180 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
those who were in close touch and were 
interested enough to follow the matter 
to a final conclusion. 
It is also true that the fertilizers that 
we applied were not always what we 
supposed we were getting, and this 
caused 'some serious damage, for we 
found by thorough investigation that 
“Blood and Bone” could be produced 
from the “swill tub,” “kitchen garbage,” 
etc., by the addition of copperas, sulphu¬ 
ric acid and a few other chemicals and 
concoctions! Of course this form of 
“Blood and Bone” did not improve soil 
conditions, but aggravated the already 
deplorable state of affairs by adding 
more poisonous substances. As a result, 
the growers abused the fertilizer manu¬ 
facturers, and the fertilizer manufac¬ 
turers in turn laid the growers out (figu¬ 
ratively speaking) ; and, taking it alto¬ 
gether, we had quite an upheaval. But 
it put everyone to thinking, and a gen¬ 
eral good resulted; for it -revealed the 
fact that no one had given either the soil 
or the fertilizer the thought or investi¬ 
gation that was necessary. 
Yet, while great benefit has come from 
the little commotion that was stirred up, 
the fact remains that we have much to 
learn regarding the relation of soil to fer¬ 
tilizer under varying weather conditions, 
and it behooves every grower, whether 
he grows pineapples or some other fruit 
or vegetable, to bear in mind our ex¬ 
perience; for you can give your soil or 
your plants a case of indigestion as easi¬ 
ly as you can founder your horse by im¬ 
proper feed or over-feeding. This is a 
layman’s way of stating a truism. Dis¬ 
regard it if you like, and you will most 
likely pay the penalty as the pineapple 
growers did. 
During the past three years much has 
been said and written along this line, but 
the principal trouble seems to be that 
the average tiller of the soil is slow to 
combine scientific and practical farm¬ 
ing, and it looks as though the time is 
quite distant when a majority will avail 
themselves of information so essential to 
the success of their business. 
Now, we will turn to that phase of 
the situation which is of the most im¬ 
portance —the future. Those of us who 
are at this time engaged in the pineap¬ 
ple business, and prospective growers, 
necessarily feel a greater interest in mat¬ 
ters pertaining to the future than in a 
review of the past failures and suc¬ 
cesses; and, in this connection, we wish 
to say that it is our firm conviction that 
the future of the pineapple industry is 
on as firm a basis for successful contin¬ 
uation as at any time in its history, and 
this condition has been brought about 
more as a result of the disasters that we 
have related than from the successes 
that preceded them. 
We do not mean by this declaration 
of faith in the future success of the bus¬ 
iness that all who engage in it will suc¬ 
ceed; for it is undoubtedly true that a 
majority who were in business at the 
time of depression abandoned it. This 
was particularly true of the small grower 
who rushed into the business when things 
were at the high tide of success but who, 
when the time came for the exercise of 
conservative, sound business judgment, 
were compelled to abdicate. 
Conditions and results of the past will 
