Hawaii - James Michener [426]
The first crop of Cayennes surpassed Whip's hopes. Dr. Schilling proved himself both a botanist and a dipsomaniac, and from the front room of the Hanakai mansion, which he obviously intended never to leave, the tall Englishman directed the successful propagation of the plants that were to revolutionize the Hawaiian economy. Of the first two thousand Cayennes which had been abducted from the fields of French Guiana, nearly nineteen hundred grew to luscious maturity, and these first pineapples were an astonishment to the citizens of Hawaii. Whip, as was his custom, gave the fruit away and told everyone, "Start tilling your upland fields now. Gold is about to drip out of them in a fragrant flow."
A pineapple plant produces slowly, only one fruit at the end of two years--technically it is a sorosis or bundle of fruits, each of the composite squares being the result of a separate flower--but when the fruit has matured, the plant offers four separate ways of propagating new plants: the crown of the pineapple fruit can be carefully torn off and planted; slips that have started growing from the base " of the fruit can be lifted off and planted; suckers that have begun to spring out from the base of the plant can be used in the same way; or the stump itself can be cut up into chunks and planted like potatoes. From each surviving plant Dr. Schilling was thus able to recover one crown, three or four slips, two or three suckers, and two or three stump sections. By 1910 the pineapple industry was established in Hawaii.
But in 1911 it was overtaken by disaster, for the fields which Wild Whip had so carefully prepared stopped nourishing the plants, and they began to turn a sickly yellow. In panic Whip commanded Dr. Schilling to sober up and find out what was happening, but the drunken Englishman could not focus on the problem, so Whip stormed through the mansion which he now shared with Schilling and smashed all bottles containing alcohol. Then Dr. Schilling pulled himself together and spent some time in the fields. "I must make some experiments," he reported, and a corner of the mansion was given over to test tubes and beakers, but all Schilling was doing was using fresh pineapples for the distillation of a super-fine grade of alcohol which he liked better than whiskey, and he was soon incommunicado.
Wild Whip solved this impasse by beating the Englishman into insensibility, then throwing him into a cold bath. Apparently others had treated Schilling in this manner, for he took no great offense, shivering in the 'tub and whimpering like a child. "By God," Hoxworth shouted, "you brought these plants here and you'll find out what's wrong with them."
He dressed the gawky scientist, put his shoes on, and personally led the shaky man into the fields. "What's wrong with those plants?" he stormed.
"Look, Brother Hoxworth! You can't stand there and command me to find out what's happened. The human mind doesn't work that way."
"Yours will!" Hoxworth roared.
"Suppose I start to walk down that path and down that road and never look at these plants again. Then what?"
"Then by the time you get to the road, Dr. Schilling, you can't walk. Because both your legs are broken."
"I believe you would," the shaken Englishman said.
"You bet I would," Whip growled. "Now get to work." He stood back, stared in shock, and yelled, "Now what in hell are you doing?"
"I'm tasting the soil," Dr. Schilling replied.
"Oh, for Christ's sake," Whip snorted and left.
It took Dr. Schilling four weeks