower, fruits 
largely in Winter, and gives a large, 
solid fruit of fine quality and a good 
shipper. It has a fair number of suck¬ 
ers, which grow from the stem of the 
plant near the ground ; when of the 
right size, these suckers are removed 
from the parent plant, and either sold 
or planted by the grower. The Smooth 
Cayenne grows only suckers, while 
many other varieties grow not only 
these, but also slips and crownlets. 
Slips are the new plants grown at the 
base of the fruit itself, and crownlets 
grow at the base of the crown, immedi¬ 
ately on top of the fruit. From any of 
these plants, or from the crown itself, 
fruit can be grown. The pineapple 
plant grows from a middle stock, a 
bunch of leaves with the fruit on top of this stock 
about two feet from the ground, roughly speaking, 
like the lily. It costs something to start a first-class 
pinery ; plants are expensive, a partial shade advisa¬ 
ble, and a model plantation should be irrigated, all of 
which, together with the land, care, fertilizing and 
marketing, will represent an outlay of between $2,000 
and $3,000 per acre, before any returns are received. 
But having such a pinery, the crops and consequent 
profit are, probably, the surest and largest that can 
be made from any branch of fruit culture known. A 
pinery once established is there to stay so long as 
properly cared for, and although the same plant fruits 
but once, the same roots may be profitably fruited 
several times, by leaving one of the suckers which 
grow from the root while the plant is fruiting. After 
allowing the roots to bear fruit as long as is thought 
best in the pinery, they may be dug up and placed 
in the nursery or propagating bed, to grow new 
plants from, and a new plant is set in their place in 
the pinery. 
Let us look at the receipts of a model pinery for a 
year. Take, for instance, the pinery, a view in which 
is shown at Fig. 206. In this pinery were a little more 
than three acres of fruiting plants. The returns from 
fruit sold were $5,325.26; for plants sold. $9,210.75, 
making a total of $14,536.01 received during the year 
1897 from this small tract of ground. I have returns 
from a number of pineapple growers in different parts 
of south Florida, for the Summer of 1897 ; these show 
an average of 20 cents per pineapple. The Winter 
crop gives better returns, the fruit often selling for 50 
to 75 cents each, and many individual fruits bringing 
$1.50 each. 
Many experiments have been made to determine the 
best number of plants per acre to grow; from 4,500 to 
20,000 have been tried. About 9,000 per acre are now 
considered the correct number, as this gives ground 
room enough for the roots, and it is more profitable to 
feed the plant with fertilizer than to use room for it 
to get its own nourishment from the ground. Scarcely 
any pineries have thus far been irrigated, yet irriga¬ 
tion will, undoubtedly, pay very largely in the grow¬ 
ing of any fruit which contains so large a per cent of 
water as does the pineapple, and which grows from 
bloom to about half size before the rainy season begins. 
These pineapples grow in size from 7 to 12 pounds 
each ; a crate usually contains 8 to 12 apples. The 
crate now adopted for shipping this fruit makes a 
very neat package, being of light material, and in 
size 12 x 21 x 24 inches. 
I doubt whether many of your readers have ever 
tasted these delicious Smooth Cayenne pineapples 
which, in their perfection, are truly “ nectar fit for 
the gods ”. So few of these are grown that, probably, 
for a long time not enough of them will be produced 
fully to supply the best trade of the large cities. As 
to ever overstocking the market with this fine fruit, I 
doubt its being done, as the area suited to their pro¬ 
duction in the United States is so limited. 
Although people in the other States have an idea 
that we have little but swamps, fevers and malaria in 
the Summer, and that a white person cannot live here 
in any comfort except in the Winter, our temperature 
never gets as high as in the large cities north or west. 
Our nights are always cool and delightful, inviting 
thorough and comfortable rest. Even during our hot¬ 
test days, we have a cool, pleasant breeze from either 
ocean or gulf. The rain in Summer is abundant, yet 
we have no mud or standing water on our uplands, 
and many settlers prefer Summer to Winter climate. 
Auburndale, Fla. c. i. p. 
HOW TO FORCE SWEET CORN. 
WILL EXTRA FERTILIZER DO IT ? 
Season Determined by the Variety. 
A reader in Michigan planted Cory sweet corn so that it aver¬ 
aged six inches high, while his neighbors had it two inches 
higher. He wants to know whether be can pnt any kind of fer¬ 
tilizer around the corn that will force it so that it will overtake 
the other, and produce ears as soon as the rest. 
Too Much Nitrogen Retards. —My experience leads 
me to think that an excess of nitrogen retards ripen¬ 
ing, but increases growth of plant. I have repeatedly 
seen the claim that excess of phosphoric acid hastens 
maturity, and I incline to believe the claim true, but 
I have made no experiments to determine. I doubt 
whether maturity will be affected by any application 
now, except it be retarded by excess of nitrogen. 
Massachusetts. m. morse. 
Depends Upon the Variety. —We do not think the 
Michigan reader can hasten the maturing of his corn 
by putting on fertilizer now. If his land was well 
enriched before planting, as it should be, the time of 
maturity will depend principally upon 
the variety of corn selected for plant¬ 
ing. Some varieties come to maturity 
much earlier than others. Usually, the 
variety having smallest ears ripens 
earliest. It is possible that his variety 
is smaller than his neighbors’, and may 
yet mature just as early, or even earlier. 
We have not made direct experiments 
to test this, but speak from our general 
knowledge of the subject. 
Long Island, geo. w. iiallock a son. 
Cultivation is Better. —We hardly 
think the Michigan reader can succeed 
in his desire by simply adding a ferti¬ 
lizer to the soil. Most manufactured 
fertilizers are not quickly soluble, and 
should he use a liquid fertilizer, he will 
be quite likely to use one in which 
nitrogen predominates, and will force a 
leaf growth at the expense of the ear 
If our corn were behind our neighbors’, 
and it had had sufficient fertilizer to 
mature a full crop, we would try to 
catch up by giving that corn more and 
better cultivation than the other fel¬ 
lows would. We would keep the cul¬ 
tivator moving, and run it shallow 
every time. We like the spiketooth cul¬ 
tivator and the weeder for such work. 
We would especially try to stop the 
formation of any crust on the soil, by cultivating as 
soon as possible after every rain, and many soils will 
allow such cultivation sooner than one would think. 
By keeping the soil open, air circulates, moisture is 
conserved if there is danger of drought, or it is given 
off if the soil is too wet; right conditions prevail, and 
growth is rapid. We prefer corn fertilizer to stable 
manure to push a crop, but culture and fertilizer 
should go together. We believe the length of time 
taken to mature a crop depends largely upon the 
variety, but we also believe that we can shorten that 
period, to a limited degree, by proper cultivation in a 
fertile soil. h. g. Manchester. 
Connecticut. 
Organic Nitrogen Best. —In my opinion, more de¬ 
pends on the soil conditions and the amount of fer¬ 
tility already in the soil, than on anything that can 
be done after the crop has reached its present state. 
Because his corn is, at present, smaller than his neigh¬ 
bors’, does not prove that he will not get ears just as 
soon as his neighbors ; but as to whether they will be 
as good or not, remains to be seen. Added fertility 
may improve his crop, but if he force a larger stalk 
growth, it will have a tendency to make his crop later 
rather than earlier. I would say to him to select a 
LOOKING DOWN UPON A FLORIDA PINERY. Fig. 206. 
