46 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST* 



[fi/LV I, i$S6, 



observe a particularly fine basket, you may be sure 

 the price will In: double or treble that of any ordinary 

 reproseutativea of the same fruit. Here, as I say, 

 a thousand limes, whether large or small, are a 

 thousaui-i limes, and, even though a better price may 

 be obtained for the higher ((ualities, it is never 

 commensurate with the real intrinsic value— not even 

 weight for weight or measure for measure. 



It is ditficult to say how this can be remedied ; for 

 my part I am most passionately fond of fruit, being 

 practically an abstainer from alcoholic beverages. 1 

 have a very great craving for fruit, yet I do not 

 care for the tough pulped oranges with their jackets 

 of Ijincolu green with skin upon them that will ouly 

 come off with the greatest exertion, and, when 

 removed, what remains is but a stringy casement, 

 filled with an acid sweet orange-peel flavor not of 

 any decided lusciousuess, making me always think, 

 as I do when I eat tomatoes, " because the doctor 

 says they are good for j'ou." This last opinion is, 

 however, only personal, for many are very fond of 

 tomatoes. To make a long story short, fruit cannot 

 be too good for real enjoyment; the better it is the 

 more pleasure it gives and the more wholesome it 

 is. Indeed, it is like the middy's idea of eggs — 

 " better have one good one than a dozen bad." 



To repeat, how it is that good fruit is unprocur- 

 able in Colombo'' I reply as follows.— 



1st. — Those who have never been out of the is- 

 land cannot appreciate the true value of good fruit, 

 consequently they do not know that there arc pines 

 and pines, oranges and oranges. Fruit is to them 

 like every other commodity, sold in bulk. 2nd. — Our 

 good European housewife will not go to market herself : 

 consequently the only way she can purchase it is 

 through her appu, and he buys a pine or a dozen 

 oranges or maagoes just as he would buy a bundle 

 of Mauritius grass or straw. Indeed, I may tell the 

 good housewife that I can buy better fish than she 

 gives me in Colombo when I dine with her at Nanuoya, 

 and for not a highsr price than she pays her appu 

 or butler, or whatever she calls the supreme being 

 ■who controls her dinner table. 



To return to fruit: if it is required good, it i/ui.st 

 be cultivated, and cultivated fruit cannot be produced 

 in small quantities as cheaply as that which grows 

 like the jungle around it. In time, however, if a 

 market spring up for better kinds, the prices would 

 scarcely be more if the consumption were greater, 

 and this latter would inevitably be the result of 

 really good fruit coming to market. Whoever saw a 

 more disgusting spectacle than the mangoes exposed 

 for sale in the Colombo market ? Swedes for sheep 

 and food for pigs in Europe are more attractive. 

 Then take the pines ; they are one-fourth of ihem 

 unfit for human food and should be condemned as 

 such, and I doubt if one-half can be called even 

 wholesome. Now, if it were necessary, owing to 

 some defect on part of the climate, to lilame things 

 thus it would be another matter, but fruit ripens 

 as well in Ceylon as elsewhere. Certainly I think the 

 producer very badly protected, for I have sold my 

 fruit to natives for far more than they could grow 

 the same themselves, and they say they have to 

 pluck it green to save it from depredation. Does 

 it not naturally follow that in every probability the 

 bulk of the fruit in the Colombo market is stolen 

 property ? For my part, I believe a very large pro- 

 portion is ; but my experience in this case is that 

 "stolen fruit is tar from the sweetest." A careful 

 reflection over all I have written will show the number 

 of adverse circumstances against which a grower of 

 superior fruit would have to contend. He would 

 naturally, with European notions, begin, as I did, 

 with quality until he found it was not appreciated, 

 and then he would, as I have done, go in for quan- 

 tity. The large shipping Companies, such as the P. 

