244 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



August 11, 1906. 



WEST INDIAN FRUIT. 



LEMON MARKET. 



With a view to ascertaining the possibility of 

 establishing a trade in lemons at Dominica, an inquiiy 

 was addressed by the Imperial Commissioner of Agri- 

 culture to Messrs. Gillespie Bros. & Co., of New York, 

 who have written, under date July (5, as follows : — 



V\'ith reference to j-onr valued favour of Jlaj' 1.5, on tlie 

 subject of tlie culture of lemons, we have now obtained the 

 following information : — 



(a) The new crop of Sicilian lemons goes to market in 

 November. 



(b) They are in sea.soa all the year round. 



(c) They are usually packed in closed boxes, not as is 

 the case with oranges, in open crates. Each bo.\ contains 

 300, 350, 420, or 500 lemons. 



(d) With reference to the price obtained for Sicilian 

 lemons, it is impos.sihie to name an averaj;e price as so much 

 depends on the sujiplies coming forward from California and 

 Sicijj', and as these supplies come in constantly all the 

 year round there is no season of the year when one can be 

 certain of a scarcity of fruit, as is the case with oranges in 

 September and October. This year, during the first few 

 months, receipts were small and prices good. At present the 

 fruit is more plentiful and prices are lower, but this must not 

 be taken as a guide to the market, nor can one year's returns 

 be regarded as a precedent for another. 



From the foregoing you will observe that as the supjilies 

 are pretty constant from Sicily, lemons shiiiped from 

 Dominica would of necessity come into comi)etition with the 

 Sicilian variety, no matter at what season of the year they 

 might be shipped. ' 



As regards the jii'ice that might be obtained for 

 Dominica fruit, that will be largely dependent on the quality 

 of the fruit and the condition of the market, and without 

 a sample or a trial shipment to test the market it is imjiossible 

 to give anj- opinion that would be of value. 



Messr,-j. Gillespie Bros. & Co. have also forwarded 

 the following extract from the New York Times, of 

 July 10 :— ' 



With the arrivals by steamer to-daj', there are now 

 200,000 boxes, or 70,000,000 lemons unsold on slupboard in 

 the harbour of New York. This enormous accumulation luis 

 been brought about bj' 'peculiar market conditions. The 

 market was high early in the sea.son, and the shipments of 

 lemons have been very heavy. The market declined, and the 

 receivers here adopted a policy of postponing sales until the 

 market became better, bud it did not improve as expected. 



The supplies will now be turned loose, 74, .500 boxe.« 

 being scheduled for sale at auction this week. The average 

 box contains 350 lemons, .so that it may be seen that the 

 sales this week will' be 25,255,000 lemons. 



Ninety days ago, the bulk of the lemon sales here were 

 being made u|ion a basis of between $i and !?5 per box. Now 

 the bulk are being .sold at about !i?2-50. For the best lemon.?, 

 however, ))rices are still being maintained upon a basis of 

 between .?4 and !?5. The bulk of the stock, however, is not 

 of the best. 



These lemons were bought under contract, and it is 

 conservatively estimated that the importers have already 

 lost .'?150,000 on the season, and that the losses will reach 

 §500,000, if conditions do not change before the end of the 

 season. 



MANGO BREEDING. 



A recentlj' issued bulletin, entitled ' The Mango iu 

 Hawaii,' deals fully with the cultivation, propagation, 

 and uses of this fruit. The following reference is made 

 to the breeding of the best varieties : — 



The simplest method of propagation is by seeds, but this 

 has the disadvantage of being unreliable in reproducing the 

 exact variety ; there is no certainty of seed reproducing its 

 varietj'. This is partly because of the natural habit of 

 variation and partly because the flowers are crossed frequently 

 with foreign pollen. The greater number of the mangos 

 grown in this and every other country, however, are seedling.s, 

 and this method will probably prevail for some time to come. 



Plant breeding is coining to be a very important element 

 in commercial horticulture. It is, however, only in its 

 infancy as an art, and doubtless will be the in.strunient of 

 great advancement in many industries. The mango will 

 unquestionably receive the attention of plant breeders in the 

 trollies, and new varieties, probably superior in nianj' ways 

 to those now known, will be produced. The aim of the 

 mango breeder will be, among other things, to produce 

 a fruit entirely lacking in fibre. It maj' also be sought to 

 produce a seedless mango, and certainly much might lie done 

 to lengthen the season by producing extra-early and extra- 

 late kinds. The results of accidental cros.ses are manifest 

 to the careful student of this fruit. In fact, the superior 

 varieties from India, which are now propagated by grafting 

 and budding, are probably in large part the result of 

 beneficial but accidental crosses. If this be so, it lends 

 much encouragement to the breeder who will study the 

 characteristics of fruits and so cross them as to combine the 

 best cjiualities of two or more difiFerent kinds in one variety^ 



