348 PLANTING ENTEBPBISE IN THE WEST INDIES. [JIabch, 



nearly to what they were a hundred years ago, when 7,000 slaves 

 were kept on the island.' 



The Lime plantations of the Montserrat Company occupy about 

 1,000 acres, and contain about 200,000 trees of all ages. The export 

 of lime-juice, both crude and concentrated, is now nearly 100,000 

 gallons per annum. 



The Lime tree {Citrus Umetta), a member of the orange famil}', 

 grows well in all the West India Islands. It requires a light, loamy 

 and somewhat stony soil, and an elevation, depending upon latitude, 

 from sea level up to 500 feet. The trees are planted at 15 feet apart, 

 giving about 200 trees per acre. They come into bearing in about six 

 or seven years, but light crops are often gathered from trees at five 

 years. To ensure large and permanent crops, the trees require to be 

 regularly pruned, and to be kept free from all parasitic grovi^ths, such 

 as Loranthus, &c. They are also greatly benefited by tillage : that 

 is, loosening of the soil around the roots, and being kept free from 

 grass and weeds. 



The annual mean temperature of Montserrat at sea-level is given 

 at 78° F., and the annual rainfall at 59 inches. These conditions are 

 evidently those most suitable for the successful cultivation of Lime 

 trees, for at ]\Iontserrat the Lime orchards present a most beautiful 

 sight. 



With regard to the manufacture and preparation of lime-juice, I 

 cannot do better than quote the following description which appeared 

 in the Pharmaceutical Journal in January last (3rd Series, No. 657, 

 p. 606) :— 



* In Montserrat the lime fruit harvest is heaviest from September 

 to January, but a good supply of fruit is yielded throughout the 

 whole year. Here, where the Lime tree is specially cultivated for 

 the sake of the juice, the work is done in a systematic manner with 

 suitable machinery. The fruit, after collection, is taken to two 

 central factories, where it is sliced by water power, and then 

 squeezed in huge wooden presses, the juice being run into puncheons 

 and quickly bunged up. This is a most important point in preparing 

 the juice in a tropical climate, for if exposed it would rapidly decom- 

 pose. I am also inrormed that the choicest fruit is alone used, and 

 that only about two-thirds of the juice is pressed out, thus ensuring 

 greater freedom from mucilaginous and pulpy matter. The further 

 pressings, together with the juice of unsound fruit, is evaporated to 

 the consistence of treacle, and sent over to this country for the 

 manufacture of nitric acid. 



'It is chiefly owing to these precautions that Montserrat lime- 

 juice is so much superior to that produced in Jamaica and elsewhere, 

 where no care or supervision is exercised in its preparation.' 



