180 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



June 17, 1905. 



WEST INDIAN FRUIT. 



SHIPMENTS OF BANANAS PROM 

 BARBADOS. 



By the mail steamer which loft Barbados on .June -3, 

 1,21-4 bunches of bananas were shipiied bj' the Imjierial 

 Department of Agriculture. There were also shipped L'-T 

 bales of cotton, 5 crates of mangos, 1 barrel of yams, and 

 1 barrel of potatos. 



Since the first mail in .January of this year eleven 

 shipments of bananas have been made, consisting of 14,723 

 bunches. During the same period last year twelve shiiunents 

 were made, consisting of 2,290 bunches. 



COLONIAL FRUIT EXHIBITIONS. 



The fuliuwiiig ciix-ular letter, .signed by the 

 Secretary of tiic Royal Horticultural Society, ha.? been 

 received by the Ini])erial Comnii.s.sioner of Agri- 

 culture : — 



The President and Council have decided to hold at their 

 new hall a show of colonial-grown fruit, on December 5 and 

 6, 190.5, to be followed by others in March, ilay, and 

 December 1906. 



Our object in fixing these dates i.s, if possible, to suit 

 the season which is most likely to find the produce of 

 Canada, British Colombia, and the West Indies; of India, 

 and the Cape ; and of Australia, Tasmania, and Xew 

 Zealand, in the greatest perfection in London. 



The Council would be greatly obliged by any sugges- 

 tions }"ou may be able to make, and trust to be favoured with 

 your co-operation — on the one hand, in their efforts to make 

 the excellence of colonial produce better known in Great 

 Britain ; and on the other hand, in making the fact of these 

 exhibitions well known beforehand throughout the length 

 and breadth of the Colonial Emjiire, and so in assisting to 

 gather n\t the finest and most varied exampiles of fruits, and 

 other vegetable productions, which each individual colony 

 can supply. 



The actual dates in 190() will be settled before the end 

 of the present year. 



'/ 



BANANA CULTIVATION. 



The fiillowing note i.s taken from the Journal 

 the Jamaica Agficultiiral Society: — 



If our grade of fruit is not improved, and it is not kept 

 up to the very best, so that large handsome Ijunches are 

 exported, it i.s quite probable that we shall find ourselves 

 left a great deal more out of the markets than anyone will 



relish. There are often bananas planted in most luifavourable 

 spots on chance, while rich little valleys are available on the 

 same owner's land. Jiananas shoulel bo planteel in the 

 richest spots only, and every effort made to pjioduce the best 

 liunches — or else w'e may soon have to retire from the trade. 

 In good seasons no crop brings in so much money to the 

 small settler as bananas, in districts where the soils grow 

 them well. Even where land requires to be penneel or 

 manured, liananas are still a most profitable crop. It would 

 be all very satisfactory to grow them and urge their 

 cultivation, if it were not for that weakness of the people, 

 that great tendency to drop other things that take more 

 labour, the tendency also when money is coming in quickly 

 to rest upon their oars and let the future alone. By all 

 means cultivate bananas wherever they will produce good 

 bunches, but let them be always looked upon in the light of 

 a catch crop, like corn or provisions, and go on with the 

 staple crops just the same. Bananas should be an addition 

 to other thing.s ; it is seldom that circumstances should 

 allow them to be looked ujion as the principal product and 

 deiiendency. 



THE CULTIVATION OF CITRONS. 



Tiic ('u/(.s((/tn' ]lciiuit''< on the 3Iurea and the 

 Cyclades (Greece) for 190-1 have the following notes on 

 the cultivation and shipment of citron.s : — • 



The cultivation of citrons is greatly on the increase in 

 this consular district. In localities where it is sheltered 

 from the wind and can be watered frequently, the tree thrives 

 luxuriously and gives very good results to growers. 



For export the citron is cut in half and shipped in cask.s 

 containing specially prejiared pickle. Very little has been 

 .shipped to the United Kingdom up to the present, although 

 it is reported that the quality of the Greek product is 

 excellent ; the United States buy the greatest portion of the 

 Greek crop, the price of wliich varies, according to season.s, 

 from £17 to £2i per ton f.o.b. Shipments to New York 

 from Patras alone amounted last year to a value of £9,377. 



The export trade in citrons in brine at Syra was also 

 satisfactory. The fruit mostly conies from Crete and is 

 carefully selected and packed in casks of brine at Syra. 

 Ameiica was again the best purchaser last year, taking 

 737 tons, valued at £14,519. 



Reference to an experimental shipment of citron 

 peel in brine from Dominica will be found on p. 184 of 

 this issue of the Ar/ricidturul Neivs. 



