324 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



October 8, 1904. 



WEST INDIAN FRUIT. 



CITRUS TRADE IN SICILY. 



The following extracts from the Cuiisular Rcjiort 

 on Sicily for 1!)08 indicate the extent of the citrus 

 fruit industry in the island. The items of export 

 under this head include oranges and lemons, pickled 

 fruit and peels, concentrated lemon juice, citric acid, 

 citrate of lime,, and essential oils : — 



ORANGES AND LEMONS. 



J/esshia. — Tlie oranges and lemons exported in boxes 

 from Mes.sina during the years 1901, 1902, and 1903 

 amounted to .33,15.5, .53,81.5, and 19,3i2 tons respective!}'. 

 The considerable decrease in the export is undoubtedly due 

 to the fact that all the produce of the province of Catania 

 which was formerly forwarded to ^Messina for .shipment is 

 now shiii[ied direct from C'atania. Moreover, several fruit 

 merchants \vho were established at Messina are now 

 tran.sacting their business from Catania. In 1903, 7,07G 

 tons were shipped from Messina to various ports in the 

 United Kingdom. The total shipments of oranges and lemons 

 in 1903 were 19,342 tons, as again.st 5-3,815 tons in 1902. 



Palermo. — Of the total of over 100,000 tons of oranges 

 and lemons exported, there were 84,436 tons of fresh lemons, 

 1.5,237 tons of fresh oranges, and 390 tons of pickled lemons. 



Catania. — P^xports of oranges and lemons: 1903, 

 83,953 to7is valued at £430,530 ; 1902, 93,655 tons valued 

 at £536,603. 



Si/racuiie. — The number of boxes of lemons and oranges 

 exported during the year was 70,928 for the United Kingdom 

 and 242,091 for Austria-Hungary. 



CITRIC ACID AND CITRATE OF LIME. 



The }>roductiou of citric acid in Sicily was estimated to 

 be about 48 tons, calculated to be worth about £6,150. 



.Messina. — The quantity of citric acid exjwrted in 1903 

 amounted to 45 tons, all of which was shipped to the United 

 Kingdom. 



Palermo. — Half the exports of citrate of lime went to 

 tlie United Kingdom; 253 tons went to the United States. 



PICKLED FRUIT AND PEEL. 



^^e•<sina. — The export of citrons (halved) in brine 

 amounted in 1903 to 2,160 tons, the quantity .shipped to the 

 United Kingdom being 1,065 tons. 



Syracuse. — The total number of casks of jiickled orange 

 and lemon peel exported in 1903 was 8,258, of which 7,467 

 went to the United Kingdom and 791 to the United States 

 of America. 



The total quantity of bitter orange and lemon peel 

 exported in 1903 was 7,582 tons. 



BANANA INDUSTRY OF COSTA RICA. 



The Coih-iulur Rcpart on the trade of Costa Rica 

 contains the folhjwing reference to the position of the 

 banana industry:^ 



The total area under bananas is returned as 24,317 

 manzanas, or 42,060 acres, and this area is rapidly being 

 extended under the stimulus of the increased price, 31c. gold 

 for each bunch of 'firsts' all the year round, paid to the 

 growers for their [iroduce by the United Fruit Com))any, 

 and of the excellent transport facilities afforded by the Costa 

 Rica and Xorthern railways. The fruit from Costa Rica 

 enjoys the highest reimtation, and throughout 1903 has been 

 shiiiped to Manchester fortnightly, some 650,000 bunches 

 in all having been sold there, with very satisfactory results. 

 The number of bunches exported in 1903 shows an increase 

 of 23-11 per cent, on that in 1902. The following shows 

 the growtli of this trade during the past live years : — 



"l899, 2,962,771 bunches TigOO, .3,420,166 bunches; 

 1901, 3,870,156 bunches; 1902, 4,174,199 bunches; 190.3, 

 .5,139,063 bunches. 



The United Fruit Conqiauy employs in this trade 4,000 

 .Tamaicaus, anil during the past three and a half years has, 

 with its a.ssociated comjianies, jilauted 16,303 acres of land 

 with bananas. During 1903, 206 steamers have cleared for 

 the United States i)orts with this fruit and twenty-five for 

 the United Kingdom (Manchester). 



INDIA RUBBER IN BAHIA. 



The fcjllowing reference to the collection of rubber 

 is made in the Ci/nsular Kfpoii on the trade of 

 Bahia :— 



India rubber improved greatly during the past year. 

 An increasing and steady demand from Europe caused the 

 discovery of new .sources of supiily in the interior of this 

 State. 



Vast forests of Manieoba, the existence of which was 

 never suspected, were exploited and a grade of rubber 

 supplied far superior to anything hitherto seen on the 

 Bahia market. Prices ajipear to have been satisfactory to 

 collectors, and had it not been for the scarcity of labour and 

 the absence of proper roads and insuflicient water suiiply for 

 the pack mules, the arrivals would have been far greater. 



I have seen samples of some specially well-cleaned and 

 prepared Maniijoba which recently reached the market from 

 one of the new districts, and this fetched from 3.<. to 4-5. 

 per Bj. 



