Vol. IV. No. 87. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



245 



JAMAICA AT THE COLONIAL 

 EXHIBITION. 



The following are extracts from Jlr. W. G. Free- 

 man's descriptive article in the West India Committee 

 Circular on the Jamaica Court at the Colonial and 

 Indian Exhibition • — 



In the last two colonies with which we have been 

 concerned, namely, Trinidad and Grenada, we have had 

 instances of two British West India Islands where cacao 

 Las replaced sugar as the chief product. In Jamaica, also, 

 sugar has been deposed from its old position, not in this case 

 by cacao, but by fresh fruit. Jamaica stands alone amongst 

 the West Indian Colonies iu respect of the magnitude of its 

 fruit industry, the success of which has been due mainly to 

 the suitability of local conditions to banana cultivation and 

 the comparative nearness of the island to the great market 

 for fruit in the United States Some 5.5,000 acres are now 

 under banana cultivation. Fruit is well represented in the 

 Court by fresh bananas, grape fruit, oranges, pine-apples, 

 limes, etc. Jamaica bananas are familiar to every one now. 

 Jamaica oranges are year by year attaining a more important 

 position in the English market, but the excellent grape 

 fruits the colony can produce and send to this country in 

 first-class condition have yet to win their way to popular 

 favour here as they have already done in the United States. 



Whilst on the subject of fruit, attention should be 

 directed to the extensive series of preserves exhibited in the 

 Court. Preserves of almost all the chief fruits of the island 

 are shown, ranging from well-known products such as guava 

 jelly to little-known preserves such as tree tomato and 

 cherimoyer jam. 



The second industry of the colony is rejiresented by 

 a series of sugars of various grades from Colonel Ward's 

 well-known estate of Monymusk. A map of the colony 

 indicates the location of the 24,000 acres devoted to sugar 

 {iroduction. Rum, for which Jamaica has long been famous, 

 is adecjuately shown. 



It is always of interest to dwellers of one country to see 

 the staple food-stuti's of anothei-, and the Jamaica Court 

 contains a very fair selection of the ordinary cereals, pulses, 

 starches, and meals of the tropics. A special word is 

 necessary for the products of the cassava or manioc plant. 

 Fresh specimens of its large, tuberous roots are shown, 

 together with the nutritious Marine' prepared from them. 

 This farine or cassava meal is, it should be remembered, one 

 of the most important food-stufts of the tropics. The 

 dainty cassava cakes made from this farine, so appreciated 

 by both residents in and visitors to the West Indies, are 

 exhibited. Cassava starch (which in the near future is 

 likely to be a much more important export of Jamaica 

 than at present) is to be seen, and also tapioca, another 

 product of the same plant, which looms large in the export 

 list from the Straits Settlements. A by-product from the 

 same plant is 'cassaripe' an essential ingredient in the West 

 Indian pepper-pot, and an important factor in many sauces. 



Exceptional interest attaches to the exhibit of tea from 

 Ramble estate, St. Ann's, which is stated to be one of the 

 only two tea plantations in the New World, the other being 

 in South Carolina. The venture has been of slow growth, 

 and may be said to have passed out of the experimental 

 stage two years ago when tea was first prepared for the 

 market. Packets of 'Blossom Brand' tea, well packed and 

 attractive to the eye, are on sale in the Court, and it is 

 to be hoped that Jamaica tea will earn a welcome on its 

 merits. Unlike tea, cacao is a well-established industry, 

 and it will be sutficient to record that the Court contains 



a good series of the principal grades of cacao produced in 

 Jamaica, and also some chocolate. 



Jamaica lioney is another product of the colony, which 

 during the last few years has established itself in the 

 markets of the world. Good samples of logwood and other 

 honeys are exhibited. They diffei- a good deal in attractive- 

 ness, owing to various methods of bottling, some of the 

 patterns of bottles used with long, narrow necks being quite 

 unsuited to this pioduct in normal British temperatures. 



Jil)l>i-jappa hats, made from the leaves of a palm-like 

 plant {Carludovica jamaiceiisis), very closely related to that 

 from which the famous Panama hats are made, are exhibited 

 in the unfinished and finished states. They form a good 

 substitute for the more expensive 'Panamas,' and as the sales 

 in the Court indicate, have been well appreciated. 



An interesting feature of the Court is the collection of 

 living economic plants from the Botanic Gardens, Jamaica. 

 The English climate has not agreed with them all, but the 

 majority are in sufHciently good condition to afford a much 

 better idea of these useful tropical plants than many pages 

 of description. 



It will be apparent from these brief notes that the 

 Jamaica Court affords a comprehensive selection of the 

 principal and also the minor products of the colony, and 

 great credit is due to the Commissioners, ilr. John Barclay 

 and Mr. F. Cundall, for their painstaking work, and to all 

 others who have helped to make the exhibit a success. 



SALE OP GOATS AT BARBADOS. 



The fbllowing is an extract from a letter received 

 by the Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture from 

 Mr. J. A. Farmer, of Halton estate, Barbados, in 

 reference to the goats which were advertised for sale 

 in the Agricultural Neivs (Vol. IV, p. 212):— 



I am glad to say that I have delivered all the goats with 

 the exception of the one kept in reserve for Dominica. 

 I have also heard from the firms, to which they were sent, 

 that they have been received in good order. 



I must also return you ni}' warmest thanks for the 

 interest you have taken iu disposing of the goats for me. 



TOBAGO PLANTERS' ASSOCIATION. 



At a meeting of the above Association, of which 

 mention was made in the last issue of the Agricultural 

 Neivs (p. 236), the following committee was elected : — 



Ciiairman, Captain M. Short ; Committee : Messrs. 

 T. Orde, J. Evans, D. Hamilton, T. R. Blakely, E. B. 

 Walker, D. Tucker, and H. Swarder ; Hon. Secretary, 

 Mr. D. S. Smith. 



Guano in Peru. The chief guano deposits of Peru 

 are in (1) the Lobos Islands off the port of Eten, and (2) the 

 Chincha Islands, off the port of Pisco. There are also 

 numerous minor deposits. By a contract entered into in 

 January 1890, the Peruvian corporation, a British syndicate, 

 enjoys the exclusive right of exporting guano from the 

 Peruvian deposits until 3,000,000 tons shall have been 

 exported. Peru may continue to dig guano, but only for the 

 purpose of benefiting national agriculture. It is said that 

 about one-third of the 3,000,000 tons has already been 

 exported by the Peruvian corporation. {U. S. Monthly 

 Consular Reports.) 



