342 PLANTING ENTEBPBISE IN THE WEST INDIE S.^i^^cu, 



The great increase in the value of this trade during the last ten 

 years may be gathered from the fact that in 1873 the export value 

 of fruit shipped from Jamaica was only £8,750. That it will still 

 continue to increase, and that, ultimately, numerous other industries 

 will be promoted by it, is proved by the fact that greater attention is 

 continually being paid to it ; and by the increased demand which is 

 arising in the United States and the Dominion of Canada for 

 tropical fruits. These countries possess a prosperous population, 

 nearly double of that of the United Kingdom, and fruit of all kinds 

 forms an important element in their daily food. 



For men with only moderate capital, I know of no industry so 

 promising as this cultivation of fruit, either for its own sake or for 

 the purpose of ultimately establishing other and more permanent 

 cultivations. 



The cultivation of spices, such as nutmegs, cinnamon, cloves, 

 black pepper, and vanilla, has also been taken up, not only in 

 Jamaica, but also in Trinidad, Grenada, and St. Vincent. Nutmegs 

 especially do well at Grenada ; and with regard to other spices, if 

 they are so successfully and so energetically carried on throughout 

 the West Indies as in the islands above-mentioned, we shall have 

 them known in the future, not as the sugar islands, but as the spice 

 islands of the West. 



With regard to the yield from nutmeg trees in Jamaica, trees at 

 six years old give a return of about 1,500 to 2,000 nutmegs per 

 annum. With trees, say, 30 feet apart, and allowing one-third to be 

 male or barren trees, this would give a return of 1,500 x 30=45,000 

 nutmegs per acre. JTaking an average of ninety nutmegs to the 

 pound, the return in cash value would be 500 pounds of nutmegs at, 

 say, 2s. per pound, equal to £50 per acre. 



In the Botanic Gardens, Trinidad, the yield per tree net in the 

 market has been over twenty pounds (at ninety to the pound this 

 would be 1,800 nutmegs), with an average price of 2s. 2d. per pound 

 during the year. The value here, per acre, is at the rate of £60 per 

 annum. 



In both the above instances, it is only fair to mention that the 

 calculations have been based on a comparatively small number of 

 trees. The average yield over a large area of, say, 40, 50, or 100 acres 

 would be correspondingly lower ; but, even under any circumstances, 

 it is evident that, where suitable and favourable circumstances exist, 

 as I believe they do in the West Indies, a nutmeg plantation is likely 

 to be a very successful and remunerative undertaking. 



The cardamom, a valuable East Indian spice, has lately been intro- 

 duced to the West Indies with satisfactory results. It is adapted for 

 cultivation in moist, shady situations, at elevations ranging from 



