ORANGES IN JAMAICA. 425 



sued from the Botanic Gardens, also Tangerine oranges of a very fine quality. The 

 trees issued from the gardens are bu'dded and grafted. The Tangerines are mostly 

 grafted. It is difficult to say which are the more valuable. The Tangerine oranges 

 fetch the highest price in the local markets, but they are not exported. Of the na- 

 tive seedlings those produced in Manchester are admitted to be the best in the island 

 on account of size, sweetness, flavor, and for their good keeping qualities. It has 

 also been maintained that they bear handling, packing, and the sea voyage to New 

 York better than varieties grown elsewhere ; for example, better than those grown 

 on the north side of the island. Seedling trees begin to bear at eight, nine, and ten 

 years, and are in full bearing at fifteen or twenty years. Grafted or budded trees 

 come into bearing a little earlier from the time of planting out. Nothing definite 

 can be stated as to how long the trees remain fruitful further than it must be a long 

 time, as trees dating from the era of slavery and estimated to be fifty or sixty years 

 and perhaps older are still in full vigor, and the writer has seen such trees without 

 observing about them any signs of decay from old age. The longevity of the orange 

 tree is well known, but in this island it is difficult to ascertain the age of old orange 

 trees, owing to the fact that their planting was the work of slaves in their own time 

 and not plantation work. Records of old plantation work still exist, but not of the 

 planting of orange trees. The foreign market for Jamaica-grown oranges has only 

 been opened up within ten or twelve years past, and it is only in recent years that 

 methodical planting has been resorted to. 



Of lemons, the known varieties are only two, viz, an old-established seedling variety, 

 producing very large fruit, and seedlings obtained about five years ago by the im- 

 portation of Sicilian lemons from New York, with the object of obtaining their seed 

 for planting purposes. The fruit obtained from the trees of the last-named variety 

 are of larger size than the fruits from which their seeds were obtained. The trees re- 

 ferred to have borne good crops this season, the lemon, as is well known, coming 

 earlier into bearing than the orange. There is as yet only a limited production of 

 lemons, and the trade is principally in the hands of two growers, who send their pro- 

 duce to New York. For local use, in the preparation principally of lemonade, and in 

 cookery and domestic uses the lime takes the place of the lemon. The lime grows 

 spontaneously in most parts of the island. It is of the easiest possible culture. 



The trees of all these varieties of citrus, orange, lemon, and lime are principally 

 seedlings. It is only latterly, that is, since the development of the export trade, that 

 budding and grafting have been resorted to. 



Insect pests. In Jamaica the orange trees have few insect pests, and there are no 

 complaints of attacks of fungus. It is only where orange trees are attempted to be 

 grown in hot and dry localities, as, for example, in gardens in the city of Kingston, 

 and the rather arid plain of the Liguanea, in the parish of St. Andrews, that they 

 suffer from coccus and ants. In such localities lemons and limes suffer less than 

 orange trees ; but in the locality referred to the climate is admitted to be too hot and 

 dry for the orange tribe. On the plains of St. Catherine, in the vicinity of Spanish 

 Town, recent attempts at planting orange trees have been made. This plain is an ex- 

 tension of the Liguanea, but the climate is moist and the lands are capable of irriga- 

 tion by the Rio Cobre Irrigation Works. These plantations were recently inspected 

 by a Government officer, one of the superintendents of the Botanic Gardens, and in 

 his report he speaks favorably of the appearance of the young trees, without men- 

 tioning the ravages of any pest. However, it is known that the coccus has attacked 

 orange trees in another locality in the same parish, but the attacks have been sub- 

 dued by smearing the trees with a composite lime wash made by boiling together 

 lime, sulphur, and tobacco stems in water. Further in the interior and at a greater 

 elevation the coccus is almost entirely unknown. It has not hitherto been a subject 

 of complaint amongst growers. 



Planting. Most of the trees in pastures and on sugar estates and coffee plantations 

 etand very far apart ; indeed, they may be said to be isolated trees. In close planta- 



