People's Pilot, Volume 3, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 December 1893 — ABOUT PINEAPPLES. [ARTICLE]

ABOUT PINEAPPLES.

They Cost Five Dollars Apiece In England and All OvSr Europe. In England and all over Europe pineapples, or “pices,” are eaten only by the fe w who Can afford to raise them in hot-housfa or pay the extravagant prices for which they arc sold, says the Youth’s Companion. So rare are they on th? other side of the Atlantic that they are sometimes hired to impart a crowning glory to banquets, where they may be admired and longed for, but not eaten. In England a pound, or five dollars, is considered a reasonable price for the hot-house “pine,” and even in this country as much has been paid for choice specimens of the fruit at the season when they aro not in the market. Until within a dozen years nearly all the pineapples raised for market were grown upon the Bahama islands, whence they are shipped by swift sailing vessels to New York or Liverpool. To-day the principal pineapple producing. district of the world is the United States, on a group of five small islands or “keys” lying on the extreme southern part of Florida. These keys arc Elliott’s, Old Khoades, Largo, Plantation and Upper Metacumba. On them less than seven hundred acres are devoted to the cultivation of “pines,” but from this small area four million five hundred thousand pineapples were shipped to New York in one year recently. The shipment from the Bahamas for the same year was about two-thirds of this amount, while less than a million and a quarter were brought into the United States from other West Indies islands. The mainland of southern Florida has algo begun to produce pineapples in great numbers. On the island of Cuba the sugar planters are just beginning to convert their unprofitable canefields into pineapple patches. The Bahama pineapples are deteriorating on account of the impoverishment of the soil, and the growers are turning their attention to sisal hemp. On the other hand, the area of “pine” - lands in south Florida is being extended with each year, and such pains are taken in gathering the crop that Florida “pines,” like Florida oranges, now command a better price than any others.

Pineapple plants, frequently called “trees” by the growers, rarely attain a greater height than three feet, and are provided with still, sharp-pointed leaves like those on the top or “crown” of a pineapple, except that they are much longer- In fact, the crown of a “pine” is in itself a perfect plant, and, if thrust into the ground under proper conditions, will bear fruit in eighteen months. The pineapple has no seed, but is propagated from slips or suckers. Several slips spring from the base of each perfected fruit, while the suckers shoot from the bottom of the plant. Each plant produces a single fruit and then dies, but its suckers become bearing plants a year later, while its slips, if thrust into the ground, will yield fruit in eighteen months. About ten thousand slips may be planted to the acre, and of these twothirds will bear fruit. Thus the yield of pineapples is about seven thousand to the acre. If growers could be certain of realizing, one dollar per dozen on every crop pineapple-raising would rank among the most lucrative of agricultural pursuits, but the present lack of transportation facilities and the dependence of the growers upon commission merchants diminish the profits greatly. The pineapple is perishable, and there are many chances against its reaching a distant market in good condition, consequently it is generally considered best to sell the crop in the field rather than run the risk of shipment.