Vol. XIII. Xo. 327. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



355 



THE JABOTICABA. 



It is generally known that almost all the fruits culti- 

 vated ill the West Indies are exotics, having been introduced 

 since the colonization of these islands from some other parts 

 of tlie Tropics. In later years the introduction of hitherto 

 uncultivated fruit trees has been carried on in the Botanic 

 Gardens in ditferent islands, noticea1>ly in Dominica, where 

 the much esteemed durian ( Darin :ihethinm) and niangosteen 

 (Garcinia manf/nstana) from India have successfully fruited, 

 and where the litchi {Neplieliuin. litchi) from southern China 

 is now growing. Other tropical fruits, highly appreciated in 

 their native habitats, may perhaps be naturalized in the West 

 Indies, the produce of some of them even becoming a profit- 

 able export in the future. One of these is the jaboticaba, 

 pronounced zha-bu-ti-ca-ba, (Mt/rciaria cauliflora) of Brazil. 

 Mr. Wilson Popenoe, of the United States Department of 

 Agriculture, tlescribes this interesting fruit tree in an article 

 in the Journal nf Heredity, from which the f<;illowing remarks 

 are gleaned. Apjiarently, lioth from the illustrations accom- 

 (lanying the article, and from the description, the tree, which 

 attains a height of 35 feet, is most ornamental, not only 

 from its symmetrical head of dense foliage, but also from 

 its habit of producing its deep purple grape-like fruit upon 

 the trunk of the tree from the ground np, ar.d all along its 

 branches. When heavily laden, the tree is a curious and 

 beautiful sight. This habit of producing fruit on old wiiod 

 is not unconnnon among other trojjic trees, as for instance 

 the cacao and the calabash. The Howere are very like those 

 of the guava, lioth being of the same order (Myrtaceae). The 

 firuit resemliles the grape, not only in colour, but also in 

 consistency and taste, especial!}' in the superior varieties; the 

 skin, however, is considerably tougher, containing a large 

 amount of tannin. The tree produces under favourable 

 conditions several crops a year, e^•en when there is scarcity 

 of rain. It seems to prefer a deep rich soil, although it is 

 said to succeed in almost any .soil, at elevations from sea- 

 level up to 3,000 feet or more. A\'hen planted, room for 

 a spread of at least 30 feet should be allowed to each tree. In 

 Brazil it is exclusively propagated l>y seed^ but as Mr. Popenoe 

 points out, to perpetiTate choice \arieties some form of graft- 

 ing should prove successful. The fruit is greatly esteemed 

 by the Brazilians, and is all consumed in the local markets, 

 fetching 50c. per kilog. (about Is. per B>.) in Rio .Janeiro. 

 An excellent jelly is also made from it. The fruit is sent to 

 the market from the interior packed in a most primitive way, 

 usuallj' in the ordinary kerosene-tin liox, known so well in 

 the West Indies, without any ])acking material whatever, the 

 result being.that a great proportion of the fruit is crushed or 

 bruised. If smaller packages were used, and some care taken 

 in the packing, the jaboticaba might be shipped to consider- 

 able distances, the toughness of its skin and its keeping 

 qualities giving it the advantage probably over a fruit like 

 grapes, which, as is well known, can be transported safely. 

 This tree might succeed in the West Indies, or at least in 

 some <if them; and although its growth is slow, .six or eight 

 years being reijuired for it to con.e into bearing, yet if the 

 older colonists had allowed such a consideration to have 

 weight, the preseTit generation would have been badly otf for 

 fruit trees. 



Increased Wheat Production in the Do- 

 minions. — One of the matters brought into prominence by 

 the present war is the (juestion of an adequate supply of 

 cereals. As was noticed in the last number of the Ai/ricul- 

 tural News, the Board of .Vgriculture and Fisheries has been 

 impressing on farmers in Great Britain the duty of increasing 

 the acreage umler wheat; and jiractiially the same advice 



has l.ieen given to the farmers of the Dominions of Canada 

 and New Zealand, by their respective Ministers of Agriculture. 



The Af/ricultur'il Gazette of Canada, .September 1 914, 

 Itrints a message to the farmers of Canada, signed by the 

 Minister of Agriculture, the Hon. Martin Burrell, ' some 

 sentences of which are hei-e ipioted: — 



'Britain needs more than men, she must have food, — 

 food this year and food next year.' 



'Canadian farmers, who by extra effort enlarge their 

 wheat and other crop acreages, will be doing the best thing 

 possible to strengthen the Empire in its day of trial.' 



In The Journal of Agriculture, August 20, 1914, pub- 

 lished by direction of the Right Hon. W. F. Massey, P.C, 

 the Prime ^linister and Minister of Agriculture of New 

 Zealand, he makes an appeal to the farmers of the 

 Dominion to make arrangements to grow as much cereal 

 jjroduce as possible, so that New Zealand may be able to do 

 her shai'e towards providing against the probable world-wide 

 shortage of breadstutis. The following is the concluding 

 sentence of the appeal: — 



'I ask the patriotic farmers — and that means all the 

 farmers of the Dominion who have suitable land — to at once 

 put the necessary operations in hand, with a view to growing 

 as much as possible of wheat and oats, thus giving to the 

 Empire what may prove to be extremely valuable assistance.' 



Alleged New Varieties of Coflfee.— Coft'ee culti- 

 vation to any large extent has idmost ceased in the smaller 

 West Indian islands. A hundred years ago however it was 

 largely and profitably grown in Dominica, especially in the 

 Soufriere district. Lately a communication has been received 

 by the Commissioner oi Agriculture, from the British Vice- 

 Consul in Guadeloupe making enquiries as to a particularly 

 vigorous variety of Coffea arabica, suitable for cultivation on 

 exposed hillsides, which was stated in a book on Trinidad 

 by M. deVerteuil, to grow in that district, and to be known 

 as 'Soufriere coffee'. The Curator of the Botanic Station in 

 Dominica has failed to identify any such variety. He 

 suggests that the vigorous specimens, noted by M. de 

 Verteuil growing ki the situatii>n described, were probably 

 plants growing in rich pockets of soil upheld by rocks, while 

 the enfeeliled plants around them were on soil liable to be 

 washed away by heavy rain. Enquiries were also made by 

 the same gentleman as to a variety of coti'ee said to be culti- 

 vated in Brazil under the name 'Carnillon'. On referring 

 this question to the Director of the Botanic Gardens, Rio de 

 Janeiro (Dr. WiUis), he has replied that no such named 

 variety is known by his office to be grown in Brazil. 



The result of a dynamite experiment conducted in Kuala 

 Lumpur, as reported in the Apricultural Bulletin of the 

 Federated Malay States, June 1914, will be of interest. 

 Three rows of rubber, running the length of the field wore 

 selected, one row- being treated with dynamite while the other 

 two acted as controls. In the dynamite plot the average 

 increase of girth, after a period of seven months, amounted 

 to 2'56 inches, while in Control No. 1, the increase was 1'81 

 inches and in No. 2, D62 inches. It is not stated definitely 

 that the excess in girth increase over the control plots was 

 absolutely due to the effect of dynamite, but as the area in 

 which the experiment was conducted shows more i:ir le.ss 

 uniform growth throughout, it would appear that the exjslos- 

 ives had good effect. Whether this treatment is profitable 

 will depend on how long the beneficial effect lasts. 



