356 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



NciVEMBEE 25, 1905. 



WEST 



INDIAN 



FRUIT. 



MANGOS IN ENGLAND. 



As already stated in the A'jrirultural Neivi (Vol. IV, 

 p. 196), some of the Trinidad mangos sent to the Colonial 

 E.xhibition were forwarded to His Majesty the King. It is 

 stated in the Trinidad BuUtlhi of Jli^ctllauenii.'t Informtitioii 

 that smaller lots were also sent to Sir William Thiselton- 

 Dyer, K.C.M.G., and the late Mr. Thomas Christy, who 

 have testified to the excellent condition of tlie fruit. 



Similar fruits were sent to Messrs. Monro, of Covent 

 Garden Market, and reported upon as having no innrkcl 

 value, 'as those really appreciating good (pialities uf the 

 mango are few" and far between.' 



The Editor of the Bulletin therefore .suggests that 

 eflforts be made to make mangos better known in Great 

 Britain. ' Once known, a market, and a good market too, 

 will assuredly ojien.' While it is irapo.ssible for Trinidad 

 to maintain, at the present time, a constant suiiply, it 

 is thought that in a short time, judging by the huge 

 numbers of grafted plants bought annually at the 

 Experiment Station, the supply of the market in mangns 

 will eventually be feasible. 



CHINESE BANANAS AT GRENADA. 

 The fallowing extract from a letter froia tiie 

 Agricultural Superintendent, Grenada, to the Imperial 

 Commissioner of Agriculture deals with the number ot 

 Chinese banana plants in the island of Grenada : — 



I have the honour to inform you that, in accordance 

 with your wishes, 1 have made, to the best of my ability at 

 such short notice, a census of Chinese banana plants in thi.s 

 island. As a result, I estimate that there are 30,000 plants 

 in the island at least, and the Agricultural Instructor agrees 

 with me in thinking that this is an underestimate rather 

 than an over-estimate. 



In St. George's ainl St. Patrick's, where there are 

 Barbadian settlements, the Chinese is the usual banana 

 planted by the peasants, and ^Ir. Xixon, at Annandale 

 estate, claims to have in his neighbourhood 15,000 plants, 

 ■which you will note i^ half the total number in the i-sland. 

 Parish. Number of Plants. 



St. George 17,550 



St. Paul 3,3:]0 



St. David 1,900 



St. John 1,700 



St. Patrick 4,950 



St. Mark 500 



St. Andrew 



CANDIED CITRONS. 



Under the title of 'How to make commercial 

 candied citron,' the Journal of the JaiiKiira Agri- 

 eidlii ra.l Sorietu gives the following recipe: — 



Cut the fruit into halves or quarter.s, according to its 

 .'-ize, put it in a tub or cask of brine, having first cleaned 

 out the jiuli), and leave it for a month, then renew the .salt 

 water, and let the citron lie in it for four or five months, or 

 as long as you choose ; this long process is neces.sary to 

 eliminate the bitter [irinclpie from the rind, which it is 

 otherwise imiiossible to remove entirel)'. 



Next boil the fruit in fresh water until a fork will 

 ea>ily pass through it ; it usually takes about an hour and 

 a half to reach this point. Then put it in cold fresh water, 

 to remain there for at least twenty-four hours, when it will 

 have turned to that light-green colour which we have learned 

 to associate with candied citron. 



The next step is to drain the fruit, place it in earthern 

 jars and pour over it hot syrup of white sugar of "JO' sacch- 

 aronieter : cover it ejitirely, and let it stand for three weeks, 

 but the syrup must be pnured oft' twice a week, boiled, 

 skimmed, ancl more sugar added each time until the syrup is 

 a little tliicker than it was at the first boiling: turn it back 

 over the fruit at boiling jioint. The three weeks having elapsed, 

 put the citron in a vessel containing the syrup with all the 

 sugar it can dissolve ; let it boil for ten minutes, and then 

 for twenty-four hours keep it near the boiling point without 

 letting it reach it. then boil it again until no more sugar 

 can be taken up. 



The proportion of sugar absorbed in this process is 

 about 80 if), to 1001b. of citron rind. The boiling completed, 

 the rinds are spread on wire netting and dried, either in the 

 sun, or, which is a far superior method, in an evaporator. 



Total 



L>9,930 



Use of Bone Meal. The use of bone meal is made 

 very ditticult owing to its alow sokibilitj". By means of au 

 invention (German jiatent) of Dr. E. !Meusel, in Liegnitz, 

 the bone meal can be made into an iron preparation which 

 will make it more soluble, as is the case with Thomas slag. 

 The invention has as its basis the fact that phosphate of lime 

 with solutions of chloride, sulidiate, or nitrate of iron changes 

 into phosphate of iron, with the formation of chloride, phos- 

 phate or nitrate of calcium. Then there is added a concen- 

 trated solution of an iron oxide salt. In a little while the 

 ma.ss becomes solid. The resulting nitrate or chloride of 

 calcium is washed out with preparations of chlorides or 

 nitrates. The finely pulverized phosphate is very easily 

 soluble in slightly acid solutions and also in certain .'salt 

 solutions. {U. S. Motithli/ Consular liqyyrt.i for Julj'.) 



