ORANGES IN JAMAICA. 423 



i-Kit the oranges were shipped iu bulk. With all this bruising and want of care it is not 

 surprising that cargoes on arrival at New York were found to be in such a damaged state 

 as to be next to worthless in value. These early shipments indeed seom to have been 

 good for no other effect than to teach the American consignees two things, one of which 

 was the excellence of a Jamaica orange when it happened to reach New York in good 

 condition, the other was the lamentable ignorance of oui' people of all that pertained 

 to collecting and packing the fruit. American contractors next appeared upon the 

 scene. These agents had been sent out to make purchases of growing crops, and to 

 teach and superintend improved methods of packing. They brought with them 

 hundreds of pairs of small, stout pruning-shears, of no great monetary value, which 

 they gave away to the laborers, whom they taught to cut off the orange fruits by the 

 stem and to deposit them carefully In a basket. They also taught that the oranges 

 should be carefully laid on shelves and floors for one or two diiys, theu to examine 

 them for signs of decay, and to wrap up in paper and pack in barrels only those which 

 were sound. These teachings, wherever they were Intelligently followed, had a good 

 effect. The extra value of Manchester " stem-out " oranges in the New York market 

 soon proved that care meant money, while carelessness signified loss. Our Creole 

 middlemen and contractors soon became more exacting as to the careful handling of 

 the oranges they bought from the peasant proprietors, and the upward tendency of 

 local prices has steadily gone on as a conseiiuenGe. Seven or eight years ago the 

 wholesale price of oranges in the interior towns was sixpence per 100, and their value 

 in New York was a thing not to be foretold from the prices-current, for very often the 

 shipment of such fruit entailed a heavy loss. Nowadays the price of a barrel of 

 wrapped oranges is $3, and the price obtained in New York fluctuates between $5 and 

 $7. Under tl* improved modes of packing the trade has steadily gone on increasing, 

 until it is now an established and most important industry, representing, according 

 to the latest returns, an export value of £37,567, obtained for 34,000,000 of oranges. 



And of the several competitors in the fruit market lie says : 

 For the possession of our actual and possible future markets we have certain com- 

 petitors. The principal of these is Florida : next comes Cuba, which ships oranges 

 principally from the port of Havana. The island of Porto Rico is rather a formidable 

 competitor. Mayaguez is the principal port of shipment, and the fruit is so fine that 

 it fetches good prices in the American market. Of Jamaica oranges 400 are taken as 

 the average number contained in a barrel, but of the oranges shipped from Porto Rico a 

 barrel contains on the average 350 ; in other words, seven of such oranges are equal to 

 eight of those sent from Jamaica. They are also said to keep well. The extra size 

 denotes careful cultivation, and the better keeping qualities tell of care in picking and 

 packing. The Bahama Islands usually send oranges to the American markets, but this 

 year the growers have been unfortunate, as the crop is reported to have been entirely 

 destroyed by a succession of heavy gales. The other West India Islands must also be 

 regarded as possible competitors, though up to the present they are not activelycom- 

 peting. British Honduras is also a competitor, both in bananas and oranges, and the 

 opening up of a direct line of railway between Mexico and the American frontier, 

 which hasjustnowoccurred, also suggests Mexico as a competitor, if not with Jamaica, 

 at least with Florida. California is even a competitor, but the effect of her com- 

 petition is simply to supply the markets on the Pacific coast, and even there Califor- 

 nia has to struggle against the shipment of oranges from Tahiti and other islands in 

 the Pacific. At present the countries bordering the coasts of the Mediterranean 

 are competitors more for the supply of lemons to the United States than of oranges. 

 The Azores have their principal orange trade with England, and only a limited trade 

 with the United States. In the Azores they have great difBculties of climate to con- 

 tend against. Westerly gales, sweeping over the wide expanse of the Atlantic, are 

 so violent as to be very destructive to the orange crop. To overcome the disadvan- 

 tage, expensive structures of high-walled inclosures of small area have to be resorted 

 ioln order to provide shelter. It need hardly be remarked that all siioh diffioiiltics 

 and expense are spared in Jaiiuiii ;i, 

 15GA 3 



