August i, 1883.] 



THE TEOPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



151 



and covering of ih'ihes of fruits, vegetables, auct flowers for 

 maintaiuiug natural freshness by not undergoing dryage, 

 thereby retaining original flavoui- and appearance, and for 

 covering of cigars smoked by the natives of Orissa, especially 

 by the Oori/a beras in Calcutta. The dry ribs of leaves are 

 twisted and formed into balls of strings used by the native 

 shop-keepers and mdUets (native gardeners) for tying bundles 

 of articles sold, and the sticks of dt'ttee.'i (a kind of shallow 

 basket), also for tying balls of earth attached to plants in- 

 tended for carriage and ti'aus2»lantation to near or distant 

 places. 



(c) Stem slieaths. — Lately discovery has been made by 

 paper manufacturers, natiu'ahsts and chemists, that excel- 

 lent paper-pulp can be made from the stem-sheathes. Owing, 

 however, to the large percentage of water, this paper 

 material can only be made available to commerce and manu- 

 facture where i>lantain is extensively cultivated. 



(tl) Rooi-hdh. — I have ascertained it to contain starch, 

 useful for technical purposes; experiments to be yet made, 

 mil determine its intrinsic value, and whether it will pay 

 the cultivator and manufacturer. 



Rinipltidiitioit of the forer/oiiii/. — The principal part of the 

 plantain plant is its fruit, a food article of the first order ; 

 the other parts are of secondary industrial value. As a 

 whole, the plantain undoubtedly is one of the most useful, 

 industrial and decorative plants" in the whole range of the 

 veget.Tble kingdom. O. L. Bryce. 



— Iitditin AfjricidturUt. 



THE COFFEE AND SUG^VK PRODUCING COUNTRIES. 



MAD-iHASC'A.1!. 



Madagascar is the largest, finest and most fertile island 

 opposite the southeast cost of Africa, separated from the 

 mainland by the Mozambique Channel, and measuring 228,343 

 square miles. It has a population of 2,500,000 soids. This 

 island not only produces the sugar cane to perfection, but 

 abounds in nearly every other tropical product that can be 

 grown on African sod; the main island is as fertile. The 

 cane, coffee, cotton, wine, silk, hemp, gums, etc., all flourish 

 in this privileged region. Kor is Madagascar deficient m 

 u-on, copper, silver, salt and precious stones. The amoimt 

 of sugar produced at Ste. Marie and on the coast opposite 

 it is estimated at 40,000 tons. The French have their hands 

 too full at present iu Algeria and Timis to give serious 

 attention to remoter regions, although they are operating 

 arovuid then- new colony. Cochin China, and try to expand 

 iu that direction. Their campaign in Northern Africa will 

 soon absorb all their attention, a circumstance which the 

 British may avail themselves of to gain a firm foothold in 

 Madagascar, and eventually may even annex it outright. 

 Should this ever occur, and it may take place sooner than 

 is at present apparent, the island would become without a 

 iloubt one of the finest minor EngU-sh posses.sions on the 

 globe, admu-ably situated, also from a .strategical pomt of 

 vnew, for it would command the eutu-e East Coa.st, the en- 

 trance to the Red Sea, and the route from the Cape to 

 Australia. Sugar and coft'ee. would be grown there in .ibuu- 

 dance, there being no kick of labour, for if the natives de- 

 clined to work in the cane fields, coolies would be procured 

 from India, the same as they have been imported into 

 Mauritius by the hunih-ed thousand. Although the French 

 niight not Ukc such an additional British acquisition in 

 Southi rn Africa, all other nations, would hail the conquest 

 with joy, for it would stimulate trade, and benefit the 

 world at large. — liio Xe\rs. 



♦ 



PLANTING ENTERPRISE IN THE -WEST INDIES 

 {From Papa- hi/ Mi: D. Morris.) 



One of the most simple, but by no means the least pro- 

 fitable, of our "West Indian industries is that of coco-nuts, 

 which, to distinguish from cacao, cocos, aurl coca, are 

 generally known in commerce as " koker-nuts." The iuiest 

 nuts in the West Indies, and probably in the worl.l, are 

 grown on the coast of Central America ; and British Hon- 

 dai-as, in this respect, should become one of the largest 

 and niost prosperous producers of coco-nuts. "Wherever 

 there is a low, rich coast-line, not too much exposed to 

 hurricanes or strong winds, and where there are regular 

 and cheap shipping facihties, coco-nuts ofi'er very advant- 

 ageous means for supplementing" the resources of the 

 planter ; and I know cf no country w Jjcre such Jiigh prices 



and where such a regular demand exists for gi-een nuts a^ 

 the West Indies. Latterly as much as £6 per thousand 

 were paid iu British Hondm-as for coco-nuts, and very few 

 coidd be had at that price. The general price for coco-nuts 

 in the AVest Indies varies from 50s to 80s per thousand ; 

 at present they are about 70s. 



