297 



Cocoa. Several trees of worthless varieties have been destroyed and 

 we have now none but Red Caraccas, Red Forastero, Yellow Forastero 

 the true CrioUo and good hybrids of these. 



The CrioUo tree is a very fine one and produces especially on the 

 main stem some splendid pods \ tree of Forastero in the Nursery 

 also shows what can be done by good cultivation and plenty of water. 

 I propose to increase the number of Criollo trees and of the best types 

 of other varieties 



The plant of Theobroma bicolor is now about 5 feet high, it has not 

 branched ; 6 more trees of this species have been planted out. 



Sugar Canes. Nearly all the plant canes were analysed by the late 

 Island Chemist, but owing to his death very little has been done with 

 the ratoons. The results of the analysis have been published in the 

 Bulletin for October and November, 1897. 



Owino: to the large demand for tops of No. 95 canes, the area under 

 this variety has not been increased so much as I had hoped it would 

 have been. During the ud usually heavy seasons" in October a large 

 quantity of tops which had just been planted were washed away in 

 the floods. But we shall be able to supply about 10,0 tops this year 

 and four times that quantity next year besides increasing our own 

 stock. 



The land which is available for Cane cultivation at Hope has been 

 under that cultivation for so long that it is absolutely necessary now 

 to cultivate in an expensive manner. When replanting, trenches 2 

 feet wide and 2 feet deep are dug, the top soil is returned to the bottom 

 thoroughly manured and the balance of the trench filled up with the 

 lower strata of soil. Irrigation has to be strictly attended to, and the 

 plants of course kept clean. Manure is an expensive item ; we have a 

 stock of sheep manure purchased for our future planting, and manure 

 is being continually carted from Grordon Town. Nos. 115, 116, 95, 

 74 and Po-a-ole are all proving themselves good ratooning canes. 



Grape Vines. Vines were pruned the first week in October with 

 the object of getting ripe fruit in February, but owing to Yellow Fever 

 breaking out at the Gardens the vines did not get the attention they 

 should. The varieties pruned were Black Hamburgh and Black 

 Alicante. The Hamburgh always required a greal deal of attention 

 with regard to thinning, this they did not get this year for the reason 

 stated. Mildew also infested them badly, consequently only one or 

 two bunches came through and these were inferior. It is a great pity 

 that this grape is so troublesome to grow for its exquisite flavour puts 

 it far ahead of the common black grapes so much grown in Jamaica. 



Lack too of thinning went a long way toward spoiling the Ali- 

 cantes, but very little mildew appeared on this variety, I hope to try 

 this variety again next year under more favourable circumstances. 



Muscat of Alexandria. There is no doubt that this is the most 

 desirable grape for Jamaica, being a strong, hardy grape, which does 

 not require much thinning, and its flavour has no equal. Unfortu- 

 nately we had very few plants of this variety, but a large quantity of 

 cuttings have been imported from England. 



Raisin de Calabre. This variety also did extremely well at Hope, 

 and is a desirable grape, but requires a good deal of thinning. 



The large, black grape from Kii^g's House, probably the same variety 



