Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1878-03-01
Where Pineapples Grew.

a icltGE liOn the lSlauU III EsCh
thera, in the Bahama group, written
10 the New York San, thus describes
the cultivation Of the pineapple.
That the soil of Eieuihera should
yield such an abundance OF delicious
pineapples, Is matter for wonGer
to a person who has been accus-
toned to the fertile lands of the
United States. One who has never
been on coral island can form but
the fainttst notion of the exceeding
roughneSs of the surface and the-Un
grateful aspect of the ground. The
island of Eleuthera, which furnishes
such vast numbers of pineapples, is
indeed covered in the main hy
Wild vegetation, while the earth
from which it springs is in great
part of toughest conceivable charac-
ter of rock. Holes of every size,
form and description, some of them
partly or wholly filled with dirt, the
debris of decayed vegetation, loose
fragments, large and small, round
and angular, sharp and hard, every
where abound. The rock sticks mp
it's stinging points and cutting edges
in the most irregular and provoking
fashion. No plough, no spade, no
hoe, can here be used. The only
thing that can be done is to stick a
sprout into one of the holes and let
it take care of itself, which it al
most invariably does right well; for
it likes that kind of soil, and slips
its sweet nourishment from the lit
tie dirt it may happen to find il the
hollow of the rock.
The holes are very close together,
the sprouts are placed scarcely a
foot from each other, and as the
plant grows up it spreads its long,
sharp, leaf blades, with edges armed
with little rasping, saw-like teeth,
up from the ground and abroad III
every direction. The plant has a
thick supply of these outbcnding
leaves, Tapped closely over the other
near the ground, and out of the CEN.
ter of which comes up the fruit, one
pineapple only to each plant, which
then perishes, but leaves behind
progeny Of young sprouts, and these
being stuck into the hollows insure
a new crop for the succeeding year.
This replenishing can be kept up for
about six years, and then the whole
field about exhausted, is left to it
self, the plants die out, in the course
of time the soil is renewed, and
fresher fields now demand the care
of the pine grower.
The only attention given to the
plant is to keep the field clear of
weeds, and that is almost daily work
the year round. Que negro man
can attend to about two acres. The
worst weeds to contend with are
species of bidens, plant very we'll
known in the United States, as Span
iSh needles, and kind of crab grass.
One object of placing the plants so
close together is to give the pineap
pie possession cf the soil, and the
weeds little chance of usurping the
ground. The first sight of pine
field is astonishing, for it presents
broad intricate jumble, of vast
mass of interlacing leafy sword
blads, and the first impression is
that such a jam of vegetation would
be utterly incapable of producing
any fruit whatever, whereas, the
fact is, the acre properly attended
to yields the enormous number of
ten to twelve thousand pineapples.
There is another enemy, no less
formidable than the weeds that re-
quirss looking after very sharply,
and that is the rat, which attacks
the fruit just as it is about to ripen.
1fno measures were taken to prevent
the depredations of these trouble
some creatures, few pinsapples in
deed, would escape their destructive
jaws. The planter has a remedy. !
Sweet potatoes are cooked, and while |
they are yet bot, the sulphur ends of
common matches are broken off and |
introduced into them. The phoso-
phorus is diffussd throughout the |
substance of the potatoes, and these
being placed among the pineapple |
plants are eaten by the rats, which |
almost Immediately fall dead from
he eff ect of poison.