424 



The /Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



Island of the Society Group, which has steam- 

 ship communication with San Francisco and 

 New Zealand and Australia, all too distant for 

 exporting the fruit itself to advantage except 

 in vessels built especially for that purpose. The 

 Hawaiian Islands and the Philippines also seem 

 to offer inviting fields for the profitable manu- 

 facture and exportation of banana food 

 products. Owing to the high price paid 

 in Jamaica for bananas for export to the 

 United States from March to July, inclusive, 

 the factories either discontinue operations 

 during those months or use mostly the small 

 unmarketable bunches of fruit for manufac- 

 turing purposes. In order to have a continuous 

 supply of fruit several companies are making 

 arrangements to grow bananas for their own use. 

 Owing to the prevailing high price of bananas, 

 one company could not undertake to fill a re- 

 cent order for 100 tons of chips. Another com- 

 pany, which could not accept orders from im- 

 porters in the Unite d States last fall because its 

 entire output was under contract for shipment 

 to Europe, is taking stops to enlarge its factory 

 in order that it may be in a position to meet the 

 increasing demand. So far as can be ascer- 

 tained, the combined capacity of the Jamaica 

 factories is 12 to 15 long tons a week ; but the 

 output may be considerably increased by next 

 winter. The big bananas, the chief article pro- 

 duced, are generally packed for export in boxes 

 of 56 pounds each (one-half of a British hun- 

 dredweight), thouah some are put up in 1- 

 pound packages. There is no export duty on 

 banana food products. The retail price of the 

 figs in Jamaica is 8 to 12 cents a pound and the 

 export price for tigs or chips is about $ 150 a 

 long ton (2,240 pounds). Samples may be ob- 

 tained from the factories. — Suffern's Foreign 

 Trade Journal. 



PLANTING IN COORG- 



Speech by Mb. R. D. Anstead. 



A meeting of the Coorg Planters' Association 

 was held at Mercara on the 14th instant to wel- 

 come Mr L G Jonas, the Scientific Assistant for 

 Coorg, who has just arrived in India. In the 

 course of an interesting speech introducing him, 

 the Scientific Officer, Mr R D Anstead, said [after 

 introductory remarks re problems to be solved, 

 and coffee manures, 1: — 



Ceaka Rubber. 



In the case of Ceara rubber, Coorg is already 

 in an advanced state of knowledge, and 1 think 



that the immediate problems to study are how 

 to increase the yield of the tree and to reduce 

 the cost of production. With regard to the for- 

 mer there are two lines of study which I wish to 

 suggest to you ; first the influence of soluble 

 fertilisers like nitrate of soda and sulphate of 

 potash on the increased yield of latex, on which 

 I had the pleasure of doing some preliminary 

 work last year ; and secondly the possibility of 

 increasing the yield by selection, thus getting a 

 jdt of tree which gives a higher yield of rubber 

 Chan that usually grown now. 



Tea Experiments. 

 With regard to other crops I will say no- 

 thing now, except that 1 am delighted to 

 hear that a trial is about to be made with tea. 

 I feel sure that tea would do well in some 

 parts of Coorg, and perhaps I may be allowed 

 here to sound a note of warning. Tea cannot 

 be planted cheaply ; the best seed of a suit- 

 able jot must be obtained, and it must be well 

 planted, and I strongly advise those of you who 

 are contemplating growing this crop to get men 

 with past experience of tea planting to come 

 and start it for you at first. I have seen utter 

 failure as a result of the opposite system in a 

 new District, and I do not want to see that 

 happen in Coorg. I believe it has happened 

 once already. [After handling soil problems and 

 coffee leaf disease, he proceeded:] 



The New Scientific Assistant. 

 Gentlemen, it is now my pleasant duty to 

 formally present to you Mr L G Jonas, and to 

 ask you to accord him a welcome. That you 

 will extend to him that kindly hospitality and 

 courtesy which you have always so generously 

 extended to me 1 feel sure, and that you will 

 get on well together I hope. You will find Mr 

 Jonas full of enthusiasm, and if you take him 

 into your confidence and work in close co-opera- 

 tion with him, I feel quite certain that you will 

 never repent having established a Scientific De- 

 partment of your own in Coorg. It is impossible 

 for me to speak on this subject without a feel- 

 ing of deep regret, which I know you share with 

 me, that one of the first promoters of the scheme 

 we see consumated today is no longer with 

 us. It was, as I know, very close to Mr R D Tip- 

 ping's heart, and he would have rejoiced to see 

 it so rapidly, and I trust successfully, carried 

 out in his own district. In conclusion I wish 

 you, Mr Jonas, and you, gantlemen, the very 

 best of good luck. — M. Mail, .Nov. 16. 



