268 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



setting out the plants about 20 to 30 cms. apart 

 in rows about a metre apart, or more to suit 

 the convenience of the planter, While the best 

 plan is to set out the plants in the field 

 before they are more than 30 cms, tall, the 

 plants may be transplanted to the field from 

 the nursery with safety after they are more 

 than 1*5 metres high, provided that all young 

 and tender leafblades are removed, leaving the 

 entire petiole, or leafstalk, attached to the 

 plant, if the petiole be cut close to the main 

 stem, decay rapidly enters it. If the entire 

 petiole is left it withers and drops, and a good 

 leaf scar has formed before the fungi have 

 had time to work their way from the petiole 

 into the stem of the plant. " 



Wateeing 



must be done regularly during dry weather, 

 and also when the plant is commencing 

 to flower, and as the fruit is setting a little 

 liquid manure may be given. The tree 

 begins to fruit when about 10 months 

 old, but too many fruit must not be allowed 

 to develop at first. When the first few fruits 

 have set the strongest growing, best shaped 

 ones may be kept, and all others nipped off. 

 The young vigorous tree will endeavour to 

 produce far more fruit than it can properly 

 carry to maturity. After the second year when 

 it is much stronger and larger more fruit may 

 be left on, but the tendency of the Papaya is 

 to produce far too many fruit, and weeding out 

 a number of them will result in better, finer 

 fruit. 



If well attended to, the trees will continue 

 bearing fruit almost all the year round for 

 several years. Attention is required in forking 

 up the surface soil around the tree, and apply- 

 ing a mulch periodically of rotted cattle manure. 

 As the tree gets older a good dressing of old 

 manure will do a lot of good. If enough trees 

 are grown in the garden and kept well attended 

 to there should be a plentiful supply of fruit 

 each month. 



After the plant is some four years old the 

 fruit begin to detereorate and a fresh nursery 

 may be started. The authority above referred 

 to makes the following suggestion for the 

 treatment of 



Old Treks in the Plantation. 



" When a plant has grown so tall it is diffi- 

 cult to gather the fruit, which also at this 

 time grows small, cut off the trunk about 

 75 cms. above the ground. A number of buds 

 will then sprout from the stump, and will grow 

 several trunks that will bear fruit like the 

 mother plant in a short time. These sprouts, 

 except two or three, should be cut off', for if 

 all are permitted to grow the fruit produced 

 will be small. . . . All male plants should 

 be destroyed wherever they appear, as not only 

 are they unproductive but by their pollen being 

 carried to the fruiting plants they tend to 

 produce degenerate plants when these are 

 grown from the seed produced on plants growing 

 in the vicinity of male plants. There is no 

 need to fear that the other plants will not fruit 

 if the male papayas are destroyed, for the 

 reason that there are always plants about having 

 per/act flowers and which provide sufficient 

 pollen for the fruifciti cation of the female plants." 



Oranges. 



These fruit were the subject of notes last 

 month and we have nothing special to add to 

 what we then said on the subject of orange 

 cultivation ; but we note that four kinds of 

 Orange are being distributed in Ceylon. There 

 are many varieties of Orange, and the four 

 referred to are Coorg, Satkadi, Nagpore, and 

 Sylhet. We confess we do not know these 

 Oranges under their names, but tbe Nagpore 

 or Nagpur Orange is probably synonymous with 

 the Cintra or Sunktara Orange (according to 

 Woodrow), as this is the variety so very uccesss- 

 fully grown by fruit growers in Nagpur. 



This Orange has the characteristic we recently 

 referred to of bearing two crops of fruit in 

 the year, and Woodrow says the success of the 

 growers in Nagpur is due to the habit of 

 setting distinctly to rest separate brakes of 

 the trees about November and March, 

 thereby ensuring one good crop from each 

 brake instead of two imperfect crops. Average 

 fruit of the Nagpur or Cintra Orange weigh 

 7 oz., but they grow to 10 oz. or even more 



The fruit is described thus : — "The skin is 

 smooth, in one variety very loose, in another 

 tightly fitting the pulp ; the loose-skinned 

 variety has a corrugated nipple rising from a 

 circular depression on the stalk end, and the 

 stigma end depressed and rougher than the 

 sides ; seeds about 20, pulp sweet and of 

 typical colour." 



The Importance of the Stock. 



According to some authorities a great deal 

 depends on the stock on which the grafted 

 Orange grows ; some claim it has a great effect 

 on the sweetness and quality of the fruit. This 

 is rather open to doubt ; anyway it is as well 

 to get good stocks in the beginning. 



The two principal stocks for Oranges used in 

 India are the Sweet Lime and the "Jumbooree" 

 which is said to produce very fine Oranges. 



Mangoes. 



This is one of the few really good fruit for 

 desert purposes that we have in the Tropics, 

 but even the Mango is not often grown to per- 

 fection ; and amongst the hundred or more 

 varieties there are few which are really first 

 class fruit, fit to be served on the table 

 as dessert. Most Mangoes possess the strong 

 and very objectionable flavour of turpentine 

 that is so characteristic of the poorer 

 varieties, and this is often accompanied by a 

 coarseness of fibre in the pulp which renders the 

 fruit almost unfit to eat, certainly unpalatable. 



The reason for the general ruu of Mangoes 

 being of such poor jctt is that the plants are 

 raised from seed, and no selection is made to 

 improve the fruit; the result is degeneracy, and 

 a very large number of Mangoes, each differing 

 slightly from the others. The only way to get 

 good plants beariug good fruit is to have 

 grafted plants, the buds being selected from 

 really good trees, which are known for their 

 excellent fruit. 



The Ceylon Agricultural Society imports four 

 kinds of Mangoes, quite enough for most pur- 



