130 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
October 28, 1898. 
THE BAHAMAS IN WINTER. 
The harbour of Nassau is formed by a long, low, 
narrow strip of land, called euphoniously. Hog 
Island. The bar which projects to the westward in 
a continuation of Hog Island, and upon which the 
surf breaks constantly, will ever be a serious impedi¬ 
ment to modern commerce, although small vessels 
enter without difficulty. The extreme transparency 
and brilliancy of the atmosphere and sky about the 
Bahamas is in great contrast to what we are 
accustomed to see at home. The clouds soar high, 
and are broken into fine masses, with magnificent 
contrasts of colour. Even the waters combine to 
challenge our admiration by the gorgeous hues which 
they present. Looking from a height upon the 
broad surface of the bay, I have seen it striped with 
creamy-white, brilliant pink, and broad areas of in- 
tensest blue, flecked with bright spots. 
The first public functionary one meets is the cus¬ 
tom-house officer. He is obliging and discreet, and 
receives and passes you with so much courtesy and 
dispatch that the pleasant impression left on your 
mind tends to relieve your vexation at the volunteer 
porters who have persisted unbidden, in pawing over 
your luggage, and making their needless exertions the 
basis of a claim for a shilling. Arriving at the 
hotel, which, like everything else in a British colony, 
is a Royal Victoria, and which is roomy, comfort¬ 
able, and excellently managed by a Connecticut 
hotel keeper, you speedily make yourself at home, 
and begin to look about you. 
One observes, particularly about Nassau, the 
quaint and colonial aspect of the enclosures and 
buildings ; the peculiar walls, breast high, formed of 
pieces of coral limestone, laid dry and then well 
plastered over with lime mortar, giving to each en¬ 
closure all the effect of exclusive proprietorship that 
would be given by a tight board fence. Most of the 
buildings, both public and private, are built of 
regular blocks of limestone, which is easily quarried 
and dressed into any desired form with a hatchet and 
saw. The streets of Nassau are regular, clean and 
well laid out. The abundance of trees which line 
the streets tend greatly to relieve the bright glare of 
reflected sunlight, which rather oppresses the 
foreigner when experienced for the first time. 
One of the agreeable features of a winter experi¬ 
ence in these islands comes from a uniformly equable 
temperature of air and water. During the entire 
month of February, i8gi, the thermometer fell be¬ 
low 70° only on one occasion, toward the end of the 
month, when for a part of the day it fell to 65°. It 
is said by old citizens that the lowest temperature 
ever known was 64°. Such an equable climate is 
not only beneficial to invalids, but is a great source 
of enjoyment to those in health. It enables a care¬ 
ful gardener to supply the table with a constant 
succession of delicious vegetables the year round. 
Instead of there being a dry and rainy season, as is 
the case in most tropical and semi-tropical countries, 
the showers here fall at intervals, and the rainfall of 
the year is quite as uniformerly distributed during 
the several months and seasons as at the north, 
averaging two and one-half inches per month. 
Strange Conditions of Vegetable Life. 
To one who has never before visited the tropics, 
the strange conditions and species of vegetable life 
found there seem remarkable. There is a curious 
interest in witnessing the peculiar growth of the 
Cocoa Palm (Cocos nucifera), constantly blooming 
and fruiting. I saw this fine tree in all stages of 
growth, first as a germinating nut, with its fronds of 
green leaves bursting through its husky envelope ; 
then as a young tree, not so tall but that I might 
pluck the fruit from the ground ; and maturer trees, 
from 40 to 45 ft. in height, that would tax the 
dexterity of an agile boy or monkey to climb 
them for the fruit. The trunk of the Cocoa 
Palm is from 6 to 10 in. through; it Is en¬ 
dogenous, growing at the end of the stem, and, 
therefore, bears all its foliage at the extremity 
of the trunk. Every month a new leaf or spathe 
expands from the fibrous integument in which it is 
enfolded, and discloses a spadix of bloom ; and so it 
happens that there is always to be seen on a healthy 
and growing Cocoa Palm the blossom. Below this, 
small nuts the size of Walnuts, next a cluster of 
from six to ten larger ones the size of the first, and 
below all the ripening nuts, each hanging by a 
slender stem not so large a lead pencil. It is said 
—I cannot say how truly—that from a thrifty tree 
one may pick a ripened Cocoannt every day in the 
year. The planting of this picturesque tree is so 
simple a matter as the excavation of a shallow hole 
in the sand, and placing therein a sprouted nut, 
covering it and leaving it to care for itself. If at a 
distance from the salt w'ater, it is the custom to place 
a quart of coarse salt in the hole with the nut, as the 
tree is said to be partial to salt water, and grows 
with greatest freedom near the seashore. It fruits 
when four years old. 
