276 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



September 3, 1910. 



FRUITS AND FRUIT TREES. 



FRUIT IN JAMAICA. 

 The following is an extract taken from the 

 Annual Report on the Department of Agriculture, 

 Jamaica, for 1900-10, by the Director of Agriculture, 

 Mr. H. H. Cousins, :M A.,' which has just been issued. It 

 is of special interest, as it deals with the growth and 

 production of the chief fruit plants and fruits in 

 Jamaica during the time covered by the report. A gener- 

 al review of the report will b^ given in the next 

 number of the Agricultural S'cu-f:. 



COFFEE. The floods in November did serious damage to 

 large areas of coffee in the Blue Mountains, and some estates 

 suffered severely. It would appear that coftee is rapidl}' 

 ceasing to be an estate crop in .Jamaica, and that the bulk of 

 output is destined to be that of the small cultivators. There 

 is no crop that can replace coffee as a money-earning crop in 

 the drier upland districts of the island, and the A'^ricultural 

 Instructors are well advised to encourage the people in these 

 areas to pay more attention to their coffee. A combination 

 of a milch cow, fed with cut grass, and a ccffee patch manured 

 thereby, has been i-hown to be most effective in improving 

 and rendering most productive such cultivations. 



Some cases of a coffee leaf-disease were brought to my 

 notice during the year and found to be due to the fungus 

 Stilbum flariduiu, Cooke. [SphaerostUlje jiavida, Massee: 

 also Stiibella Jiai'ida; see Agricultural News, Vol. VIII, 

 pp. 292, 39.5" and 411.] Under normal conditions in 

 Jamaica, this disease does not appear to be of a dangeious 

 character, although in Costa Rica and other parts of Central 

 America serious losses have been reported fron- the spread of 

 this pest. 



B.\NAJiAS. The appearance of the banana crop last 

 October was exceptionally fine, and it was a great disappoint- 

 ment when the floods in November did such damage to the 

 cultivations in the eastern half of the island. The drought 

 that followed the storm also resulted in a set-back to the 

 plantations on the south, and the western end of the island, 

 so that there has been not only a shortage of spring fruit Init 

 a serious set-back in its quality. 



Desi>ite these troubles, the banana industry is progress- 

 ing steadily in all parts of the island, and the time would 

 appear but little distant when our exports will exceed 20 

 million stems per annum. 



The development of the banana industry on the stifler 

 soils by bold drainage, and the production of profitable crops 

 in dry districts by intensive culture and heavy mulches, are 

 features of the recent progress that our planters have 

 achieved. 



Some recent experiments with manures have confirmed 

 our former conclusions, that bananas do not rccjuire fertilizers, 

 and that humus, lime and drainage are the chief factors that 

 are of practical importance to the cultivator of this crop in 

 ■Jamaica. If it be remembered that the drain on an acre of land, 

 by the removal of 300 stem of bananas, is le.ss than that of 

 the crops, of wheat grown at Rothamsted for sixty years on the 

 same soil without manure, it is not a matter for surprise that 

 the banana should be so little responsive to chemical fertilizers. 



The Jerusalem pea was tested at Hope as a green dress- 

 ing, and the results were so promising that further trials of 

 this leguminous plant are being made. Some planters report 

 that it grows vigorously in the shade of a banana or cacao 

 walk, and is a remarkable means of choking out weeds. 



The dreaded banana disea.se is reported to be making 

 alarming progress in the plantations of Costa Rica. From 

 information received, it would appear to be a bacterial 

 disease, although an eel worm at the root is also suspected. 

 So remedial measures have as yet been discovered. 



I am of opinion that the banana has been so weakened 

 by forced vegetative growth and continuous asexual propa- 

 "ation under the conditions obtaining in Costa Rica that the 

 plant has become unduly susceptible to the disease. I also 

 believe that there would be little risk of this disease spread- 

 ing in Jamaica owing to the greater hardiness of our plants, 

 and the difference in the conditions of soil and climate. 

 At the same time, it would only be ])rudent to prohibit 

 all importations of banana suckers from foreign countries, lest 

 the dreaded disease should gain a footing in this island 



A ' scab ' of bananas att'ecting a large acreage of fruit 

 proved, on investigation, to be caused by the superficial feed- 

 ing of grasshoppers on the young fruit Owing to the 

 drought, the grasshoppers were compelled to seek food, and 

 iUtackcd the bananas. The losses due to ' rejections " in this 

 case were serious, but thje circumstanees were abnormal, 

 Mv\ I do not regard this trouble as likely to be chronic. 



