212 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



Jui.v 10, 1909. 



WEST INDIAN FRUIT. 



FRUIT PRODUCTION IN THE BAHAMAS. 



Fruit ])rocluction is ;i valuable indnsti-y in the 

 Bahamas, but it is capable of considerable further 

 development. Some interesting notes in this connexion 

 are contained in the report, for I'JOy, of the Curator of 

 the Botanic Station, Nassau. 



Pine-apple.s form the chief fruit shipped abroad, the 

 value of the shipments in 190S being £17,181. This, how- 

 ever, shows a great decline as compared with 1907, when 

 exports of this fruit were made to the value of £30,01-1. 

 The falling off is chiefly due to drought experienced in 1906 

 and 1907. Iteports as to the prospects of the crop for 1909 

 seem to be more encouraging. 



With the help of increased grants from the Legislature, 

 the Board of Agriculture last year imported and distributed 

 180,000 slips of the Ited Spanish variety of pineapple. 

 These were in most cases given to growers, on the condition 

 that half the increase of stock for three years be handed over 

 to the Board for further distribution. The .J. 8. Johnson 

 Pine-apple Canning (Jompany also imported 20,000 slips of 

 Bed Spanish pine-apples, which were distributed free to local 

 growers. It is satisfactory to note that the jirices obtained bj' 

 growers of pineapples in the Bahamas in 1908 were 

 appreciably higher than in the preceding year, both at the 

 factories, and in the United States. 



Manurial experiments with pine-apples liave been in 

 progress for the past two years, the Legislut\u-e having made 

 a special grant of £100 for this purpose. Various combina- 

 tions of fertilizers are being tried, and though the experiments 

 are not yet concluded, some .satisfactory and profitable results 

 have already been obtained in certain cases. It would appear 

 that when nitrogen is to be a[iplied to the crop, better results 

 are obtained when it is given in the organic form, e.g., as 

 dried blood, than as sulphate of ammonia, or nitrate. A good 

 supply of potash is essential for the proi)er develoiiment and 

 fruiting of the pine-apple crop, and f<jr this purpose sulphate 

 of potash is i)referable to kainit. On the red lands, where 

 pine-apples are largely grown in the Bjaliamas, the following 

 is reconuuended as a good mixed manure : dried blood, 

 744 lb.; raw ground bone, 432 lb.; and low grade sulphate 

 of potash, 904 lb. per acre. The experiments have already 

 demonstrated that if the best results are to be obtained, 

 a manure for pine-apples must be a complete fertilizer, i.e., it 

 must contain nitrogen, potash, and i)hosphates. 



Grape-fruit and oranges were exported from the liahamas 

 in 1908 to the value of £6,177, this being an increase of 



£3,557 on the exports of 1907. Oranges show a greater 

 increase than grape-fruit. Both these kinds of fruit are 

 produced in excellent quality in the Bahamas. The im- 

 portance of supervision to ensure that only mature fruit is 

 shiiJijed, and that grading and packing are jjroperly carried 

 out, is referred to in the report. 



There is a citrus nur.sery at the Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station for the purpose of .sujiplying the best market- 

 able varieties of grape-fruit and oranges to growers at 

 a low price. Stocks of sour orange and rough lemon to the 

 number of 800 were planted in 1906, and budded early in 

 1908 with buds of ' ilarsh Seedless', .Jaffa, Washington 

 Xavel, 'King', and other varieties of orange. Strong'and 

 healthy trees are now being sold at Id. each. 



Another point to^which reference is made is the fact that 

 enormous cpiantities of various fruits, such as mangos, guavas, 

 cocoa-plum, hog jjlum, sorrel, etc., are annually wasted in 

 the colony, whereas if these products were properly treated, 

 a continuous supply of preserves would be available not only 

 for local consumption, but also for export. The.se considera- 

 tions apply not only to the Bahamas, but to several of the 

 West Indian islands, and to British (juiana as well. 



The establishment of a small factory in certain of the 

 colonies would be all that is required, and this might be the 

 means of starting a useful and remunerative industry. 



Rubber-tapping Method. 



The Tropical AgriciUtin-isf for May 1.5, 1909, 

 contains a review of a report by Professor Fitting after 

 a visit to the tropical garden at Beitenzorg to study 

 the physiology of the bark of the rnbber trees in its 

 relation to the vjjLrious methods of tapping. 



His conclusions were based on the fact that sap ascends 

 the tree through the sap wood and the elaboratetl food sup- 

 ply descends through the bast or minor wood. 



If the bark is cut through to the wood, and horizontally 

 arouuil the tree, the supply of elaborated food may be cut off 

 entirely from the root, with the result that the tree may be 

 killed outright in a few years. 



Professor Fitting concludes that the best results will be 

 obtained, in the long run, by those methods which leave the 

 widest possible area of free bark unblocked in a vertical 

 direction, and therefore advocates such a system as the 

 herring-bone or ; the half herring-bone, in which only 

 a quarter of the [circumference of a tree is tapped at a time. 



