31S 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



October 3; 1908. 



FISH OF THE CARIBBEAN SEAS. 



Under the above title an interesting article deal- 

 ing with the chief fish of the West Indian Seas, and 

 the methods used in capturing them appears in the 

 June number of Trop'(cal and Hubtropleal America. 



It is pointed out that tlie Caribbean Sea svvai-nis with 

 fish of many kinds, many of them being of the greatest value 

 foi- food purposes, but f)wing jiartly to the antiquated methods 

 adoi)ted by the fishermen, full advantage is not taken <if 

 this source of food supply. 



In discussing the chief fish founil in the Caribbean Seas, 

 refere'.ice is first made to the well-known Hying tish. This 

 includes a number of species all nuich alike in general appear- 

 ance, the fish being greenish-black or steel-blue above, and 

 silvery below, lender favourable conditions flying fish attain 

 a length of from 12 to l.j inches, and a weight of from 1', to 

 2 lb. Barbados is the island where the Hying tish industi-y is 

 of the most importance, and there a large number of boats 

 and a small army of men are engaged in connexion with it. 

 The method of capturing flying fish by means of seine nets 

 is described, but it may be stated that at Barbados the flying 

 fish are usually caught bj* means of a circular dipping 

 net. It is also mentioned that Spanish mackerel, ' jack,' 

 and other small fish are captured in a somewhat similar 

 way. Speaking generally the small fish are caught in seines, 

 Ciist nets, and fish jiots, while the large fish, among which 

 may be included the dolphin, the barracouta, red snappers, 

 the albacore or 'tuna,' and the King-tish or ' cero,' are captured 

 by hook and line. 



The albacore is found in the seas around Barbados, and 

 t»ther islands, and is the largest of any Caribbean fish caught by 

 hand lino. Not infrequently it attains a weight of 200 lb., 

 Avhile it is stated that occasionally specimens are found 

 weighing as much as 1,000 B). The albacore is a strong, 

 gamey, hard-fighting fish resembling the tarpon in these 

 characteristics. Another fine tropical fish is the King- 

 tish already mentioned, the flesh of which is of excellent 

 flavour. In the West Indian seas it grows to a great size 

 reaching (> or 8 feet in length, and sometimes as much as 

 100 tt). in weight, although the majority caught and sold 

 for food purposes do not weigh more than 30 lb. Large 

 numbers of small fish arc caught in large fish pots of some- 

 what anti(piated pattern, and mostly constructed of split 

 bamboo and palm leaves. Latterly many fishermen in the 

 West Indies have adopted the u.se of wire netting in the 

 construction of these fish pots, and it is stated that tiny 

 obtain better results than with the bamboo pots. 



Among the commonest fish caught in the pots are 

 mentioned the squirrel fish, l)anana fish, .scarlet hind, rock 

 Hsli, groupers, and angel fish, as well as the parrot fi.sh. 

 -Many of these fish are red in colour. This red colouring 

 serves as a protective agency to the fish possessing it, for when 

 viewed tlirough blue water the red appears as a mere neutral 

 tint. 



Crabs and also the clawless lobster are sometimes found 

 in these fish pots. The latter grows to a large size, often 

 weighing 20 H). 



Mention is made at the close of the article of sea turtles 

 »;aught in the Caribbean seas. The headcpiartei-s of the turtle 

 trade of the West Indies arc at Kingston in Jamaica, most of 

 the turtles being caught on the coral reef to the north of the 

 island. In the past they have been so persistently hvmteil 

 and their eggs destroyed in such large nund>ers that in 

 many localities they are now on the verge of extinction. In 

 I'.arbados, at least, legislative efforts have recently been made 

 with the object of preventing this. 



FEEDING VALUE AND FLAVOUR 



OF NUTS. 



An interesting article in the Yearlxxil: of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture (I90G) deal* 

 with the use of nuts as food for man, and gi-ves a large 

 amount of information as to the composition, value, and 

 digestibility of these fruits. 



As is j)ointed out in the article refei-red to, the ternt 

 ' nut ' is not a definite one — hotanically speaking — but is. 

 api)lied indiscriminately to ;i variety of certain fruits, or 

 pans of fruits, and implies a more or less hard, woody cover- 

 ing, surrounding a meat or kernel. The fact that nuts form 

 a concentrated class of food-stuffs, owing to their general 

 richness in fats and proteins — the two most valuable of nutri- 

 tive constituents — is very evident from a consideration of the 

 tabulated results of analysis i:)f a large number of different 

 kinds of nuts, given in the article. Oil or fat is very 

 commonly a prominent constituent of nuts. The hickory nut 

 {C'ltya sp.) contains 67'4 per cent, of oil, the Brazil nut 

 (Itert/io/tetid i:ireh(t), 6-5 per cent., the candle-nut {Aleuritex 

 tri/iola), 61 '7 j)er cent., the butter-nut {Cari/ocnr nuriferuni)^ 

 61'2 per cent., the walnut (Jii-/!anx ri'ii-ia), OO'T per cent., 

 the cocoa-nut 56-2, the almond .")4t, and the ground nut 

 (Arachis hi/par/iten) 43'.5 per cent. 



Several of the above, as well as others, are also rich in 

 protein or albuminous matter — that constituent of foods 

 which goes to form muscles or red meat in the animal body. 

 In the ground nut the proportion of protein reaches 29-S per 

 cent., while in the case of the butter-nut the protein com- 

 prises 27'9 per cent. Other nuts rich in albuminoid matter 

 are the pistachio, 22'6 per cent.: the Paradise nut of South 

 America (which resembles the Brazil nut in appearance and 

 flavour), about 22'2 per cent.: the almond and the candle-nut, 

 each 21'4 per cent.; the walnut, 182 per cent., and thtv 

 Brazil nut, 17'4 per cent. The proportion of albununoid 

 matter in the cocoa-nut comprises only 66 per lent. 



Ordy a few of the commonly used nuts contain a large 

 proportion of carbohydrate matter. Among these the dry 

 chestnut, with 7o'0 jier cent., ranks highest. 



When it is considered that the [iroportion of protein 

 in an average beef steak conq)rises 19'iS per cent., and of fat 

 13 '6 per cent., that in Cheddar chee.se the protein percentage 

 may be taken as 27'7 and th.' fat percentage as 36s<, and 

 that boiled eggs contain 12'4 per cent, of albuminoid 

 matter, and lU'7 per cent, of fat. it will be seen that the 

 food value of nuts, as deduced from their [)ercentage composi- 

 tion of nutritive matter, is, generally s])eaking, a high one. 

 This food value is somewhat de|ireciated on account of the 

 fact that the nutrilivr constituents, more especially the 

 protein matter, are not .so easily digested as the correspond- 

 ing constituents of meat, but the oi)inion is expressed by the 

 writer of the arti<'le that this inferior digestibUily is, toa large 

 extent, due to inqierfect mastication of the nuts. 



The fiavoin- of luits is to a large extent due to the oils 

 present, though in .some kinds there are also certain specific 

 flavouring bodies. The nut oils readily become rancid, and 

 the disagieeable flavour of spoiled nuts is due to this property. 

 The almond possesses a hydrocyanic acid flavour, which is 

 characteristic of the kernels of peach stones, |ilnm stoneji, etc., 

 and this might be expected when it is remenibere<l that the 

 almond is the dried kernel of an inedible fruit, which some- 

 what resembles the jjcach in ap])earance, and is closely related 

 lo it botanically. .Most almonds are mild-flavoured, though 

 in the so calleil bitter almomls the glucoside which yields the 

 cyanic acid i,-. nmre abundant. 



