36 
SEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE 
pine and the Egyptian Queen. These are the best and most 
successful. The other varieties are troubled by the red spi¬ 
der and are not so successful. We plant from ten to sixteen 
thousand plants to the acre. It costs in the neighborhood of 
$300 to grub the land and get it in condition, set out the 
plants, pay for them, take care of them and fertilize them 
until they fruit, which takes about two years. I refer to the 
Strawberry and Spanish pines. The first year about 90 per 
cent, of the plants fruit, and the second year we get about 
two pines for each plant set. If the fruit is well fertilized 
and cared for it will average about sixty to the crate. Last 
year I realized about $4.50 per crate, net. If you want to go 
into the business come down into our country. 
A. H. Martin —Something has been said about the grape 
being planted in the swamps and I know that pineapples are 
planted in the swamps. What kind of land should pines have, 
Mr. Richards ? 
Mr. Richards —Pretty good sand. They will not grow in 
swamp land and they do not want any water. The pineapple 
is built for a dry country, and if you will notice the plant you 
will see the peculiar formation of the leaves or stems, which 
seem to be made to catch and absorb moisture from the at¬ 
mosphere. They get plenty of dew and do not need much 
rain. If you wiil examine a growing pineapple early in the 
morning vou will find that the leaves are full of water. 
Mr. Williams —I remember as far back as 1814, when the 
first pineapple in our section bloomed, it was a great curiosity; 
people came for fifty miles to see that pineapple growing;, 
that was the first effort to grow the fruit in that section, and 
it is wonderful what strides have been made. I took a trip 
to Lake Worth last summer and stopped at Mr. Richards’ 
place. The varieties I grew vvere the Red Spanish, and up 
to 1886 I made quite a success of growing pines. I had a 
home market for all I could grow, and I had a compliment, 
paid me by a lady who said that my fruit was the first she 
had ever eat without sugar. The freeze of 1886 gave pineapple 
culture at Rockledge a black eye from which it has not re¬ 
covered, but the lands about Jensen, Eden and St. Lucie are 
to-day as valuable as any lands in the state of Florida, and as 
Mr. Richards says, the lands there that produce the spruce pine 
have been found the best for pineapples. The pineapples 
growing around Jensen were a picture to look at. On level 
ground you could see acre a'ter acre, and I consider that that, 
industry is going to be the most profitable of auy industry in 
the state. There is one objection to the Indian River coun¬ 
try ; there are too many mosquitoes. 
