The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1888-02-12


management and skill of the planter.
although the percentage of plants which
run over until the third year win be in
creased or lesseRed by the character of
the first winter after setting out. IL
this be an unusually severe or protracted
one, II retards the growth of the young
plants, and vice versa If, however, the
foregoing points have been kept in mind
by the planter. he may safely count upon
not less that fifty per cent. of his plants
bringing him pine apples in the months
of June, July and August of the second
year after they werv planted, and in the
third year most of those which did not
fruit the second year viii bear apples,
while the majority of those plants which
bore frult the second year will yield two
pune apples the third year, as this plant
sends out from Its roots, from one to
three large suckers, each of which will
bear pine apple in twelve months time
from its first appearance.
The plants should be allowed plenty of
room. To crowd IL ,000, or even q. 600.
INTO the space of an acre, as is the prac-
nee IN the Bahamas, Is a mistake, which
here on the main land of Florida we
have no excuse for initiating now that
we have learned better. By setting the
slips two feet apart, in rows four feet
distant from each other, which allows,
In round numbers, 5000 to the acre, not
only can the ground be fortified and
run over frequently with an Acme
harrow (Which is about all the cultiva-
ton the pine apple needs) far more
cheaply, rapidly and thoroughly than il
can possibly be titled when they are
planted as in the Bahamas; but the size
OF the fruit Is very much larger, and the
proportion of plants which are tardv in
fruiting, Is reduced to the minimum
point.
The fertilization consist in the drilling
in between the rows of cotton seed meal
IN the spring of the year, in the propor-
ton of one ton TO the acre. This should
not be done after the first time. howeyers
until the plants have begun to blossom.
or they may be started growing so vigor-
ousiy that they will have no time to
think of fruiting.
There Is no reason why young lemon
trees should not be planted ont every
twenty feet, among the pineannIes
setting the pine apple slips a little less
imam TWO feet apart in those particular
rows SO as to leave a space of four feet
Tor each lemon tree. The same cultiva.
ton and fertilization will then serve
for both and in after years, when the
lemons need more space. some of the
nearest pines can be removed from their
| immediate vicinity.
1t so happens, fortunately, that tie
pine apple and lemon both thrive here
IN precisely the same kind of land.
The best markets for the pine apple
ana lemons grown here WILL in all prob
ability. be Liverpool and New Orleans
respectively, to both of which points we
have cheap and convenient means of
transportation hy water from the
wharves of Fort Myers. As matter of
fact. barrel of five dozen pine apples
can be laid down in Liverpool for So. 25,
IN from fourteen to seventeen DAYS from
Fort Myers, via Key West and New
York, and schooner can be chartered
Tor $500 10 carry 1000 boxes of lemons
| from Fort Mers to New Orleans-ten
cents per case, Now the pine apple
sells for very much better prices at
wholesale, III England than it does in
the United States, and, moreover, by
cable advice of each shipment from New
York the fruit can all be placed before
| its arrival. whereby delay is obviated,
which in the case of perishable fruit is
matter of Importance. Pine apples
| will certainly yield net return of ten
| cents each on the average, when so
sold in England.
The habit of the lemon tree in this
| favored climate, is to mature its fruit
during the summer months, and early
| IN fall. In other words, at time when
the wholesale price of lemons in New
York ranges from 81 to 81 per case of
| 800. Now, at the age of five years from
| the time of budding, our lemon trees
| on the Caloosahatchie, are wont to bear
| a crop of 800 lemons, and at ten years,
| 1000 Is about the number they Weld
| From which it is clear that a return Of
| $500 per acre from i five year old lemon
| gfove-100 trees to the acre, at twenty
| feet apart-is well inside the sum which
the planter may expect to realize. Then
the pine apple should, in the second
| year, yield cuttinAy of ? 800 to the acre,
and four times that number of slips,
which are readily saleable at one cent
| each. Say, at ten cents net
$3.50 worth of slips-Total, $3.50. In the
| third year this will he doubled-S700-
Making 81 $50 for the two years. After
the third year. although the grove will
continue to yield an increasing number
of pine apples, yet, inasmuch as some
| of the plants will have TO be Withdrawn
| from around the lemons trees, and, in
course of years, the price of pine slips
| will probably decline, as the country
becomes stocked with them, it will not
be safe to compute the income at much
| over 500 per annum. The cost of cul-
| tivating mixed lemon and pine apple
| plantation, including fertilizers, / find
to be $50 per acre, per annum.