THE ORANGE PLANTATIONS OF INDIA 



CITRUS 



AURANTIUM 



Sylhet 



nd mav be said to be distinguished by its \vllmv colour and 

 or jacket. This is tin- orange of the special Indian plantations 

 re orange-growing becomes an important industry. Hut there would 

 tr in India to be several very distinct forms of the xantara, due very 

 :-lv to peculiar methods of cultivation or special climates. The 

 'tuition of the races of santara orange might be given as follows : 

 north. Xagpur, Delhi, Alwar, Gargaon, Lahore and Multan ; in 

 ict'st and south. 1'oona, Shevaroy, Madras, ( 'oor<: and Ceylon ; in th<- 



d, Bhutan, Assam, Khasia and Burma. 



The Sylhet or more correctly the Khasia orange is the best of 

 is, and it may be described as the fruit known in Europe as the 

 : oranire. One of the most useful papers on this subject is that 

 Brownlow (Journ. Agri.-Hort. Soc. Ind., 1869, 372, briefly reviewed 

 ie Dictionary). The Sylhet orange, he says, is invariably raised 

 . and the plants come into bearing in four to six years. It 

 lieved that the seedlings do better than grafts or buddings, though 

 latter come sooner to maturity and afford a more uniform quality, 

 sn grafting is pursued the stock usually employed is the lime, and 

 me say the wild plant is preferable to the cultivated. 

 Since the present article was penned, B. C. Basu has contributed 

 Journ. Ind., 1906, i., pt. i., 62-7) a most interesting account of the 

 Ilu'.sia hills orange and its cultivation, for which space can only be found 

 the merest abstract. The area where produced, he observes, is com- 

 !>d within one hundred square miles. The plantations commence on 

 plains and rise to an elevation of 1,500 feet. The gardens extend 

 for some distance into the interior along the deep valleys which cut 

 the southern face of the Khasia hills. From that narrow tract of 

 itry is drawn the bulk of the oranges consumed in Bengal and Assam. 

 ie great earthquake of June 1897 destroyed, however, a large number 

 the orange gardens, many of the most productive of which lay on the 

 iks of the hill streams and owed their fertility to the silt left by the 

 lual floods. The orange is said to do best on limestone soil. The 

 sia people recognise only one variety, though they admit a wide range 

 juality exists dependent mainly on soil and the aspect of the garden, 

 special merits of individual plants are not perpetuated owing to the 

 lost invariable habit of raising stock from seed. The fruits with thick 

 are preferred even though the pulp is less juicy, because they stand 

 idling better. So also late ripening is advantageous in point of price. 

 Basu's account, it may be observed, differs here and there very 

 jhtly from that given by Brownlow. Seedlings, he says, are trans- 

 ited when two or three years old, and during May and June. A hole 

 lade and the young plants deposited at distances approximately of 

 feet apart. Manure is never used. By the end of the rains a number 

 shoots have usually formed, and in time one of these is preserved, and 

 rest, as also the parent stem, removed. The plants begin to bear in 

 it to ten years and the duration is uncertain owing to the ravages of 

 borer insect, which destroys large numbers of plants annually. The 

 orange season commences in November and closes in March. The export 

 is in the hands of Bengali traders, who mostly live in Sylhet, hence the 

 orange being often spoken of under that name. The usual wholesale 

 price is from Rs. 10 to 20 per " hundred," equivalent to about 2,300 fruits. 

 The supply intended for Bengal is taken down to Chhatak. If carefully 



321 21 



EUwt 



Sylhet and 

 Khasia. 



China Orange. 



Khasia 

 Hills. 



The Earthquake. 



Limestone 



Raised by Seed. 



Transplanting. 



Come into 

 Bearing. 



Price. 