Another remarkable and striking tree is Bombax 
Ceiba, the silk-cotton tree. When young it has a 
round, grey trunk, thickly covered with stout spines 
or thorns from one-fourth to three-fourths of an 
inch long. At this stage of growth it is called the 
monkey-teaser. As the tree increases in size it 
throws out huge buttresses around the base of the 
stem, as if to brace itself for the terrible tempests 
which sooner or later it must encounter. The 
largest tree of this species on the island is in the 
rear of the public building on Bay Street, at the 
corner of Parliament Street. It is 50 ft. or 60 ft. in 
height, and the spread of its limbs is about 120 ft. 
in one direction by 90 ft. in the other, and its 
buttresses project spirally fully 15 ft. from the base 
of the main trunk. It is a native of South America, 
deciduous, and bears long pods filled with a silky 
fibre, whence comes its name. 
Some stately specimens of the African Palm, 
called in Nassau the Royal Palm (Oredoxa regia), 
are seen here with their smooth, swelling trunks, 
having a grey, solid appearance, as if turned in a 
lathe out of stone. The upper portion of the trunk 
is smaller in diameter, smooth and green, and an 
abortive attempt at the production of fruit usually 
hangs withered just below the feathery foliage which 
crowns the summit of the tree. 
In order to understand or appreciate the agricul¬ 
ture of these islands one must know something of 
the peculiar formation, texture and condition of the 
soil. The under-lying rock throughout the Bahama 
Islands is a coralline limestone. This is formed of 
comminuted fragments of coral and shells, torn to 
pieces and worn by the ceaseless agitation of the 
ocean, thrown up into ridges 12 ft. and 15 ft. in 
height, and intermingled with enormous masses of 
algae by the tempest, and blown by the trade winds 
into sand-dunes 30 ft. and 40 ft. high. These great 
sand-dunes in time become indurated by the con¬ 
tinued action of the rains, from the well-known 
effect of the carbonic acid prevalent in rain water, 
which cements the grains of oolitic sand into a 
dense and even crystalline limestone rock. 
Pine Apple Culture. 
At Governor’s Harbour is a thriving settlement of 
perhaps 1,400 people, about one-tenth white. Here 
the culture of the Pineapple is conducted under the 
best auspices ; the lands are owned by the planters, 
and every effort is made by them to improve the 
quality and increase the quantity of the crop. Only 
on lands having a red soil will the Pineapple grow 
with great success, although an indifferent quality 
may be grown on the more common grey soil. This 
red earth owes its colour primarily to the iron in 
itscomposition, and its greater fertility to the decayed 
algae which were thrown up by the sea in those 
remote cycles when the islands were forming. This 
decomposed vegetable matter is rich in potash, and 
under the name of cave earth is sought after and 
applied all through the islands to add fertility to the 
soil. Thus a limit is placed upon the area of land 
which is most desirable for the cultivation of the 
Pineapple, and good available land is correspond¬ 
ingly appreciated, selling readily at from 880 to $100 
an acre. 
The Red Ananassa or Cuban Pineapple is the one 
most cultivated, it being much preferred for quality 
and size. The plants are propagated by off-sets or 
suckers, taken from the older plants after the fruit 
is cut. They are set out in August, and sometimes 
bear the next 3 ear, but a full crop is not obtained 
until eighteen months after planting. The cutting 
season begins in May. The plants grow so thickly 
that after the first year but little cultivation is 
required, and their serrated leaves form a prickly 
thicket that I could not penetrate without injury to 
person or clothing ; yet the negro field hands, with 
a better understanding of how to do it, would pass 
through barefooted without harm or difficulty. 
