286 



may Iiave had, depends in very great measure on the interest taken in 

 this work by local men " of light and leading." 



The following extracts are from reports by Mr. Cradwick — 



Portland. 



" I beg to submit the following report on a lecturing tour in the 

 Parish of Portland. 



" Tuesday, April 27th, 1897. Lectured in the Belle Castle School 

 Room, on the subjects advertised : — Cocoa, Coffee, Oranges and Grape 

 Fruits, to an audience of about 60 adults. 



" Wednesday, 28th. Demonstrated on the above subjects in several 

 Gardens at Belle Castle, and also paid a visit to Hector's River in order 

 to advise the proprietor with reference to his Cocoa cultivation. At 7 

 p.m. the same evening delivered a second lecture, pointing out and 

 emphasizing the mistakes and errors observed when going through the 

 district. 



"Thursday, the 29th, Lectured to an audience of about 100 in the 

 School Room at Manchioneal, and after wads demonstrated in some 

 Gardens near by. 



Friday, the 30th. Rural Hill. Only about 30 people turned out. 

 The people here seemed to be prejudiced against anything of the kind 

 through their disappointment in connection with their efforts to se- 

 cure crown lands, which they assert had been promised them, and for 

 which they had paid money to some agent of the Government as 

 long ago as last year, and up to that time no land had been allotted 

 them, but that the Government still had their money. 



"Saturday, May 1st. Boston. Here an audience of about two 

 dozen only had gathered; the people were also aggrieved or sympa- 

 thised with the people who have a grievance over the Crown Lands. 

 However the people who did come out were of the best, and the most 

 industrious of the neighbourhood ; they were really interested in what 

 I had to tell and show them, and expressed strong hope that I would 

 return at an early date. 



" The portion of the Island visited during this tour, is, I regret to 

 say, one of the most backward agriculturally which I have yet visited. 

 The coffee and chocolate are simply allowed to grow, — no attempt at 

 planting at a proper distance is made ; no attempt at regulating the 

 growths of the large trees through which the coffee is growing ; no 

 attempt at pruning ; in fact no attempt (with just here and there a 

 feeble exception) at any kind of cultivation is made at all. Chocolate 

 is simply allowed to grow up into huge poles with scarcely even a pod 

 on them. The district is famous I am told for good grape fruits, yet 

 the people are not planting, — I did not see one single young plant 

 outside the large properties except such as had grown spontaneously, 

 A large number of young sour oranges were growing through the 

 district, and I carefully showed the people how to bud these, and hope 

 that they will carry out the instructions. I carefully impressed on them 

 the need of a more systematic style of cultivation, for it is really piti- 

 ful to see so much fine land put to so little use. The audiences, al- 

 though small, were I think of the right class of men, and I think that 

 some at least in every district will try to put my ideas to a practical 

 application. 



