June i, 1885.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



881 



Cinnamon will grow ami 1ms been distributed, but ia 

 not an article of export. The chocolate is flavoured with 

 ciunamon, therefore it must be known to the small farmers 

 hi Jamaica. 



Nutmegs. — There are a few nutmeg trees cultivated and 

 small plantations of the same, but thorc is no export of 

 nutmegs that I know of from Jamaica, lu making a 

 " Doctor " nutmeg is grated and mixed with the milk and 

 rum to give it flavour, and it is a fashionable beverage. 



Pineapples. — Those who have cultivated pineapples 

 have made money : in one instance brought to my notice, 

 one hundred pounds an acre was the result of pineapple 

 cultivation ; £200 being made off two acres. The pineapples 

 of Jamaica are sweet, though not large. Dr. Phillippo 

 gained a prize lately at the Agri-Horticultural Show at 

 Cumberland Pen of £ 1 for the best exhibits, but they were 

 not equal to pineapples grown in Ceylon. The finest 

 specimens of pineapples I ever saw in my life came from 

 Porto Kico brought by a Spanish steamer to Port Antonio 

 to load up bananas. Some of those large fruits (the Porto 

 Kico pineapples) must have weighed from 8 to 12 lb. I 

 did not taste them, so can say nothing about their quality. 

 In the dry weather at Port Antonio I purchased small 

 sweet Jamaica pines for 3d each. About 8,000 dozens are 

 produced. 



Oeange OnLTiVATTON. — The orange flourishes all over 

 Jamaica and fruit has been exported largely to America 

 and England. Thirty or forty millions, worth about £40,000, 

 are said to have been exported. This trade is not 

 brisk as the quality of the orange varies so much and 

 it is difficult of transport, one planter in the Blue 

 Mountains telling me they did not pay him fur the trans- 

 port by mules, a day's journey from the shipping port of 

 Kingston. We shipped a considerable quantity from Port 

 Antonio to New York, carefully packed individually in 

 soft paper, and forwarded in ventilated boxes. 



Sarsapabilla. — It is a subject for surprise that this article 

 is not much cultivated, considering that the far-famed 

 Jamaica sarsaparilla is thought to be the genuine article 

 only, yet in Ceylon about Matale district, sarsaparilla 

 grows like a weed, a pretty little creeper with a silvery 

 striped leaf. It is used as a cooling beverage and well 

 known as one of the best blood-purifying root-extracts. 



Annatto Seeds. — The annatto seed is used as a dye and 

 is in great demand, judging from advertisements frequently 

 appearing in Jamaica newspapers by merchant shippers 

 and dealers in produce. About 132,0001b., valuing £1,400, is 

 the output of this article, Aunatto Bay from where I 

 write is probably uamed after the above. 



Logwood. — Logwood is plentiful round the east and 

 north coasts of Jamaica and shipped in great quantities. 

 Although quoted at £5 per ton, the price paid for it here 

 is only sixteen shillings per ton, the cost of felling, clearing, 

 carting to the shipping port and freight to America or 

 England bringing it up to £5 per ton. It is one of those 

 things that would not pay a private individual to embark in 

 unless he held a large contract to supply a firm who would 

 send their vessels periodically for a cargo. The logwood 

 dealer would then be iu a position to purchase at the 

 highest rate. The exports of logwood are said to be about 

 30,000 tons, worth about £90,000, or at £5 per ton £150,000. 

 The tree is not indigenous to Jamaica, but was introduced 

 from Honduras by Dr. Barham, and is used largely in 

 colouring cheap clarets' and other wines and spirits. It 

 now grows wild about Port Antonio and Annatto Bay, 

 from both of which shipping ports it is shipped. 



Fibre and Fihre Machines. — Fibre-producing plants 

 have been cultivated on a small scale, and Dr. Phillippo drew 

 the attention of Government some time ago to the new 

 industry. I have mislaid his valuable paper on the subject, 

 but, should it turn up, I will forward it on to you. Last 

 year at the Agri-Horticultural Show at Cumberland Pen, 

 a Fibre Machine invented by Mr. Kennedy of Jamaica was 

 worked by steam and shown to do clean work, a number of 

 samples of fibre being very highly spoken of by the judges 

 of samples. Ramie or Chinese grass and Agave Americana, 

 with the common aloe, were all put to the test, and I believe 

 some samples of pineapple fibre, and plantain &o. 

