THE SHADDOCK OR POMELO 



CITRUS 



DECUMANA 



Trade in Oranges * 



as to the extent of the traffic in these fruits. They do not appear sepa- 

 rately in either of the records of internal traffic or external trade. In 

 the Assam Administration Report for 1901-2 it is stated the exports 

 from that province came to 74,000 maunds, valued at Rs. 2,80,000. But 

 we have no information as to the area and yield for the whole of India, 

 and therefore the total production cannot be even conjectured. The 

 suggestion has been made above that India might with advantage follow 

 the lead given by the West Indies, and look to Europe and even America 

 as hopeful markets for the profitable disposal of surplus fruits. Before 

 this can be seriously contemplated production must be put on a more 

 certain basis than at present, and this is not likely to be accomplished until 

 European planters of India are induced to become orange growers. Some 

 few years ago (1894-5) a few parcels of Nagpur oranges were sent to London. 

 Messrs. \V. Hutchinson & Co. reported on these. The brokers pronounced 

 the fruit the best they had ever seen, and valued the oranges at 3d. 

 apiece. They arrived when the supply of oranges from other countries 

 had come to an end, and were thus much appreciated. The supply was, 

 however, discontinued, and never seems to have been again renewed. 

 To organise and maintain a foreign market an unfailing supply of a fixed 

 quality must be assured. This would mean increased production with the 

 definite idea of export. The demands of the local markets seem to absorb 

 the present supplies, and the profits of production are sufficiently high, it 

 might be conjectured, to have tempted increased cultivation. 



Surplus Stocks. 



Experimental 

 Parcel. 



D.E.P., 

 ii., 349. 

 Pomelo. 



Habitat. 



Introduction 

 into India. 



Rapid 

 Distribution. 



C. decumana, Linn. ; Fl. Br. Ind., i., 516 ; Tussac, Fl. Anil., 

 1824, iii., 73-4, pi. 17, 18; Bentham, Rev. of Targioni-Tozzetti, in Journ. 

 Hort. Soc., 1855, ix., 172. The Shaddock, Pomelo, Pumelnose (pampel- 

 mousse, Fr.) ; the mdha-nibu, batdvi-nebu, sadaphal, chakotra or chukotura, 

 bator-nebu, bijoro, papanas, bombalinas, pumplemus, etc. It has no 

 Sanskrit name. It was known to the early Dutch traders as Pompelmoes 

 ( = pumpkin-citron), hence some of the modern names. It reached 

 India and Ceylon in the 17th century. 



The pomelo is presumed to be a native of the Malay Archipelago. 

 Introduced into India and Ceylon from Java, hence the name batdvi- 

 nebu ; carried to the West Indies by a Capt. Shaddock. Rumphius, fol- 

 lowed by Roxburgh, was the first botanical author who described this fruit, 

 although the suggestion may be offered that the Pomum Adami Commune 

 (or Black Lemon) of Ferrari and also of Commelin bears a strong resem- 

 blance to the pomelo. It is certain that neither Baber (1519) nor Akbar 

 (1590) allude to it. Buchanan-Hamilton studied (1807-11) the districts of 

 " Dinajpur, Rangpur, Paraniya, Bhagelpur, and Bihar, and the cities of 

 Patna, Shahabad and Gorakhpur. Upon each of these he submitted to 

 the Government a voluminous report," but only one, viz. Dinajpur, was 

 ever published, as written by the author, and that not until 1833. He 

 there says that this plant was known as batabi, but that it could scarcely 

 yet be said to have made its way from the gardens of the Europeans 

 (Stat. Ace. Dinaj., 196). In 1897. I personally explored a considerable 

 portion of the districts of Dinajpur, Rangpur and Bogra, and may 

 safely affirm that no village exists now without its pomelo trees. In 

 India and Burma at the present day, it is, in fact, one of the most common 

 of fruits, but more especially so in Bengal and South India than in the 

 United Provinces, the Central Provinces or the Panjab. The best quality 



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