244 



THE AGRICULTUKAL NEWS. 



August 12, 1905. 



WEST 



INDIAN 



FRUIT. 



COLONIAL FRUIT EXHIBITIONS. 



The i'ollowing is an extract from a letter received 

 by the Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture from the 

 Secretary of the Royal Horticultural Society in 

 reference to the exhibition of colonial fruit to be heir! 

 by the Society in December next. An announcement 

 with regard to this and other shows organized by 

 the Royal Horticultural S(^ciety appeared in the 

 Agricultural Neicg (Vol. IV, p. 180) : — 



Please accept our best thanks for your letter and for your 

 efforts on behalf of our colonial show. I am especially anxious 

 that your jjortion of our Empire should be quite fully repre- 

 sented here. Your growers should fully understand that they 

 can get awards for a case of a single fruit, a collection of 

 marketable preserves, just as well as for a collection of many 

 kinds of fruits, provided there is excellence of quality and 

 that there is no actual competition between the several 

 exhibits ; and although the medals will be awarded on merit, 

 it is possible for two or more to gain the same award. 



The hall and its annexes, measuring 13,000 square feet, 

 enable us to crowd in 5,000 feet of tabling, so there will be 

 plenty of room in December. 



BANANA TRADE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



The U. S. Monfhly Consular Reports for March 

 contain the following note on the banana trade of 

 Great Britain : — 



Prior to 1901 the consumption of bananas in the United 

 Kingdom was very limited. In addition to the difficulty of 

 shij)[iing them the price was more or less prohibitive. In 

 1901, Elder, Demi'ster it Co. entered into an arrangement 

 with the Colonial Office whereby boats, properly equipped, 

 made regular and si)eedy trips from Jamaica, landing the 

 fruit at Bristol every fortnight. At the present time the 

 principal banana dealers have a fleet of seven .ships employed 

 exclusively in this trade, and three more shijis are being built 

 for it. When these are put in commission four cargoes will 

 be discharged each fortnight — two in Bristol and two in 

 Manchester. An average cargo contains 40,000 bunches, 

 and this works out at 80,000 bunches per week for this 

 country, or about 10,800,000 bananas weekly. This, how- 

 ever, is for the winter only; from May to November the 

 demand doubles. The fruit when landed is green and starchy, 

 and is hung in rooms, siiecially [irepared and maintained 

 at a certam temperature, and kept there from ten days to 

 a fortnight, when it is ready for distribution at about Ic. 

 per banana. 



GRAFTING CACAO. 



Mr. J. Jones, Curator of the Botanic Station 

 at Dominica, has forwarded the following note on 

 experiments carried out at the station in connexion 

 with the grafting of cacao: — 



Experiments made in budding cacao seedlings while in 

 bamboo pots in the nurserj' having failed, .some attempts 

 were made at grafting by approach. Seedling [ilants of the 

 delicate Tlieohrnnia pentayona were yiafted on stocks of 

 Theobroma bicolvr (the 'tiger' cacao), and a small plot planted 

 out as an experiment. A number of plants of the Criollo 

 variety of cacao are now being worked on Theobroma bicolor 

 stocks, and some of Theobroma pentaf/ona on Forastero stocks. 

 It is found that cacao unites very readily, the union being 

 complete in from five to six weeks. The plants can then be 

 taken off and are ready for planting. 



BEE KEEPING IN CALIFORNIA. 



The California crop of coudi and extracted honey 

 gathered in 1904 is estimated at 2,000,000 lb., against 

 8,400,000 It), in 190^1. It comes nearer being a complete 

 failure than has been the case for many years. The cause of 

 this condition of things is the same that has caused shortages 

 in previous .seasons — a lack of rainfall during the winter 

 months. This, of course, resulted in a scarcity of honey- 

 producing blossoms, and the liees, consequently, have in many 

 districts not only produced nothing for the trade, but have 

 not collected enough to feed themselves through the winter. 

 About 4,U00 people in California are engaged in bee keeping, 

 the number of colonies owned by each averaging 10 to 250, 

 though a number have as many as 1,000 or 1,500 and one 

 bee keeper controls 8,000 colonies. {Consular Heport, 1904.) 



PARA RUBBER PLANTING. 



The Nottingham (luardian, noting that the Brazilian 

 Government }irohibits the export of the seed of the Hevea, 

 which i)roduces Para rubber, .says that nevertheless some of 

 the seeds have found their way into France ; that plants 

 have been raised therefrom, and that experimental plantings 

 in West Africa have been successful. This year, it is 

 announced, plantations on a commercial scale are to be 

 made in the Gasamaine district of Senegal, to be extended, 

 as .seeds multiply, there and in Lower Guinea and Lower 

 Dahomey. It is reported that in time extensive districts 

 now worthless will become productive of Para rubber. 

 {U. S. Mmithiy Consular Jieports.) 



