Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 16.djvu/56

* PINEAPPLE. 36 riety of soils. In Florida the best pineapples are {,'rown on a tine sandy soil, analyzing 'J4 to !l!t jx'r cent, siliea, and on sneh soils heavy fer- tilizing is neeessary. Pineapples rarely produce seed. They are propagated commercially by set- ting out the crown at the top of the fruit, slips from the base of the fruit, suckers from near the base of the stalk, and rattoons from the roots. (Suckers are most commonly planted, since these usually produce a crop of fruit in from 14 to 18 months. (_ lowns or slips require a year longer to come into bearing. The plants are set in rows about 3 feet apart and 18 to 30 inches distant in the row. Once established a ])ineapple planta- tion will endure 8 to 10 years without resetting, suckers rejilaeing the (iM plants, l^ittle cultiva- tiiin other than the scullle hoe is required. With- in recent years pineapples have been grown ex- tensively in Florida under sheds. These sheds are built of lath spaced 2 or 3 inches apart and nailed to a light framework 6 to 7 feet high. They protect the jilants from frost and excessive heat and greatly inijirove the quality of the fruit. The cost of putting them up proliibits tlieir use except for the finest varieties. J''or an account of the grceidiouse cultivation of pine- apples, consult ; Thompson, (lanlcncrs' Assinttint (new ed., Watson, vol. v.. London. 1!)02). For outdoor methods and growing under sheds, con- sult : Rolfs, Pineapple (Iroirinfi (I'nited States Department of Agriculture, Farmers' Bulletin 140. lltOl): id.. Pineapple Fertilizers (Florida Agricultural Ex])ort Station. Bulletin .50). PINEAPPLE FAMILY. A natural order of plants. Sec l!l!Oill;LI,CE.E. PINE BLUFF. A city and the county-seat of Jefferson ('ouiity. Ark.. 42 miles soutliby east of Little Kock. on the .Arkansas Kiver, and at the junction of the Saint Louis Southwestern and the Saint Louis. Iron Motnitain and Southern railroads (Map: Arkansas, D 3). It is the seat of the State Colored Normal College. Among other fine edifices are Merrill Institute with a gAiiuiasiuni, free library, etc., the opera house, the court house, and fraternal society buildings. The State Fair .Association holds annual fairs here. The centre of a fertile agricultural sec- tion largely interested in cotton-growing. Pine Bluff is an important connnereial and manufac- turing city. It carries on an extensive cotton and lumber trade, and has large wholesale in- terests. Its industrial plants include railroad shops of the Saint Louis Southwestern, cotton compresses, cottonseed oil and meal mills, boiler and sheet iron works, a foundry, large printing eslablisliinent-*. feed mills, large lumber and stave mills, a furniture faetorv, etc. Population, in ISnO. nn.r>: in l!)nO. 11,496. PINE FINCH, Linnet, or Sisktx. A small North .XmericMu liiu-h (Spinus pinus) closely re- lal^i'd to the goldfhich. The upper parts are variegated black and buff: the under parts white, tinged with buff and licavih streaked vviiii black. It is founrl throughout North America, wintering as far south as the Culf and breeding mostly north of the I'nited States, but is erratic in its movements, being abundant some winters and then not seen again for several years. The nest is built in cortifernus trees, of twigs and rootlets, and is lined with down and hairs. The eggs are usually four in number, bluish white, PINE INSECTS. thinly spotted with reddish brown. Tlie pine liuch feeds on seeds and buds, and rescnil>les the goldfinch in habits, but is less sprightly and its notes are less musical. In Fngland the pine grosbeak is often calked pine finch. See Gros- beak. PINE GROSBEAK. A large linch (Pinicola eniieh <i/(iy I of Nortliirn North America, which visits the United States in winter. In general color the male is mottled rose-red above, and ashy on the under surfaces, with two white bands across the wing. The female is ashy-gray, with yellowish-brown on crown and rump. This bird lives in the evergreen forests, and ti^eds on the seeds of the pine and spruce. See Plate of Bunt- ings AND GbOSBEAK.S. PINE GROUSE. One of the names of the blue or dusky giuusc of Western America (l)en- druyiipiiH uhsciuiis) . See Gkoi'.se. PINE INSECTS. The insect fauna of the pine is very extensive. In Kurope nearly 300 species are found upon trees of the genus i'inns, and all but about 20 feed ujjon different portions of the tree. In the United States nearly 200 have been recorded, but the total number will jirobably prove to be nearly doulilc that number. Of the pine insects known in the United States prior to 1800 the species which had occasioned locally the most direct and perceptible injury was the iiine moth of Nantucket, but the most widely destructive kinds were the timber borers, and of those the larva of Munolutmnius eunfuntir, known as "the sawyer' iji the Southern pine districts, did the most damage. Next to that insect, the white ])ine weevil {Pisnodes strohi) docs the most dam- age to timber, since it deforms the trees, caus- ing the growth of gnarled, many-headed trees which except for these attacks would have grown straight and fitted for masts or for the best timber. Some pine-borers are noted for their longevity, and may live for years in articles of furniture or in the timbers of houses, if for some cause prevented from pairing and laying their eggs. JIuch damage has been done in dif- ferent parts of the United States by bark-boring beetles of the family Seolytidic. and especially by the species of the genus Dcndroctonus, which also seriously afl'cet spruce. The pine-destroying beetle of the Black Hills (Uendnjefotnis pondcro- sa) has done within recent years an enormous amount of damage to the rock pine ip the Black Hills region, bringing about not only a great loss to the owners of the timber, but also to the min- ing interests of that rcgiini. from the lessening of the timber supply. The priiicipnl attack seems to be made in August, when tlii> beetles migrate in swarms from the dying trees and settle on the living ones, which they attack and infest in large numbers from near the base to the upper part of the main trunk or stem. Remedial work is largely a part of forest management, .and includes a careful consideration of the proper date for cutting. The wood-engraver bark-beetle {Xyleborvs cw- lotiiK) is the most common and most pernicious of the insects afrectiug the forests of hite pine in the State of New York, and of the yellow pine in the more southern States. Xi/leborus pubes- cen.i feeds mainly under the bark of Pinus ittops, and the coarse-writing bark-beetle (Tomieus calli- grnphtis) works in the pitch pine and to a lesser