January i, 1885.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



527 



erect in habit, and of a pruinose colour. The cane is 

 stouter, much, than the average of good kinds, but the 

 joints are shorter. It did not arrow, but when mature the 

 eyes sprang freely, and it retained to the end a raw un- 

 ripe-like appearance. A large straggling stool of twenty- 

 three canes, grown from several eyes, weighed SI lb. and 

 the leaves 17 lb. 



The Singapore Elephant, derived by the Kew authorities 

 from the Singapore botanic gardens, is a cane resembling 

 in appearance and habit very closely the Bourbon cane. 

 It produces an average of eighteen canes to a stool, which 

 in the late months of their growth trail laxly on the 

 ground, from which they curve upwards. They are a 

 bright straw colour, turning ruddy on the sun-exposed 

 side. The joints are long, and the canes are the thickness 

 and length of the Bourbon. It is an excellent, heavy 

 cropping, variety, but its sprawling habit would make a 

 field of it an impenetrable thicket when mature. A stool 

 of twenty-four canes weighed 72 lb., and the leaves 12 lb. 



I have abstained from the expression of any opinion 

 of the absolute or relative sugar-yielding merits of these 

 canes, as I, a short time ago, furnished Mr. Francis, the 

 Government Analyst, with samples to determine the quant- 

 ity and character of the juice of each, which he has done. 

 I believe, however, that he regards his apparatus as in- 

 sufficient for the scope and accuracy with which he thinks 

 the analysis should be conducted, and has therefore reserved 

 the publication of the results for the present.* 



drafted mango plants are precociously productive com- 

 pared to seedlings. Though some of the above are only 

 three or four ' feet high, they have flowered already. I 

 am also inarching some of the best East Indian and 

 Ceylon kinds which I have raised from seed ; and I am 

 endeavouring to get together a good stock of seed of the 

 Jamaica No. 11 to grow and treat in the same way. Though 

 not strictly a short-fleshed fruit, in flavor I know of 

 hardly any mango superior to this variety. 



Vanilla. — A double row of Calabash trees (Crescentia 

 Cujete) has been planted quite across the ground between 

 the Superintendent's residence and the nursery proper, 

 upon which to grow vanilla vines. The dwarf spreading 

 habit, and soft moisture-holding bark, make the calabash 

 one of the most suitable trees which can be used for this 

 purpose, and its hardy character is a further recommend- 

 ation. If all the Guiana species of Vanilla can be got 

 together here, their merits can be compared one with 

 another with facility, and determined. V. palmarum and 

 V. aromatica, the latter one of the most beautiful of the 

 Guiana orchids, have hitherto failed here through want 

 of suitable support. The calabash trees will likewise be 

 of service for the cultivation of other orchids, and of 

 pepper, as well as vanilla. 



Coca.— The coca plants (Eryihroxyltm Coca) have done 

 fairly well here considering the low altitude, and how much 

 above the temperature of the elevated region from whence 

 the coca comes the normal temperature of this country 

 is. The plauts form rather slight, tallish bushes about 

 five feet high, lightly clothed with the pale-green foliage, 

 and they flower and fruit with moderate freedom. From 

 the seed produced here, a good many plants _ have been 

 raised, which I intend to use for its further trial. _ On the 1 

 eastern slopes of the Andes the coca plant is cultivated at 

 5,1 — 6,000 ft. elevationin a moist equable climate. 



Cherimolia. — As I anticipated, the Cherimolia, another 

 Peruvian plant from the same elevation as the Coca, 

 appears with much probability unlikely to survive The 

 plants in the borders have died, though two or three kept 

 in pots are still alive. Under more favourable conditions 

 of shelter and soil it might bear open cultivation and 

 survive for a time, but I have invariably found it to suc- 

 cumb at last to the temperature of a low elevation in 

 the tropics. It has long been naturalised in the West 

 Indies, where it thrives luxuriantly at from 3,000 to 

 5,000 tVit elevation, and produces the most lucious of all 

 Western tropical fruits. 



Other economic plauts of which the gardens possess 

 few samples, but which are thriving satisfactorily are cin- 



* Mr. Francis lias recently analysed these canes againi 

 under better circumstances for a satisfactory analysis, and 

 the respite will be summarised in my forthcoming annual 

 report. Note added 5th March, 188-1. 



namon (Cinnaiiiomum officinale) the true cinnamon, which 

 has grown well and flowered already ; Pimento (Pimento 

 vulgaris) that yields pimento, now twelve feet high 

 Gha oica Betel, the green leaf of which is chewed by East 

 Indians, covering a pellet made up of the betel-nut, lime 

 and a third ingredient; Wagatea spicata, one of the richest 

 tannin plants known, and, too, one of the handsomest 

 flowering plants; Carissa carandas, a very hardy shrub, 

 the fruit of which is largely used in India as a pickle. 

