HS 



THE AGRICULTURAL ^'E^YS. 



ifAY 20, 1905. 



WEST 



INDIAN 



FRUIT. 



BANANAS IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



Thu riiitwl States Cuii.sul in LivoipoMl reports as 

 follows on the increasintjf trade in bananas in the 

 United Kingdom: — 



Attention has been drawn .several times in these reports 

 to the growing taste of the iiritish iieo[ile for bananas. 

 A few years ago they were almost unknown in this market, 

 but now they arc about as plentiful and cheap as in the 

 United States. This is a fact in which Liverpool tal;cs 

 much pride, as the trade is owing altogether to the cuter- 

 jirise of a Liverpool shipper, and the trade is still distinctly 

 a Liverpool one. Last year the total value of the banana 

 importations was $5,984,445. The Canary Islands have by 

 far the biggest jiart of this trade, the value of last year's 

 shipments being .$4,544,570. Great endeavours have been 

 made to increase the sale of Jamaica bananas, but the 

 amount imported is only one-si.xth that of the fruit from the 

 Canaries. The latter fruit is .smaller than the .Jamaican 

 banana, but the flavour is much liner and the bananas get 

 liere in better condition. 



(.'!) The China banana jH'ojects at right angles from the 

 bunch. The Hluetields slopes upward and backward, along 

 the stem, packing closer and being less liable to injury than 

 the China. 



The U.S. Department of Agriculture despatched 

 a special agent to secure [ilauts, and 3l'5 banana stumps 

 were received in .January 1904. Of these 110 survived and 

 grew. These have been propagated at the station (iroducing 

 275 shoots; L.iO of these have been sent to Hilo, and are 

 being used to iimpagate suckers. 



BLUEFIELDS BANANAS. 



The Board of Coniniissioners of Agriculture of 

 Hawaii has been engaged in introdneing the ' Blue- 

 fields' banana into Hawaii. Tlic lijllowing description 

 of this banana is given in a recent report: — 



The IJluefields liauana, so called by reason of Blueficlils 

 being the princiiial port from which this particular kind of 

 banana was first shiiijied to the United Slates, has superseded 

 almost every other kind of banana consumed in the 1T„itcd 

 States, excei)t the China variety produced in Hawaii and 

 con.sunied on the Pacific Coast. It is not quite so delicately 

 flavoured as the China or the Jamaica red banana, but it 

 possesses several other qualities which make it by far the 

 best shipping banana that there i.«, viz. :-- 



(1) The China banana has a delicate skin, easily bruised, 

 and turns black when bruised. It therefore has to be 

 wrapped in a thick sheathing of leaves and grass, adding 

 greatly to the exjiense of handling, and nearly doubling the 

 space occn]iicd. The Bluefields banana has a tough skin, not 

 easily biuiscd and which does not easily di.scolour. 

 Consequently it does not liave to be wrapped. 



(2) The China banana ripens (piickiy, becomes spotted 

 and softens at the stem and drops off the Imnch, within 

 a few days after it is ripe The Lluefields ripens shiwly, 

 maintains a clear golden-yellow colour, and merely dries at 

 the stem, so that it will" last a week or more longer than 

 the China under like conditions. 



SHIPPING ORANGES. 



The following is an extract i'roni a letter (published 

 in the Jamaica Gazette), addressed by a gentleman in 

 Chicago interested in the fruit trade, to his Excellency 

 the Governoi- of Jamaica. The letter was considered 

 by tlie Boai'd of Agriculture, but the Board, whilst 

 fully aware of the danger that threatened the orange 

 industry through careless packing and the shipment of 

 immature fruit, was unable to suggest any practical 

 remedy to check the evil. As the Board pointed out, 

 this is a matter wliicli lests largely with the shippens 

 themselves : — 



1 have noticed that oranges and grape fruit consigned to 

 the <lifferent English and American markets during the 

 scascin just closed have, in many cases, been very jioorly 

 packed and graded, much to the detriment of the 

 fruit that is well put up and graded by responsible Jamaica 

 companies. It seems to the writer that this fault can be 

 greatly remedied at the Jamaica end of the line by a proper 

 system of inspection, under the control of the Government, 

 which system, if properly and continuously followed up, 

 would create a nuich larger demand for the beautiful, sweet, 

 thin skinned Jamaica orange, and also much better prices. 



■^'ou have a very fine orange and should be able to 

 market more of the fruit, and it can be done profitably if 

 certain necessary conditions are followed in the packing and 

 grading of the same. 



The consumer demands certain qualifications and expects 

 them. If he cannot get them from the Jamaicans, he goes 

 for his fruits either to the Californians, Eloridans, ^Mexican.s, 

 or Mediterraneans. 



This important subject is dealt with, also, on 

 )). 15;), where the views of Mr. Stockley of Elders 

 I'^yftes, Ltd., are noted. The progress of the orange 

 industry is certainly being retarded by the e.xport of 

 unselected and carelessly packed fruit. 