It has often occurred to me that if, in the palmy daj-s 

 of sugar-plautiug in the West Indies, an effort has been 

 made to cover the apparently barren coast lands with 

 groves of coco-nuts, the abandoned estates, now so desolate, 

 woidd have been mines of wealth to their proprietors, 

 richer and more permanent than anything derived from 

 sugar. 



A coco-nut plantation in the West Indies, well estab- 

 lished and iu full bearing (say at the end of eight years) 

 mth sixty trees to the acre, may be safely assmned to 

 be of the annual value of £10 per acre. The expenses of 

 mamtaming a coco-uut plantation, when once estabhshed, 

 is practically nothing; hence the thousands of acres of 

 land bordering the sea-coast of our West India possessions 

 are capable of immense development. 



The largest export trade in coco-nuts is probably from 

 Jamaica, where in 1880 over six niilhon nuts, of the value 

 of £20,500, were shipped, chiefly to the United States and 

 Europe. Next to Jamaica comes Trinidad, with ex-ports of 

 over four million nuts, of the value of £14,000. British 

 Guiana exported in 1879 a little over a mUHon coco-nuts, 

 but it is probable that this number has been greatly ex- 

 ceeded. It is remarkable that localities possessing such 

 wonderful facilities for the cultivation of coco-nuts as the 

 Windward and Leeward Islands should, up to the present 

 time, do little beyond supplying their own wants. Dom- 

 inica, with its unrivalled lands for the cultivation of this 

 valuable palm, does not export a single nut. Barbados is 

 iu a worse position, for she has to import coco-nuts for 

 her own use. Whether this is due to want of cultivation, 

 or to the unsuitabihty of the soil and climate to the 

 gi-owth of the plant, is not known. I beheve the coco-nut 

 palm at Barbados is afi'ected by an insect pest; but if 

 this is the only deterrent to the cultivation of so useful 

 and valuable a plant. I believe it might be overcome. - 



The manufactiu-e of "copra," the kernel of the coco-nut 

 dried and cured, has not been taken up in the West Ind- 

 ies : nor has the manufacture of coco-nut oil or coconut 

 fibre been established. These industries arc chiefly con- 

 fined to the Pacific Islands, to the Seychelles, to Ceylon, 

 and to countries remote from good markets, for fresh 

 nuts, and where the value of the nuts is below 40s per 

 thousand. Owuig to the lower value of coconuts in C^ey- 

 lon, coco-nut oil can be actually manufactured there and 

 shipped and sold in the 'West Indies at a lower rate than 

 we can make it ourselves. If, by making the nut.s into 

 copra, the West Indian planter obtains only some 40s per 

 thousand for them, and if, by making them into oil, he 

 only just clears his expenses, it is mauifestly to his in- 

 terest to dispose of the nuts in the green state, and espe- 

 cially at present prices .of 70s, per thousand. For the 

 American market the nuts must have the outer husks re- 

 moved : and lai terly it is found more convenient and econom- 

 ical to ship the nuts in a simihir state to the English 

 market. In the latter case, the nuts .are packed iu gunny 

 bags, and forwiirded as merchandise instead of as " dun- 

 nage." 



In the Baliamas, " the Madeira of the United States," 

 the cultivation of tropical fruits, especially pine-apples, 

 bananas, oranges, and coco-nuts, has as.snmed considerable 

 importance. Uniler the fostering care of a former govern- 

 or — now Sir "Wm. Robinson. K.C.Jl.G. — and .-i system of 

 local boards of agriculture, tobacco, onions, tomatoes, and 

 numerous other small industries, have also been started, 

 which must eventually, in the aggregate, add greatly to 

 the prosperity of these islands. The pine-apple trade of 

 the Bahamas, chiefly confined to New Providence, is car- 

 ried on both with England and the United States, a large 

 proportion of which is in canned goods. The coco-nut 

 pl.antations are confined chiefly to Inagua and islands to 

 the south, whence the nuts are conveniently and easily 

 .shipped. At the Turks and Caicos Island in the neigh- 

 bourhood, now under the Government of Jiimaica, a very 

 priiiseworthy and energetic effort is being made by Mr. 

 Llewelyn, the ('onunissioner. to culti\ate oranges, pine- 

 apples, and fibre-plants, which, so far, promises to be well 

 gecouded and supported by tl^e inhabitants. 



