V^OL. IV. No. 9.5. 



THE AGEICULTUEAL NEWS. 



.379 



AGRICULTURE IN JAMAICA. 



The Annual Reijort of the Collector General in 

 Jamaica for 1904-5 contains interesting information in 

 regard to the exports of the island and the progress of 

 agricultural industries. Discussing the statistics relat- 

 ing to land under cultivation, the Collector General 

 remarks: — 



It will be seen that tlie area registered as being in 

 bananas has increased by no less than 11,014 acres, or 

 33 per cent. ; cacao cultivation shows a satisfactory advance 

 of 883 acres, or 19 per cent., and ground provisions 

 4,130 acres, or 4 per cent., while the area in canes, coffee, 

 and cocoa-nuts continues to dwindle. It is a matter for 

 regret that the more enduring, if less profitable, staples should 

 be allowed to run in arrear, especially as there is no valid 

 reason why an extension of area in canes and coffee should 

 not keep pace with the extension of fruit cultivation. It is 

 not necessary to abandon cane to take up fruit, nor to give 

 the cold shoulder to coffee because yams are required on the 

 Canal Zone. The increase in area in bananas is general 

 throughout the banana-growing parishes. Among minor 

 items the only point that calls for passing mention is the 

 experimental cultivation of cotton in Clarendon and 

 St. Catherine, where 18 acres are registered. 



The following are extracts from the reports of the 

 Collectors for several parishes : — - 



ST. MARY. 



The cultivation of bananas has considerably increased, 

 and the fruit trade has regained lost ground by leaps and 

 bounds. In the September quarter of 1904-.5, just thirteen 

 months after the hurricane, the trade had practically 

 recovered, and in the March quarter, the shipments actually 

 exceeded those in the same quarter of 1903. 



The prices paid for bananas in the open market during 

 the last three months of the year were unusually low, 

 un.satisfactory and disappointing ; while contractors received 

 from £7 10s. to £10 per hundred payable bunches, others 

 were paid from £5 to £7 10s., and there was not the usual 

 ■demand for six- and seven-hand bunches, thousands of 

 which remained in the fields and rotted. I have no doubt 

 the severe winter in the States was responsible for the state 

 of affairs. Banana planters have not yet solved the problem 

 of cultivating so as to bring their crop to maturity between 

 the months of ilarch and June ; this does not seem to me an 

 impossibility and in the near future, I am of opinion, the 

 difficulty will be overcome. 



Cacao cultivation is receiving careful attention and is 

 being rapidly extended ; already there are many large and 

 well-established plantations; the spring crop now being 

 reaped promises to be one of the best for some years. If 

 the planters could establish (and there is no reason why they 

 should not) as large an area under cacao cultivation as they 

 have in bananas, they would have an excellent staple product 

 to depend on in the event of destruction to bananas by strong 

 winds or even an occasional hurricane. 



ST. ANN. 



The St. Ann Product Co. has erected a steam plant for 

 the manufacture of corn-meal ; the quality is very good, and 

 the article is readily bought. There was a partial failure of 

 the coffee crop. The St. Ann Product Co. and the 

 Hon. H. E. Cox, who have up-to-date machinery for pulping 

 the coffee, buy the berries from the peasantry. They then 

 pulp and cure the ])roduct which realizes fairly remunerative 

 prices iu foreign markets. 



WESTMORELAND. 



Sugar farming by the small landowners on the lowlands 

 is assuming a feature. Owing to the rise in the price of 

 sugar abroad, some of the planters or managers of estates 

 have given an impetus to this industry by purchasing from 

 g^rowers around their estates, hence extensive planting. 

 From information received there are about 300 acres in cane 

 cultivation by small settlers and owners of pens, and it is 

 expected that next year will witness further planting : of the 

 300 acres under cane cultivation about 100 acres are 

 cultivated by small settlers. The yield per acre is about f 

 to 1 ton of sugar, and if properly cultivated would be wortli 

 to the settler about £5 per annum. These estates have 

 purcliased for the period under review about 6,650 tons of 

 canes, the prices obtaining being 10s. per ton for 50 tons and 

 over, and 9s. per ton for lots under 50 tons. Eum canes are 

 bought at about 4s. per ton. The yield of sugar has been 

 very fine this year, taking as low as 1,700 gallons to make 

 a ton of sugar; in consequence the rum crop will be small. 



MANCHESTEE. 



The orange market has been a regular fiasco. As usual, 

 at the beginning of the season, wlien this fruit was fetching 

 a fair price abroad, the greed to become millionaires 

 all of a heap affected many, and while a few of the more 

 discreet and businesslike gentlemen of the parish were 

 satisfied to send away a few boxes of good fruit, obtained 

 by sending their agents armed with thread bags containing 

 small coin to purchase the real article in small quantities of 

 a dozen or half a dozen even, according as they came across 

 them, and thus collect seventy or eighty boxes for which 

 they realized a very fair profit, others, who sent their agents 

 all over the parish who bought whatever they could lay tlieir 

 hands on, so long as the article bore any relationship to the 

 ' citrus family,' were able to ship hundreds of boxes with the 

 result that their golden dreams were turned into the 

 lamentable fact that the orange market for this season at 

 least was killed and they were out of pocket amounts, 

 probably, reaching to three figures. The trade mark 

 arrangement appears to be utterly useless so far as achieving 

 the ends for which the law was enacted, from the fact that 

 some shippers possess as many as five different trade marks. 



CLARENDON. 



There is a bright outlook in the Vere district for the 

 sugar crop of 1905-6, the year under notice having been 

 a seasonable one for cane cultivation which has increased 

 considerably. In Upper Clarendon the small settlers are 

 also increasing their cultivations and improving their 

 methods, returning to the practice of putting up their sugar 

 in barrels to meet anticipated demands in the foreign 

 markets. A wealthy syndicate has purchased Jlorelands 

 estate, intending shortly to erect new machinery for a central 

 factory ; peasant cane farming will, I learn, be an important 

 feature in connexion with the undertaking. The outlook, on 

 the whole, for 1905-6 is encouraging and better times may be 

 expected for all classes, particularly if the peasants will put 

 their shoulders to the pushing on faster in planting their 

 produce. The proprietors of the cassava starch factory 

 at Longville, on account of the small output from the present 

 machinery, are erecting a much larger building with new 

 machinery which will enable them to cope with the increased 

 demand for their product. The cultivation of cassava 

 has increased to 400 acres and it is expected the new 

 plant is capable of turning out fully 500 tons. The factory 

 employs 400 labourers daily. 



