n6 Coco-nuts The Consols of the East 



being a permanent crop, were not, like the 

 bananas, grown between the palms, but are 

 on the estate." 



In Panama, the Panama Railroad Company 

 and others are purchasing great quantities of 

 vegetables at the time of writing. The Com- 

 missary Purchasing Agent in Panama buys 

 in the open market, paying about 20 per cent, 

 less than the retail price at which the vegetables 

 are sold. In spite of this, nearly twenty tons of 

 tomatoes a month are reckoned on as having to 

 be imported, yet every one of these could be 

 produced around Panama. The price realizable 

 is 5 cents per lb., and at this price, in spite of 

 undoubted difficulties to contend with (compared 

 to tomato culture in the United States) a hand- 

 some profit could be realized by the owners 

 waiting for their groves to come into bearing. 

 The same with cucumbers, water-melons, beans, 

 yams, sweet potatoes, &c., which are being 

 largely imported, as well as onions and salads ; 

 all these could be raised on coco-nut lands. 



Then, again, many centres urge that cattle 

 and hogs can and should be raised on coco-nut 

 estates to feed on the poonac, and so nourish 

 themselves and then the soil whilst yielding 

 a profit to the estates. Fresh milk around 

 Panama is very scarce and dear, about $1.50 

 a gallon. It would therefore pay even to 

 run a dairy, especially where grass lands pre- 

 vail, as they do at the back of the beach at 

 Venado. Cattle fattening is also very pro- 



