5^3 



^HE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Mauch i, 1887. 



THE ANALYST'S EEPORT OF rRODUOE. 



We have received a copy of the aunual report of the 

 public aualyst for the parish of Kensingtou ( Mr. Charles 

 E.Cassal, f. i, c, f. c. s. ), which contains some inter- 

 esting information, and from it we extract the follow- 

 ing ; — During the year ended March 25, 188(3, a total of 

 524 samples of food were submitted for analysis by the 

 inspectors appointed under the Act. Two out of the 

 three samples of China tea were of very inferior 

 quality, containing exhausted leaves. The adulterated 

 samples of cocoa examined contained added starch and 

 cane t^ugar, as follows : — 



Added starch, Cane sugar, 

 per cent. per cent. 



At least At least 



55 30 



50 30 ( 2 samples ) 



40 35 



40 30 ( 2 samples ) 



40 25 



35 30 



25 30 



20 16 ( labelled " Epps' Cocoa ") 



15 20 



Of the 44 samples of coffee there were 75 per cent 

 genuine, and 25 per cent adulterated. Of the 11 

 adulterated samples one contained at least 45 per cent 

 of chicory, one 20 per cent, and nine 5 per cent. 

 The black pepper, of which 27 samples were examined, 

 showed the proportion of 22'2 per cent genuine, and 

 77"7 per cent adulterated. Samples of genuine com- 

 mercial black pepper should not yield more than 5 

 or 5-") per cent of total mineral matter. Any sample 

 yiehling more than 7 per cent must be considered 

 within the meaning of the Act. — Home and Colonial 

 Mail. 



♦ 



MANUFACTURE OF LIME JUICE IN TRINIDAD. 



EEPORT OF CONSUL TOWLER. — The lime tree grows 

 wild in Trinidad, and when I came here three years 

 ago, the fruit was not exported. I recommended a 

 gentleman of enterprising disposition to ship a few 

 barrels of limes to America as an experiment. The 

 fruit decayed in the transit, and the attempt was a 

 failure. Another plan was resorted to, namely, the 

 neutralization of the acid juice with chalk ; but this 

 plan has been abandoned, and the expressed juice 

 itself is now exported either in the simple state as 

 obtained by pressure, or after evaporation to about 

 one-tenth its volume. The simple juice finds a market 

 in America, and the condensed juice in England. 



Cultivation of the Like. — There are only two 

 parties here on this island that cultivate the lime for 

 exportation. From one of these I have received the 

 following information: — Lime trees grow and bear 

 in any soil, but the better the soil the larger 

 the fruit. They are planted from 12 to 16 feet 

 apart. When young they have to be pruned and 

 trained to assume the shape of an umbrella. When 

 about to form a lime plantation it is be.st to form 

 a nureery a year beforehand, and then to trans- 

 plant the young trees, pulling them up from the soil, 

 cuttinf; off the end of the pivot root, and then placing 

 them in the ground where they are to grow. A lime 

 tree yields on an average 10 gallons of juice. The fruit 

 is allowed to drop off, and is then collected and con- 

 veyed to the works, where, the limes are pa.ssed first 

 through the cutter which rips them open, and then 

 through rollers and the press to separate the juice. 

 These cutters, rollers and press are constructed in a 

 very simple and primitive way, and admit of very 

 great improvement. The juice is then, as before re- 

 marked, exported either in this condition or it is con- 

 densed by boiling. A barrel of limes yields 7 gallons 

 of juice. 



COST OF JUICE. 



Cents. 



The cost of collecting a barrel of limes is 10 



Carting a barrel to the works 3 



Cutting and pressing , 3 



Cost prr barrel 16 



The cost of lime juice, including packages, should 

 not exceed 12 cents per gallon ; lime juice is generally 

 sold at a price varying from 36 cents to 60 cents per 

 gallon. 



The essential oil of limes is extracted from the rind 

 before crushing by grating on rasps with the hands ; 

 the oil thus extracted is called the hand made-oil, 

 which is obtained from the crushed limes and by dis- 

 tillation. A hundered gallons of juice will yield by 

 distillation about three quarts of the esssential oil. 

 This branch ofiulustryis capable of great expansion 

 by means of capital and intelligence : the soil is 

 always ready to do its duty. — Oil, Paint and Drug 

 Reporter. 



♦ 



CLIMATE AND VEGETATION. 



Many of our readers will recall with pleasure the 

 interesting series of articles published in this journal 

 on the climate and vegetation of the Riviera, and on 

 horticulture as practised by Dr. Bennet at Mentone. 

 Those articles form part of Dr. Rennet's delightful 

 book, Winter and Sp'iny on the Shores of the Medi- 

 terranean. Of the general correctness of Dr. Rennet's 

 views there can be no doubt, and it is certain that 

 for the physician's purposes an investigation into the 

 effects of climatal changes on plants at various 

 stages of their growth affords more trustworthy in- 

 formation than the mere study of thermometric re- 

 cords. Mr. Charles Roberts, to whom we owe various 

 interesting and useful publications relating to " pheno- 

 logy," is following up this question of the combined 

 and continuous eft'ect of various meteorological factors 

 on plant life. " A meteorological instrument," he 

 says, " records a momentary atmospheric condition. 

 A plant does this, and much more ; it records the 

 current conditions, and sums up or registers all the 

 past meteorological and geological conditions to which 

 it has been exposed. Phenologists cannot accept 

 mere inferences, however probable they may appear 

 to b'', and nothing short of simultaneous records will 

 satisfy them." 



Pursuing these ideas, Mr. Roberts selects for obser- 

 vation in the Riviera the plants mentioned in the 

 accompanying list: — 



"The plants and trees included in the schedule are 

 well known in our winter health resorts, and require 

 not botanical skill for their identification ; but obser- 

 vations should not be recorded when there is any 

 doubt on this head. The plants are arranged iu 

 three groups, to indicate roughly the chief varieties 

 of climate of the Mediterranean basin. The first 

 group indicates a hot, arid, sandy or rocky soil, and 

 a dry, sunny atmosphere, like those of the south-east 

 coast of Spain, Upper Egypt, and the borders of the 

 African Desert. The second group characterises the 

 coMer and damper climate and soil of the Riviera, 

 Southern Italy, Sicily, Malta, Algeria, and Lower 

 Eijypt ; and the third group the still colder and damper 

 climates of the Italian lakes, the West Coast 

 of France, Spain and Portugal, end the South of 

 England. This last group brings the ordinary climate 

 of England into relation with that of the Mediterra- 

 nean, and will connect this schedule with the one 

 which I have specially prepared for differentiating 

 local climates iu the British Isles. 



" It would be de.sirable to make concurrent obser- 

 vations on the maximum and minimum shade-tem- 

 perature at each station (by means of verified regis- 

 tering thermometers, exposed in Stevenson's stands), 

 to ascertain the extreme range of temperature, and 

 the lowest which each plant will survive. We know, 

 for instance, that the Lemon tree is killed by a tem- 

 perature of 24°. Fahr., and the Orange by 21"^ Fahr. ; 

 while the Olive tree will bear W^ Fahr., although 

 its young shoots are killed by a temperature no 

 lower than 25'^ Fahr. ; and we gather from tbese 

 facts that, at stations where these trees flourish, the 

 temperature never falls so low as these figures imli- 

 cate, even for a night or two, during many consecu- 

 tive years. As observations on the rainfall cannot 

 be carried on all the year, the relative dampness or 

 dryness of different stations cannot be determined 