 Price of the machine is K 7 



Other Useful Timbers. — There is another dyewood 

 called " Fustic,',' of which 3,500 tons were shipped worth 

 about £10,000. '• Dogwood " is a hard timber u6ed for 

 111 



cart- wheels and other purposes. Mahogany furniture is often 

 met with, including tables with pieces of great width 

 bearing a high polish and therefore very valuable. The 

 TCnglishoak may be seen in the Blue Mountains. On Whit- 

 field Hall estate, there are two oak trees, one very much 

 larger than the other, about thirty feet high ami about 1~0 

 feet iu circumference of foliage, the trunk being about .six 

 feet in circumference near tho ground. Tamarind trees 

 are plentiful and of great service as shade trees and the 

 fruit for making a healthy Cooling beverage mixed with 

 sugar and water. 



Coconut Palms. — There are extensive coconut estates 

 round the sea coast of Jamaica. The properties opened up 

 by Dr. Ferguson are the beat on this side (facing Cuba), 

 north and east coasts. The export of coconuts is very great, 

 millions of nuts being shipped from Port Antonio and Kings- 

 ton. The palm flourishes everywhere near the sea, and most 

 .sugar estates have a few thousand trees alo-^g the seaboard 

 and " Negro House " fields ; they are, however, sub- 

 ject to the ravages of bats, and occasional hurricaues 

 bend their proud feathery heads to the grouud never to 

 rise again. Drinking nuts are sold at three farthings each, 

 and ripe nuts at 6s per hundred. The coconut palm is 

 always a feature in tropical scenery, and extremely useful 

 to the natives for food, rope, and mattiug. The coconut 

 is not ulilized in so many ways here as in Ceylon and 

 India, and it is surprising that coconut oil is not one of the 

 leading exports of Jamaica produce. 



Breadfruit Trees now in season (October and Novem- 

 ber). The breadfruit tree is another friend of the people 

 and much liked, cooked in various ways. I need not 

 enlarge on the beauty of the tree, it having been so often 

 described by travellers. Suffice it to say, they are plentiful 

 in Jamaica growing side by side with the far-famed mango 

 tree. 



Mango Tree. — The Creoles almost live on mangoes for 

 three months, June, July and August. There are so many 

 kinds, that it is difficult to select them in the order of their 

 respective merits as to quality. The celebrated number 

 eleven ranks first ou the long list, the above being free 

 from stringy fibre like some of the more juicy kinds. All 

 sorts of stories are afloat regarding the number elevtn 

 mango. Some " old time "negroes (who remember slavery) 

 say Lord Nelson brought them ashore from his ship, and 

 others say they were landed by Captain Cook. Whoever 

 landed them did the Jamaicans a good turn, and your cor- 

 respondent will always gratefully remember the number 

 eleven mango of Jamaica. The turpentine mango is 

 very juicy and is an acquired taste. Some do not like 

 it as well as the kidney mango ; both are accept- 

 able iu the dry months of June, July, and August. 

 The mango trees have spread all over the island of Jamaica 

 varying in quality according to cultivation, even those in 

 pens doing well, because the stock shelter themselves and 

 pay their footing with a deposit of rich manure. The 

 largest mango trees in the world, I firmly believe, are to 

 be found in Jamaica and other "West Indian islands, ranging 

 from three, four, five, six, and even seven feet diameter, 

 and perhaps over one hundred years old, planted in the 

 days of slavery. We exported mangoes from Port Antonio 

 to New York and to Liverpool, carefully wrapped up iu the 

 same way as the oranges, and dispatched iu light ventilated 

 boxes. 



The Avocado Pear. — You people in Ceylon do not know 

 what is good until you have eaten the avocado pear with 

 your beefsteak and potatoes. It is gathered green, ripened 

 in the corn, and sliced up for the table at every meal in 

 Jamaica as long as it is in season, a favourite dish of 

 the Creole ; he lives on "pears." When ready for eating, 

 it is soft. 



Vegetable Cultivation. — Coco yam {Caladiom fscul- 

 eata) is the staff of life added to white and yellow yams, 

 breadfruit and pears, but any kind of English vegetable 

 can be grown according to elevation : green peas, Irish 

 potatoes, tomatoes, lettuce, cabbages, radishes, onions, 

 vegetable marrow, cucumbers, &c, were all doing well in 

 the Blue Mountains, and, when looking round the garden at 

 Whitfield Hall, I came upon an apple tree in bearing 

 and a fig tree with a lot of figs ripening : Mr. McCrea 

 takes rare of his garden. He pointed out some thirty or 

 forty English apple trees. Mr. and Mrs. Stephens and Mrs. 

 Chisholm pride themselves on their garden too at h'udnor 



