74 



THE AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



As with other of our fruits, it is glut or 

 nothing. AVhat is wanted is cool storage 

 at the moderate charges of other Col- 

 onies. We look to getting about 12s. 

 per case, for the fruit only ; a packing 

 case costs 3s., and a case signifies 800 of 

 the fruit. When the Johannesburg 

 market was closed by the 3d. per ft. pro- 

 liibitive duty, I was glad to get -is., 

 though the price was utterly un- 

 remunerative. On good soil, such as I 

 liave, the banana requires manuring 

 after the second or third year — stable 

 manure, or rough weeds. The manuring 

 may be called mulching. Mulching, of 

 course, means spreading the manure over 

 the roots and surface of tlie stool of 

 phmts, but liere, with the hot absorbing 

 sun, the overspreading of soil on what- 

 ever is applied is necessary. Shelter 

 from wind is most necessary for bananas, 

 and for practically all Coast fruit. There 

 cannot be too much of it, for the wind 

 is our worst enemy. Every fruit grower 

 liere shouhl have liigh trees, say gums, 

 growing as break-winds to the south and 

 west of his farm. Orange trees are also 

 good for shelter, and mealies help at a 

 critical time. It is distressing for a 

 grower to see all the beautiful leaves of 

 his bananas torn into riblxui-, as for the 

 most part they are." 



Mangoes. 



" The most marketable mango is the 

 'Bom))ay.' It is very large, and not 

 at all stringy. For my own eating I pre- 

 fer the common kind. Tliis country, 

 however, is barely tropical enough for 

 the mango. A cold, wet spring is fatal to 

 the blossom, and such springs are not in- 

 frequent. In favourable seasons, how- 

 ever, crops are very heavy." 



Pineapples. 



" The ' Jamaica Queen ' is the best 

 pine. It does not ton-sucker bo much 

 as the ordinary Natal kind. Pines, like 

 potatoes, mealies, nuts, etc., require 

 periodical changing. Pines should be 

 top dressed before fruiting. They require 

 good land, and are benefited by artificial 

 manures — potash, prefora])ly. Between 

 the middle of ()cto})er and the middle of 

 pecember pines often fetch from 3s. to 



8s. per dozen, for large, well-grown 

 fruits, and afterwards they become a 

 drug, and fetch barely as many pence. 

 Jam makers rarely offer more than a 

 halfpenny per ft. for them, and, as they 

 need only half a pound of sugar for the 

 pound of fruit, the returns should be 

 good at the price jam is sold. Messrs. 

 Barker Bros., living near here, are gener- 

 ally recognised as the growers of the 

 finest pines." 



Citrus Fruit. 



For the white num, the owner of 

 land, citrus cultivation, in my opinion, is 

 the most desirable. When once an orchard 

 of these trees has been established — 

 about seven years is necessary — he is in 

 a good position. The profits are good, 

 and the annual outlay in labour becomes 

 comparatively small. Which of the 

 variety is best to plant ? I unhesitatingly 

 leply the naartje — a Dutch name. It 

 is really the mandarin orange, or per- 

 haps more correctly the China orange, 

 although originally it came from Assam, 

 India. We are much in want on the 

 Coast of a Fruit Growers" Societj^, to 

 attend, among other things, to the nom- 

 enclature of our fruif. For instance, 

 the Cayenne pineapj)le is jjopularly called 

 ilie (^ueen, and Isabel grapes are called 

 Catawbas, and so on. The common 

 (irange does not pay well, only Is. 6d. to 

 •3s. ]X'r huntlred, on the average. The 

 naartje, on the other hand, fetches 3s. to 

 5s. per 100. ; it is less bulky, and travels 

 well. Naartjes require plenty of atten- 

 tion. Half-a-dozen different blights — 

 mussel, green and round scales, 

 American blight, etc. — attack the 

 trees from the earliest stage up- 

 wards, and the paraffin emulsion 

 sprayer is in almost constant employ- 

 ment. Grasshopper ' soldiers,' who strip 

 off the young bark, are also at times a 

 great nuisance. 1 always plant from 

 seed, and in tins, choosing only seed 

 from the largest and finest quality fruits. 

 Some prefer grafting on to lemon stocks. 

 I think the fruit is not so good, although 

 1 know many will disagree with me on 

 that point, and the gain in time, if the 

 growing of the stocks is taken into con- 

 sideration, is practically nothing. 



