104 



not always be what one wanted. A man who wished to gather wealth 

 in Jamaica had got to look to the soil for it. So far from degrading 

 a people, agriculture wa9 an ennobling pursuit. Nothing gave him 

 greater pleasure than to see a plant or tree which he had grown him- 

 self coming up properly. There were some people who wanted to see 

 practical and definite results already from the work of the new Board 

 of Agriculture. Well, nothing could be done with such unreasonable 

 people. He should be satisfied if he saw some results when his steps 

 were tottering and his hair was white. He urged the teachers to tell 

 the people to write to the Board whenever they wanted any agricul- 

 tural advice. Applicants would receive speedy replies, and if enough 

 people were interested in the matter, Mr. Cradwick would be sent down 

 to do what he could for them Of course, if Mr. John Jones thought 

 he would like to grow coffee, the Board could hardly oblige him by 

 sending down a lecturer for his individual benefit, but the Board 

 existed to do all it could in reason to help agriculturists. All they 

 wanted was for the people to avail themselves of the facilities it offered. 

 There was one other matter he ought to touch on, and that was the 

 question of prices. It was no good to stop growing a product because 

 prices fell. Sir Henry Blake told the people to grow ginger, which 

 was fetching a very high price in his day. They did so, and ginger 

 was not fetching such a good price now. That could not be helped, 

 and the only thing to do was to adapt one's self to conditions. When 

 the great falls took place in the prices of sugar and wheat it was said 

 that it would be sheer ruin to grow. But sugar and wheat were 

 still grown at even lower prices and somehow managed to pay. He 

 remembered the time when people said it would be ruinous to grow 

 sugar at £15 a ton. It was being produced to-day for £9 a ton, and 

 with better cultivation and improvi d methods i- could be turned out 

 for £6 a too. When prices fell, the grower must accommodate himself 

 to conditions by improving his agriculture, by making an acre yield 

 perhaps double what it did before, and by putting his produce in the 

 market in the best possible form. If Jamaica gave up sugar because 

 prices fell, and then coffee, and oranges, and perhaps later on bananas, 

 goodness only knew where it would all end. Presently we should be 

 exporting nothing and all living on roots. 



IMPERFECT COCO-NUTS. ■ 



Coco-nuts have been sent to the director from a correspondent in 

 St. Elizabeth of an abnormal character, the husk only being developed 

 without any nut : they were sent on to be examined by Dr. MacDougal, 

 Director of" the Laboratories in the New York Botanical Garden, and 

 the following letter and report has been received : — 



Dr. MacDougal to Director of Public Gardens and Plantations. 



New York Botanical Garden, 

 Bronx Park, New York City, 



April 11th, 1901. 



Dear Sir, 



Replying to yours of March 26th, referring to some imperfect coco- 

 nuts sent to us for examination on same date, I beg to submit the en- 



