164 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



May 21, 1904. 



WEST INDIAN FRUIT. 



CITRUS FRUIT AND PINE-APPLES IN 

 JAMAICA. 



In his rojiort to tlie Trinidad Agricultural Society 

 on the Fruit Industry oi' Jamaica, Mr. W. E. Suiitli 

 makes the following reference to the trade in fruit 

 other than bananas : — 



Oranges, grape fruit and pines figure in no insignificant 

 degree in the total value of their exports. During last year 

 they .shipped nearly 71,000,000 oranges (equal to 180,000 

 barrels), 8,011 packages of grape fruit and 8,220 dozen.s of 

 Junes. 



The Jamaica orange.s jiossess a very fine texture and 

 exquisite Havour, hut they are in iny opinion inferior in size 

 and appearance to those ordinarily grown here, while the best 

 of our varieties would be hard to beat anywhere. 



The greater jiroportion is sent to the States, but of late 

 years considerable quantities have been put on the English 

 market, and found much favour there. 



Notwithstanding a protective duty of .^ToO per 70 11"). 

 gross in the States, it seems that the •Jamaica growers can 

 still make a |a-ofit out of oranges .so long as the Florida and 

 Califoriua fruit is not in season. It is to the English markets 

 that the buyers are at j.iresent looking, but the general 

 complaint is want of more freipient shiiniing facilities than 

 are atforded by the fortnightly service to Bristol by the 

 Imperial Direct Line. 



The large buyers of oranges pay from l.<. per 100 to as 

 low as 3'/., delivered at the nearest railway station, and the 

 process of grading, wrap[iing and packing is done very much 

 in the same manner as that followed by the Symington 

 Syndicate here. The prices realized in English ports are 

 subject to great ■variation, according to quality, condition 

 and season. Last Christmas the best quality of .Jamaica 

 oranges fetched in London from 12*'. to 14.v. per box of 200, 

 a statement I should mjself scarcely credit, were it not taken 

 from a very relialile .source indeed. 



On all sides I heard the .same story, that profits or 

 losses (as with bananas) dejiend absulutoly u[ion the kind of 

 care given to the .selection and handling of oranges before 

 shipment, and to the maintenance of an equable temperature 

 throughout the sea voyage. Quality and condition, as with 

 most things, will always command and hold the best markets, 

 and the Jamaica people seem to be fully alive to this. 



Budding of the choicer sorts is practised to some 

 extent, and hybridizing experiments are also being carried 

 out with the Ripley and Caj'enne varieties of pines, the 

 special object being to combine the superior edible cjualities 

 of the one with the more symmetrical shape and size of the 

 other. 



TINNING PINE-APPLES. 



Mr. H. X. Kidky, M.A., F.L.S., writes as follow.? 

 in the Aijr'icultand Bulletin nf the Straits and 

 Federated Malajj States for February, on the tinning 

 of pine-apples: — 



The ])ines are here always peeled by hand, though 

 machines for this purpo.se have been invented, as it is found 

 more economical to use hand labour here where it is cheap. 

 The jicelers are Chinese. They cut the top and bottom off 

 the pine and peel it with a knife, holding the pine in the 

 left hand, which is covered with an India-rubber .glove, to 

 protect it from the acid action of the pine juice. Tlie gloves 

 have constantly to be renewed as they are .soon destroyed by 

 u.se. The [lines are then [Jut in the tins which are filled up 

 with either water or syrup. The cores are removed 

 lire\iously, if required, by a tin tube which is pressed through 

 the centre, but mo.st pines are tinned without coring. The 

 syrup is made of three catties of sugar to one picul of water. 

 After the pine is put in the tin it is .soldered up, and 

 a numlier of tins are put on a kind of wooden raft and 

 plunged in a tank of water heated bj' steam. They are 

 boiled in this tank for from ten minutes, in the case of the 

 smallest tins, to an hour and a half for large tins. The 

 biggest tins weigh .") Iti. when full. After removal from the 

 boiling water a puncture is made in the top of the tin with 

 a hammer and punch, and in large tins two punctures. This 

 is to let out the steam, and after this the holes made are 

 resoldered and the tins plunged again into boiling water for 

 nine ndnutes. They are then labelled and jiacked for 

 export. 



The object of tiiiiung without sugar is to avoid duty on 

 .sugar, and also to enable confectioners to use them for their 

 jiuriioses. Pine-aii|ile juice is often added iu the case of 

 [lines not preserved with sugar, but the tins are ofteu filled 

 with [ilain water. 



Other forms of exported pines are in slices I inch thick 

 (sliced pines), and with the eyes removed (eyeless pines). 

 Bruised jiines and others are often cut into chunks, or cubes. 

 All these are tinned in the .same way. Grated or jam pine 

 is another form of exjiort. Crystallized pines are dried in 

 the sun, and then crystallized in sugar. 



The sugar used is usually Java sugar, but Mr. Landau 

 tells me he finds Austrian beet sugar lietter, on account of its 

 colour. The cost is, however, about the .same. One 

 manufacturer states that he preserves all his pines in syru]> 

 about .SO degrees .solution, using from 11 to 20 lb, of sugai to 

 1 cwt. of pines. 



