206 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



June 30, 1906. 



GUAVA FRUIT PULP. 



As in the West Indies, so in the Hawaiian Islands, 

 the guava tree has a remarkable capacity for taking 

 possession of pasture land or land that has been thrown 

 out of cultivation. Very little use is, however, made 

 of the fruits in Hawaii, and enormous quantities are 

 allowed to go to waste. A writer in the Haivaiian 

 Forester and Agriculturist for April states: — 



This might all be used to profitable advantage if 

 a system of fruit pulping were introduced similar to that 

 •which is employed in many of the agricultural districts of 

 Trance. The general scope of the method suggested is for 

 the local growers or pickers to preserve the guava pulp in 

 laro-e containers, by an inexpensive and simple plan, and in 

 this form to send it to a central jelly factory for future use. 



The pulping is, in France, usually conducted on a large 

 scale, but' it should also be as easily and advantageously 

 carried on with smaller quantities of fruit. The apparatus 

 used consists merely of a copper pan and a metal tank. The 

 fruit to be pulped should, after removal of the rind, be placed 

 in the copper pan and heated to boiling, during which process 

 it should be continually stirred with a wooden spoon. _ After 

 boiling for a sufficient time it should then be emptied into tin 

 containers which are soldered up. The tins are then removed 

 to the metal tank, in which they are immersed in boiling water 

 for about twenty minutes. During this process, if any of the 

 tins are not sufficiently soldered, it will be detected, and in 

 this case they must be removed. 



The quality of the product depends on the degree of 

 cleanliness observed, in the care which is exercised to prevent 

 burning during the process of boiling, in the kinds of tins eni- 

 ployedrand in the manner of soldering. If thoroughly cleansed, 

 kerosene tins could be employed. The cost of producing the 

 fruit, to which must be added the freight to a central factory, 

 should not be more than from 81-75 to .S2-1-J per 100 ft. The 

 best quality of pulp is obtained in France by steam heating 

 instead of fire directly applied to the pans. This method is 

 desirable with the more delicate kinds of fruit, such as the 

 apricot and peach, but it should not be necessary in the case 

 of the guava if sufficient care is taken. As a rule, a small 

 quantity of water, varying with the kind of fruit used, and 

 which may be easily determined, is added to the pulp to assist 

 in preventing burning. There seems in this proposed industry 

 to be a splendid field for a man of small capital to establish a 

 central jelly factory in Honolulu and to supply it with fruit 

 pulp from a few pulping plant 

 districts. 



It appears that ' barring ' represents some interference- 

 with the normal growth of the plume in its early stages. 

 Evidence mainly points to impaired nutrition of the feather 

 germ as the cause. ' In a general way it is recognized that 

 the better fed the bird the less likely are its feathers to show 

 any defects.' 



Dr. Duerden thinks there is good reason for expecting, 

 that the remedy will be found to be mainly a question of 

 a proper and regular supply of food — not an easy matter in 

 time of drought. ' Artificial selection in breeding may also- 

 assist towards the production of a strain in which the 

 feathers are less influenced by constitutional changes in the 

 bird.' 



situated in favourable 



DEFECTS IN OSTRICH FEATHERS. 



The Agricultural Journal of the Cape of Good Hope 

 for May contains an interesting paper on 'Bars in Ostrich 

 Feathers,' by Dr. J. E. Duerden, Professor of Zoolog}-, 

 Rhodes University College, Cape Colony, who was for some 

 years Curator of the Museum at the Jamaica Institute. 

 Dr. Duerden also contributes a letter on the subject to 

 Nature (May 17, 190G). He says that 'barring,' which 

 takes the form of a series of narrow, chevron-shaped bars 

 or malformations across the whole feather, ha.s, of recent 

 years, caused much concern to the farmer, as it seriously 

 reduces the value of the plitmes. 



KOLA IN THE GOLD COAST. 



The Director of Agriculture for the Gold Coast 

 Colony has recently issued a precis of a report 

 by Dr. Gruner, District Commissioner, Togoland, 

 German West Africa, on a visit made by him to the 

 Gold Coast in August 1903, for the purpose of acquiring 

 information relative to the cacao and kola industries. 

 The following notes on kola are likely to be of 

 interest : — 



The kola tree is very seldom planted, and the tending 

 of those trees produced by natural agency is limited to the- 

 clearing away of bush and weeds ; but every such tree has 

 an owner, who claims this right in virtue of having 

 affected the first clearing. 



Kola trees raised from seed commence to fruit when 

 six or seven years old ; produce is small at this period but 

 increases yearly until the tree is mature, when it will 

 yield from forty to fifty fruits. 



Two crops are produced annually, in December and 

 April, of which the former is the principal. Fruits which 

 fall ofi' the trees are not collected as they spoil rapidly ; 

 those plucked from the trees are stored in the shade, as the 

 hot sun turns them black. When the nuts are freshly 

 gathered some difficulty is experienced in skinning them 

 but if they are stored for a short time the skin can be 

 readily removed with the fingers. If the nuts harvested 

 exceed the demand, the surplus is skinned and jiacked, with 

 the leaves of a particular plant (Thaumatococcus DanifHi),_ 

 in broad baskets made of palm leaves, and stored. 



The Hausas, who are the principal consumers, convey 

 salt to the kola districts and barter it for kola ; 1 lb. of 

 salt valued at Gd. being exchanged for 100 kola nuts. The 

 price of kola in the districts where it is produced fluctuates 

 between 3</. and Is. per 100 nuts, but in Accra, cost of 

 transport raises it to Is. M. per 100. Kola is principally 

 exporteil by sea to Lagos ; the values of the exports in 1900- 

 and 1901 were £43,133 and £3-5,024, respectively ; * while 

 the e.stimated annual value of the exports overland to the 

 hinterland is £75,000. 



The principal kola markets in Akim are Insuaim, 

 Essamang, Kwaben, Tumfa, and Kankan. In Kwaben or 

 Turn fa, it is possible to purchase from a single person 

 ten loads containing 2,000 nuts each. Previously the kola 

 produced in Ashanti was only purchased by Hausas and 

 transported by them northwards to the Hausa States ; but 

 the restoration of order in Ashanti and the completion of 

 the railway to Kumasi have facilitated the transport of this 

 crop to the coast. 



a steady 



in 1904 beint 



Tlic tr.idc in kola nuts in tlie Gold Coast has showni 

 mpripvcnient since 1902, tfie total value uf tlio exports 



£'.54,763. [Ed. A. A".] 



