3Iay 2, 1908.] Agrictdfural Gazette of N.S. W. 403 



in the hurricane of 1!)0.j, which swept over this side of tlie island. 

 Coco-nuts are worth ."^s. per Imndred for shipment, and 11,000 were 

 exported to America lust year, while there is a large local consumption. 

 Port Antino is the chief centre of the banana industry. In 1896 there 

 were only 19,227 acres in Ijananas, which had increased to 44, -325 acres 

 ill 1905. Last year Janriica exported 10,000,000 bunches of Ijananas to the 

 United States and Europe (a liunch consists of from 12 to 9 "hands"; 

 anything smaller is counted as half a bunch). The value of the exported 

 bananas was £880,000. The bulk of these fruits are consumed in the 

 United States, and the United Fruit Company controls everything. 

 Jamaica also exported -32,000 packages (in barrels or Florida fruit-cases) 

 of grape-fruit, worth Gs. }ier package, and .55,000 packages of oranges, 

 wortli 2s. 6d. per hundred. I might here remark that the United Fruit 

 Company practically controls the markets of the United States, and 

 nearly all fruit in Florida, Cuba, the Central American States, and the 

 West Indies passes through their hands. 



The large banana growers, Mr. Cork informed me, use sulphate of 

 ammonia as a fertiliser, and fiml it pays them. 



Left the same afternoon for Bog Walk, the junction for the Ewarton 

 line, and stopped there that night. Monday morning left hx the 8 a.m. 

 train, reached Ewarton at 9'.30, and took a trap out to Wortliy Park, 

 8 miles over the mountains, and reached there before lunch. Mr. J. V. 

 Calder gave me a warm welcome, and found me a horse and guide to go 

 through his cacao plantation, one of the largest in the island. This at 

 present prices is a very profitable crop ; Init the trees are subject to a 

 number of different insect and fungus diseases. For the first three years 

 of life, a cacao-tree has to be grown under shade, and looked after : but 

 when firmly established is a very hardy plant. Many growers claim that 

 cacao should always be grown under shade; while others claim that if 

 the trees are properly planted 12 to 18 feet apart, and ])roiierly pruned, 

 thev will grow enough shade to protect themselves, and tliat the planting 

 of shade trees causes the many diseases that attack them. One of the 

 most serious diseases is "canker," which attacks tlie main stem. 

 Starting as a diseased pustule under the bark, it spreads all round, and 

 if not cut away, and treated with a dressing of fish-oil and tar, it will 

 very soon kill tlie tree. "Black-rot" attacks the growing pods, and if 

 they are not cut off it spreads into the stem wood, and kills the flower- 

 bearing wood. Thrips first appear among the foliage, and then spread 

 down into the growing pods. When numerous, they damage the skin, 

 and cause the pods to become aborted and the beans inside to perisli. Tlie 

 rats also damage a good many pods, and the woodpeckers often bore 

 holes into them and suck out the Ix^ans. In Trinidad the leaf-cutting 

 ant often does some duniage, and two Ijeetles {Sfeint><foi)ia depres-'id and 

 S. hi.<fr()/nrti) lay tlieir eggs in tlie bark, which the larva? damage con- 

 siderably. In this island, I)esides the rat, there is a squirrel and a 

 rat opossinn whicli damage the pods. 



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