FLORIDA ,ST ATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
137 
the further spread of disease. Now, we 
simply pull them up; cut off the dead 
roots, strip them, put them back in a hole 
made by a posthole digger, throw a half¬ 
handful of fertilizer among their leaves 
and let them grow. About 75 per cent, 
of plants so treated do well. We fight 
the enemies of the fruit with poisons. 
Results after all are the test of success, 
hence, we want to know what are the re- 
suits of all this expenditure, labor, and 
waiting. If the land and plants be prop¬ 
erly selected, if the plants be carefully 
and conscientiously fertilized and culti¬ 
vated, and are thrifty, the first crop 
should be about four hundred crates per 
acre at an average price of about $2.00 
per crate. After crops will run about 
three hundred crates per acre. Of all the 
fancy varieties, the Smooth Cayenne is 
most cultivated for market here, because 
it is smooth, while all other varieties with 
which I am acquainted are serrated; be¬ 
cause its flavor is delicious; because its 
appearance is striking and tempting, and 
because it is a better shipper than most 
of the others. He who buys one real good 
Smooth Cayenne will want another. 
I have used the word “failure” in con¬ 
nection with pineapple culture, and will 
say that any one who> will not give labor, 
fertilizer, and close'attention to the busi¬ 
ness had better not go into 1 it. There 
have been failures in every section where 
the shed-grown Smooth Cayenne pineap¬ 
ple has been grown. Perhaps proportion¬ 
ately fewer in Punta Gorda than in some 
other sections. I believe the soil and con¬ 
ditions about Punta Gorda to be especial¬ 
ly adapted to> the growing of this fruit. 
Miss Florence R. Harden. 
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
The excellent papers of Mr. Reasoner 
and Mr. E. V. Blackman, read before 
this Society last year, on tropical fruits, 
not only gave the names of a great many 
of the varieties that have been grown in 
Florida, but discussed many points of in¬ 
terest concerning the best known varie¬ 
ties. 
This paper will, I fear, be rather ram¬ 
bling in style, and will merely touch upon 
a number of fruits and questions about 
them that will be intended to provoke 
much discussion. There is no doubt in 
my mind that tropical fruits should have 
a more important place in this Society 
than they have ever yet had. tThe limited 
area in which these fruits will thrive, and 
the undeveloped condition of that portion 
of the State, together with the fact that 
most Americans have not become ac¬ 
quainted with even the existence of such 
fruits, partly accounts for this lack of in¬ 
terest. I should say lack of general in¬ 
terest for most of the information that I 
can find about tropical fruits has been 
written by men who either live in Flor¬ 
ida, or have spent much time in studying 
her resources and problems. I do not 
know how we are to induce people to take 
a general interest in the pamphlets, bul- 
