199 



Sir J. P. Grant from Bombay, and planted in Castleton Garden.* It 

 would be better therefore to call them Bombay mangoes. They have 

 no stringy fibre, nor flavour of turpentine ; and, unlike the favourite 

 " No. 11," they can be eaten with a spoon. The fruit has been sent to 

 England in good order, and should therefore be profitable for export. 

 Numbers of seedlings have been distributed, but as they could not be 

 guaranteed to come true, and as some complaints on that score were 

 received, not much has been done lately in growing these seedlings. 

 Some grafts have been taken, and the grafted trees distributed, but the 

 original trees will not bear too much cutting in this way. There are 

 other mango trees at Castleton, making in all the " four noted Bombay 

 grafted mangoes " of Sir J. P. Grant which on rare occasions bear a 

 fruit. The mangoes known locally as the "Governor" mangoes are 

 doubtless from grafted plants of these trees. 



There are some excellent mangoes in Martinique. There are two 

 or three trees at Hope but probably not of the best kind. My late 

 attempts to get the grafted plants of the best kinds failed ; but Prof. G. 

 Landes, who recently visited Jamaica on an agricultural mission, has 

 very kindly interested himself in the matter and no doubt some healthy 

 plants will be received. 



A tree raised from seed of a mango from Mexico, has produced 

 large fruit of an excellent character, and ripening rather later in the 

 season. 



Col. Griffith of Hodges imported at considerable expense some 

 grafted mangoes from Bombay, and a graft from one of these is now 

 growing at Hope. 



The common man/jjo, when ripe, can be made into an excellent pre- 

 serve, and, unripe into a pickle remarkable for its stomachic qualities. 

 As thousand of tons go to waste every year, it might be found profitable 

 to do something with them in this way. 



Nutmegs. 



The cultivation of nutmegs is on the increase, more than 3,000 

 plants were distributed during the year. 



Pinb-Apples. 



Varieties. — The varieties of Pine- Apples cultivated at Hope Gar- 

 dens are : — Red Ripley, Green Ripiey, Charlotte Rothschild, Smooth 

 Cayenne, Abbaka, Black Pine, Cow-boy, Sugar-loaf, Queen, Cheese 

 Pine. 



Selection of Suckers, — The Superintendent of Hope Gardens in con- 

 tinuation of his remarks on correlation of the colouring of the leaves 

 and good fruit, states : — u Of the 55 plants of the Green Ripley pine 

 with red markings in the centre of the leaf only, ten have fruited, every 

 fruit being a good one free from blemish ; the remainder of the plants 

 are now fruiting, but it cannot be determined whether these will be 

 perfect until they ripen. No more of these plants have developed red 

 -markings on the edge of the leaf.** 



" Of the 11 plants from parent with red markings on the outside 



* See Blue Book for 1871, quoted in Bulletin, January, 1898, page 5, 

 ** [All produced good fruit.] 