 & O., Messageries and B. I., might do something, 

 for they require a steady supply of fruit, and, if 

 they had it carelully inspecting and rejecting what 

 was not up to the standard, the public would benefit, 

 and they before the public. Of all places where 

 good fruit is appreciated boardsbip in tbe tropics 



comes first. With or without sea sickness, I know 

 nothing more delightful than a good orange or pinu- 

 apple, and from time immemorial it has been an 

 understood thing that fruit is beneficial to counteract 

 other inrtueuces which without it are prejudicial io health. 



To summarize : good and ripe fruit is not obtain- 

 able in Ceylon for several reasons. When grown, 

 there is no way of putting it into the hand of the 

 right consumer who will pay its value for it. The 

 natives cannot grow it because depredators would 

 steal it before it was ripe. If placed in the market, 

 the indifferent, though self-interested, appu who 

 caters for his master or mistress will naturally not 

 buy it, as it would cut down the margin of his 

 clippings. If all the large shipping companies would 

 take the matter up, being more particular than they 

 are as regards the quality of their fruit, in no 

 very long time the necessity to produce a butter 

 quality would be recognized everywhere, and stolen 

 property of this nature would become less and less 

 in request. 



Another point not to be lost sight of is the length 

 of time before most kinds of fruit-trees reach the 

 bearing stage. I know of some of the kinds mo.st 

 in request, besides the plantain, that bear no appreci- 

 able quantity of fruit before they are from six to 

 ei.ifht years old. Upon an estate I am interested 

 in, in the low-country, orange trees planted seven 

 years ago have only given a partial crop. Limes of 

 the same age gave their first good crop last year. 

 There is no market for my limes, so I have to 

 squeeze them and ship the juice, which in London 

 has fetched one shilling a gallon for unconcentrated, 

 and 'Ss. for concentrated to a fourth its original bulk. 

 This is scarcely good enough for what it costs. The 

 chief reason whj' country-grown pines are not so good 

 as those grown in hot-houses in Europe is that no 

 care is taken of them, for I have occasionally tasted 

 this fruit in Ceylon. When carefully tended, they 

 are as rich and full of flavor as could be found on 

 a dinner-table in England. — A Believer in Feuit. — 

 Local "Times." 



A SOUTH AFRICAN BOX TEEE. 



In the last number of Hooker's Icones I'lnntaruvi 

 is figured and described (t. 1518) a new species of 

 Buxus under the name of Buxus Macowani. It is 

 of special interest (says Professor Oliver)" as the first 

 representative of the genus in that region, as also 

 in certain structural characteristics, but it is more 

 particularly on account of its possibly furnishing a 

 supply of Box-wooJ for engraving purposes that we 

 c&ll attention to it, as the supplies of Box-wood from 

 the Black Sea districts is rapidly being exhausted. 

 The following extracts are from the " Report of the 

 Superintendent of Woods and Forests (Cape of Good 

 Hope) for 1884." The Conservator of Forests, King 

 William's Town reports.- — 



" The coast forests have come into notice during 

 the year by the discovery that the so-called Cape 

 Box is of value for engraving and other purposes for 

 which Box-wood is used. The area of Box-producing 

 forest in the Buffalo River valley is estimated at 15 

 scjuare miles. Box also occurs in the valley of the 

 Keiskama River, near the coast, but has not as yet 

 been detected west of this in the va'leys of the Fish 

 River, Kowie River and Bushman's River.' 



And again, under ''East London Forests:''— 



" The event of the year for these forests has been 

 the discovery of the commercial value of Cape Box- 

 wood. This is a small tree like the genirality of 

 trees in the East London forests. It is rarelj' met 

 with over a foot in diamete: by 25 of bo!e, but it is 

 suflSciently abundant to turuish a large supply of 

 wood. Submitted to an expert, it has been tltclare.l 

 to be worth about one- penny a cubic inch, if seasoned 

 free from cracks. Cape box (Kafir, Gard-gara) does 

 not appear to coppice, but has a good natural re- 

 production from seed. The tree was placed on the 

 reserved list a year ago. Previous to that it had been 

 sold at 5s. the waggonload for firewood. See also 

 note by Mr. Jackson on a ' New Box-wood,' Journ. 

 Soc. drtD, 1886, p. ■^."-'Gardeners' Chronicie. 



