169 



List 3. Black 

 Busha's Wife. Growing at Al- Beef (St. Catherine) 



bion Estate St. Thomas. Name Nelly (Dairs, St. Catherine) 

 comes from the fact that the Stone 



overseer's wife in former days 



used to watch the tree to make List 5. 



sure that the fruit was not Hairy Skin 

 stolen Black 

 No. 11 Robin 



No. 11 



List 4. Yam Mango 



Robin (a mac go growing in St. Plum (sold by the quart at 1J to 



Elizabeth) 3d.) 

 No. 11 



I have found an almost universal preference given to the 

 and I have satisfied the curiosity of many of its admirers and consum- 

 ers by telling them how the name arose. The newly introduced man- 

 goes, as the Bombay from India, have not been cultivated here as yet. 

 The most abundant of all mangoes in this locality is the Hairy Skin. 



It seems to grow at all elevations ; in the peasants' yard, at the 

 level of Old Harbour, and close to the seaside, and almost at sea level 

 at Old Harbour Bay, and at below Barton's 1,800 feet and under at 

 Marly Hill, 2,016 feet, and at Ballard's Gate, (now corrupted into 

 Bella's Gate) at 2,750 feet. It has thus a wide range and it seems to 

 grow equally well in the red ground or red soil derived from white 

 limestone rock tinged with ferric oxide, and the felspathic soils 

 (richer in potash than the red ground) at Marly Hill, Ballard's Gate 

 and Coco Walk, down to the Bodies pen. 



List No. 1 is my own, the others are those of friends who do not 

 give their names. My own opinion is that t he Department would do 

 well to extend the cultivation of the Nelly, Miss Lucy, Robin, Pint of 

 Wine, and lastly, in this order of enumeration, but first in the esti- 

 mation of my friend and informant, the Busha's wife So loud are 

 the praises I have heard of this mango, that I feel sure we owe a debt 

 of gratitude to the lady who took such watchful care of the tree and 

 its choice fruit. 



The season lasts from June to September and early October. It is not 

 uncommon for a tree to bear two and even three crops of fruit in the 

 season. The first crop may grow on a particular side of the tree and 

 be limited to this aspect and division of the branches ; the second and 

 third crops are more likely to be produced on those parts of the tree 

 which did not bloom at the period when the first crop was being 

 formed. 



The year 1901, must be recorded as a famous year in regard to man- 

 goes. There was an early bloom of very profuse character. The pro- 

 longed rains of June and early July have helped on the growth of the 

 fruit, and in the elevated, cultivated lands the growth this season is 

 simply enormous, and the crop has sufficed mainly for the nourish- 

 ment of a large impoverished population in St. J ohn. 



On the 12th of July I made an extensive journey of 22 miles on 

 the main and parochial roads of St. Catherine ; mangoes everywhere, 

 mangoes in the hands of children, women and men ; head loads, ham- 