 All the Anouas are doing well and fruiting freely, but the 

 Cherimolia which I have mentioned. Anona kirkii is an 

 African member of delicious flavour of fruit, but which 

 fruit is useless through the little pulp it contains. 



ARECA-NUTS: A PROFITABLE INDUSTRY. 



A considerable acreage is already under the nut on several 

 properties here now. Personally I regard it as by far the 

 best product for a man of limited capital to select, for, if 

 funds run short, he can cease expenditure with perfect con- 

 fidence that the plants, in any suitable locality, will reach full 

 maturity in spite of prolonged abandonment, whilst for 

 profits, unless you, sir, or any of your readers, can show 

 prospects in this particular in a less favorable light, what 

 other industry have we at present, or since the more hope- 

 ful days of cinchona, offering so good and withal sound ex- 

 pectations in the matter of returns ? At 1,500 trees only, 

 and an average not exceeding 200 per tree as the yearly 

 crop, this may be stated as 30 cwt. per acre of nuts, husked 

 and cured. As to prices, there is certainly a heavy differ- 

 ence for the several varieties, and unfortunately our Ceylon 

 produce realises the least. The present market rates in 

 India are for "Shiriwardhun " 1140 per cwt. 1st sized, 

 and R35 per 2nd sized nuts; next to which, selling usually 

 at about half the above rates, ranks the "Mysore," prob- 

 ably including the Coast produce generally ; whilst the 

 Ceylon nut stands lower still at R12 to R18 per cwt. But 

 even the small margin of profit on the latter, considering 

 the capital outlay necessary, should suffice ! Whilst at the 

 price quoted for the firstnamed, equivalent to Rl,200 per 

 acre, I can only repeat the question— what other product 

 have we that can hold a candle to it ? It is true, tea claims 

 the one advantage of coming into yield in 3 years as against 

 5 (and it is not improbable that the two products may be, to 

 the best advantage, cultivated together), but with cocoa this 

 is not so, and until some one can come forward and shew 

 the reverse side forcibly, I must confess I would rather trust 

 to 100 acres of arecas than the best 100 acres of cocoa iu the 

 island ; and this without any disparagement, but fully recog- 

 nizing the excellent recommendations of the latter. I firmly 

 believe that no man with a limited capital, say of £1,000 

 or less, not desiring' to incur debt, could find a safer, or a 

 more hopeful investment for it. Though nothing more than 

 due has been stated as to the fine crop of cardamoms on 

 Udagama estate, and it may safely be hoped no doubt that 

 many a fine return will yet be reaped in this neighbourhood, 

 as elsewhere, from well-chosen fields of cardamoms, they can 

 hardly be classed as in themselves a lasting product (will a 

 cardamom field anywhere continue remunerative for over 

 twelve years, or even ten ?) or as a staple article of com- 

 merce ; whilst tea and arecas, can, added to longevity of 

 the plant, both claim their " hundreds of millions" of con- 

 sumers. I should be less confident in speaking so decidedly 

 in favor of " arecas " on the footing of an extensive indus- 

 try, were it not that the conclusions come to have been in- 

 variably endorsed by, and ^to a large extent drawn from, 

 data afforded by a numberof intelligent natives, in positions 

 especially entitling them to be able to speak authoritatively, 

 several of whom are, in fact, themselves now going in ex- 

 tensively for the cultivation ; and I am misinformed if 

 amongst the latter is not to be included an employe long and 

 well-up in the service of the Botanic Gardens, whose experi- 

 ence .should not allow him to be at fault. I am either mis- 

 taking a " mouse " for " elephant,'' or the industry is es- 

 pecially deserving the attention of the planting interests at 

 the present time. If there is a less favorable side to the 

 picture, let us have it by all means, and the sooner the bet- 

 ter. Till then, conjointly with tea, I can only continue to 

 to regard " arecas " as the most profitable and sure cultiv- 

 ation we have for the moister portions fo the island, say at 

 and below 2,500 feet elevation. The remark of a MudaUyar 

 in this neighbourhood, whose intelligence I have confidence 