Formerly it was the practice to plant a field and 
crop it for three or four years, and then, as the soil 
became exhausted, let it grow up and lie fallow for 
ten or twelve years, when it would be cleared up 
and cultivated again. Now, however, under the 
present use of fertilisers, the soil does not become 
impoverished, and the plantations can be renewed 
for a much longer time ; so far, none have been 
allowed to return to the wild state. 
Sisal Hemp: A New Industry. 
The cultivation of Sisal Hemp is a new and 
apparently a prosperous industry. What is known 
as the Sisal fibre of commerce is the product of the 
“ Henequin ” plant of Yucatan, which was intro¬ 
duced into Florida as Agave Sisalana, but is probably 
Agave Americana. The plant, which produces a 
similar but better quality of fibre in the Bahamas, 
is there called the Pita plant. It is an Agave grow¬ 
ing to the height of 6 ft., with stout, fleshy, pale 
green leaves, smooth upon the edges, but with the 
characteristic stout thorn upon the end. It is 
entirely different from the Sisal or the Cuban fibre 
plant. 
The Pita plant is indigenous to all the Bahama 
Islands, and has hitherto been noted as a prevalent, 
obnoxious, and persistent weed, which grew any¬ 
where with or without encouragement, even on the 
tops of old walls, and, when once established, 
dominated and crowded out all other plants. These 
are exceedingly desirable qualities, as most useful 
plants require care and constant cultivation to 
preserve them from the encroachment of others that 
are useless or noxious. 
Individuals and stock companies have entered with 
much enthusiasm and apparent success upon the 
cultivation of this plant, and there are now 4,200 
acres in growing plantations, stocked with 2,633,000 
plants, with 1,330,000 plants in reserve in nurseries. 
H. C. Lightbourn, of Nassau, has a fine plantation 
of several hundred acres, having Cocoanut trees 
mingled with his Pita plants. He has probably 
250,000 growing plants, and is successfully producing 
an excellent quality of fibre. The next season's 
crop in the Bahamas should exceed 2,500 tons, when 
it will be demonstrated whether the culture is to be 
commercially successful. 
The plants are set 6 ft. by 6 ft. or 10 ft. by 10 ft. 
apart, according to. the caprice or understanding of 
the cultivator. Six feet appears to be too near for 
the perfect development of the mature leaves, to say 
nothing of the requirement of sufficient space for 
passage between the plants without interference or 
injury. With the exception of weeding and reducing 
the lateral shoots and suckers during the year little 
care or culture is required. 
Recorded experience is not yet sufficient to enable 
one to form a correct judgment as to the bearing life 
of the plant or its maximum product, but it seems to 
be generally conceded that under ordinary circum¬ 
stances plants are in a mature and bearing condition 
at from four to five years of age, and that as many 
as forty leaves, weighing sixty pounds, can be cut 
from each plant annually. It is better for the plant^ 
as well as for the crop, to make the cuttings at 
intervals of three or four months than io make it 
once a year, as the leaves thus obtained will be taken 
at full maturity, and are not so liable to be over-ripe 
and comparatively worthless. When the leaves 
assume a position horizontal to the trunk they are 
sufficiently mature to cut; if taken either before or 
after this their value is diminished. When cut they 
are tied into bundles and taken to the machine, 
which is simple and easily operated, and passed 
through it one by one. In this they are crushed 
and the fibre stripped of the pulp, which constitutes 
fully 95 per cent, of the weight of the leaf. From 
Soo to 1,000 pounds of fibre can be obtained from 
each acre, at a cost, including cultivation, cutting, 
stripping, and drying, of about three cents a pound. 
This fibre is worth six cents per pound in New 
York. 
When the Pita plant arrives at full maturity it 
runs up a flower-stalk called a “pole.” This grows 
from 16 ft. to 18 ft. high, with a diameter at the base 
of from 5 in. to 7 in. It bears instead of blossoms 
as many as 1,000 young plants, perfectly formed and 
ready to maintain an independent existence. This 
occurs, probably, when the plant is from ten to thir¬ 
teen years old, according to the luxuriance of its 
growth ; but singular as it may seem, although the 
plant is indigenous all over these islands, and the 
natives have been familar with it all their lives, j'et 
no one seems to know the average life of the plant, 
or whether it can be prolonged by cutting out the 
stalk or pole .—Henry W. Wilson, before the Massa^ 
chusetts Horticultural Society. 
