340 



THE ACrJCULTUr.AL NEW;- 



OcTOBEn 31, 1908. 





Kt&^ 



^^f 



WEST INDIAN FRUIT. 



THE 'SANDERSHA' MANGO. 



Under ihe licadiiig 'Promising New Fruits,' an 

 article :i|i[)eavs in the receiitly issued Vcarhndl,- (1907) 

 of tiie United Stntes Department of Agriculture, wliich 

 contains particulars (witli coloured illustrations) of the 

 ■characteristics of a number of fruits of different varieties 

 that are at present ui'.der exjieriinental culture by the 

 Department, and all of which promise to be of special 

 ■excellence. Among these fruits is a mango of Indian 

 origin, known as the ' .San(]ersha ' variety, first intro- 

 duced into Florida in the year 1901, and of which the 

 following particulars are given : — 



Of the uuuigns that Imvc so far fruited .sufficiently in 

 Florida to disclose their distinctive characteristic's, the Sauder- 

 slia is one of the most unique, and in certain respects the 

 most promising. It was introduced by the Section of Seed 

 and Plant Introduction in 1901, having been received from 

 Bangalore, India, in the form of two inarched trees. 

 A .second lot of iniU'ched trees received from !Mr. W. Goilan, 

 ■ Superintendent of the Government Uotanic Station at 

 SahanuipiU', India, uiidfr the name ' Sundcrshah ' has not 

 yet fruited, but is believed to be the same sort. Little 

 appears to have been published in India, regarding the 

 variety, but at the Subtropical Laboratory of the Department 

 at Jliami, Florida, wheie it has been fruited for two seasons, 

 it has proved very ])roductive, of exce[)tionally large size, fine 

 de.s.sert quality, and very late ripening season, all of which 

 points are ap|iarently in its favour as a conunercial sort. 

 Mr. I'. .1. Wester, of tlie Suiitropical Laboratory, considers 

 •cress-pollination necessary to insure productiveness. 



The Sandersha mango is haig in form, compressed, and 

 rather slender, tapering toward stem and teinunating in 

 a distinct curved beak al the apex : size very large, averaging 

 ahcait 20 oz. in weight, an(l occasionally attaining a weight 

 of 2 Ih.; stem stout, apex prominent, curved and 'beaked :' 

 surface smooth ; colour clear yellow, with a faint pinkish 

 blush in the sun : dots immerou.s, small, russeted ; skin 

 moderately thick : seed long, curvefl, thin, small in projior- 

 tion to size of fruit and thickness of flesh ; tlesli rich reddi.sh- 

 yellow, juicy and tender, almost entirely free from fibre ; 

 flavour refreshing in the fresh state, tluaigh with rather 

 le.ss aroma than the Mulgoba. Its higher acidity will 

 <lf)ubtless render it more, acceptable • for scBving in slieed 

 form than are most of the mangos thus far obtainable in the 

 United States' markets. This mango is a late variety, ripening 

 in the latter [lart of August at Miama, Fla. The 'Sandersha' 

 is considered well worthy of testing in the mango districts of 

 Florida, Porto Kico, and Hawaii. 



if 



COCOA-NUT INDUSTRY IN THE 



SEYCHELLES. 



rhe production of eoco--x-nuts, and the manuf^ictiire 

 copra, and soap, 



oil, copra, and soap, constitute the agrieidtural 

 industry of second impcu'tance in the Seychelles L-lands, 

 the chief industry Ijeing the cultivation of vanilla. 

 From the particulars given in the Annual Report 

 (1907-8) of the Curator of the Botanic Gardens in tha 

 Seychelles, it is seen that the coco.a-nut crop for thu 

 past year showed a large increase on those of tlio two 

 previous years. The total number of nuts produced 

 was 21,710, 40S. , (_)f the nuts about I.'!), millions wero 

 converted into copra for export, while the reniainder 

 were disposed of in various ways, or consumed loeallv 



le of the exports of cocoa-nuts and cocoa-nuti 



T!ie vail 



products amounted to £51,424. 



Copra manufacture is steadily increasing In ijn.: i~i,iud.s 

 and as a result there has been a continual rise in the price of 

 the nuts duri;ig the past two or three years. In 1905 the 

 [jrice of 100 nuts fell as low as 2.s. In 190G it ri>-e to Ss., 

 and in the year under review the average price per 100 has 

 been ox. 'M. Many local firms arc engaged in the industry, 

 and the value of the cocoa-nut estates in the island arc stated 

 to have more than doubled since iyOli-7. 



In the past little attention has been paid to tiie manur- 

 ing of coeiia-iuit plantations in the colony, lait with the 

 increased value of the jiroducts a few jihi'iters aie giving 

 attention to manuring in the hofic of increasing their returns. 

 One planter applied stable manure at the rate of 50 Ih. ]ier. 

 tree, later ou giving in addition G lb. per tree of a mixture of 

 guano, kainit, salt, and lime, and the results he has 

 obtained would certainly go to indicate that much more 

 manuring nught be done in the cocoaiuit [ilantaticms of the 

 islands, with profitable results, lu the year followiiig the above 

 applications the cocoa-nut crop of the estate rose to an aver- 

 age of sixty-one nut- pBrJtree, as compared with an average of 

 thirty-one nuts in the iireceding year. In ex])erinients carried 

 out in other parts of the colony, 2 cwt. of kainit and 4 cwt.of 

 guano were nuxed and applied per acre, and in addition a crop 

 of velvet beans was grown on the .soil beneath the trees, in 

 order to assist in providing a supply of nitrogen for the 

 <ocoanut crop. 



The velvet beans arc reported to grow remarkably well 

 on the coral soil of the Seychelles Islands. It appears that, 

 the vines are allowed to climb over the palms to a certain 

 height, after which they arc cut down and dug into the .soil. 



