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1 he Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



from 8 oz. to 21 oz. per fruit. Which of these, 

 or how many of these, we wonder, are included 

 by the Agricultural Society in their "Goa 

 mango." 



•As a matter of fact there is great ignorance — 

 or very little knowledge, is the better way to 

 put it, perhaps — concerning varieties of tropi- 

 cal fruit ; and most fruits want naming badly to 

 avoid confusion. 



We wonder who will decide as to varieties of 

 Mango at the big exhibition ot fruit expected at 

 the All-Ceylon Agricultural Exhibition to be 

 held before long in Colombo. 



Mysore Mangoes. — 01 these there are no less 

 than ten varieties described in the Mysore 

 Gazetteer. A.nd there are dozens of different 

 Mangoes in different parts of India in each of 

 the following districts : Poona, Khandesh, 

 Ahmednagar, Satara, Kolaba, Belgaum, Dhar- 

 war, Surat, Hyderabad, &c. 



But really and for all practical purposes, 

 it does not matter what the name is so long 

 as the Mango graft you get is a good one. 

 We will, therefore, not bother further with 

 names of varieties, but proceed to give some 

 helpful hints on the subject of 



Mango Cultivation : 



As the Mango grows to a large-sized tree, and 

 develops fairly quickly, it will not do to plant 

 them too close to each other in a plantation, nor 

 too near other trees in a mixed garden. 



Planting should be about 20 feet apart, say 

 20 feet by 20 feet in a plantation. The holes 

 should be at least 2 feet each way, that is 2 feet 

 square and 2 feet in depth. The hole should 

 then be filled in with a prepared mixture. To 

 get good results the following is recommended: — 



When the hole is prepared, start filling in by 

 placing about 50 lb. weight of bones, or bone 

 meal, or crushed bones, at the bottom of the 

 hole, then till in with good surface soil mixed 

 with a liberal supply of well-decayed cattle 

 manure. The young Mango must be firmly plan- 

 ted, but the soil may be hollowed out round 

 the stem so as to form a retaining cup for water. 

 Mangoes develop quickly if the roots have a 

 good rich soil to draw nourishment from. 

 Manuring Mangoes. 



An authority on this fruit says : In planting 

 mango trees large quantities of bones, as fresh 

 as procurable, should be buried in the pits pre- 

 pared for planting. If the bones are broken small 

 the effect will be more early apparent, but un- 

 broken bones will ultimately yield up their con- 

 stituents under the dissolving action of the car- 

 bonic acid at the point of the roots. Bones 

 alone are not sufficient manure, because they 

 are not soluble quickly when in the soil, there- 

 fore should be supplemented by old cowdung or 

 small fish. 



Salt foe Mangoes. 

 Regarding the use of special manures one 

 authority gives the following interesting note : 

 The cultivators near Bombay apply about 10 lb. 

 weight of common salt to each large tree about 

 the end of the rainy season. The effect of this will 

 probably be to arrest the growth of leaves during 

 October and November and thereby encourage 

 the formation of flower buds, and as the Mango 

 appears not to object to salt this practice in 



such a climate as Bombay is highly commend- 

 able. It is only on account of the arrest of 

 leaf development that the salt may be useful ; 

 in gardens where watering is necessary and the 

 Mango shows a tendency to produce fresh leaves 

 during October and November, the application 

 of salt will, no doubt, bring about the desired 

 result. For it to be effectual, apply the salt 

 during September. 



General Requirements. 

 The general requirements of the Mango are a 

 deep, well-drained loam ; it likes heavy rainfall, 

 or an abundant supply of water given, but 

 stagnant water in the soil is very detrimental. 



GENERAL GARDEN WORK. 



The rains of the past week have been very 

 beneficial to the garden generally ; and every- 

 thing has a washed, freshened look. Quisqualis, 

 Petrea, Jasminum, Tristellateia and other flow- 

 ering creepers have come into fresh blossom, 

 encouraged by the rain. The grass is grow- 

 ing rapidly and the mower must be brought 

 into use again. 



The unexpected and out-of-season rains have, 

 however, rather upset conditions for those 

 plants that should just now be enjoying a 

 month or six weeks' rest before coming again 

 into active growth. Caladiuras in the open were 

 all resting, or should be, but the rain-soaked 

 soil will start new roots from the bulbs, and the 

 plants will be induced to come into growth again. 

 The same with Cannas, and other bulbous plants. 



When the end of the dry season is at hand 

 a general cleaning up of the garden is neces- 

 sary, and this is the time to do any paint- 

 ing required, of gates, fences, garden rails, 

 tubs, &c. As regards tubs a new idea in 

 painting these has just been started by Mr. 

 MacMillan, the distinguished Curator of the 

 Royal Botanic Gardens, who has had the 

 flower tubs painted white with green bands. 

 This looks very neat and most effective. The 

 plant tubs at the King's Pavilion, Kandy, and 

 at Queen's Cottage, Nuwara Eliya, have been 

 finished in this style also, and we can assure 

 amateurs that the effect is very good. We 

 recommend readers to adopt this, and follow 

 Mr. MacMillan's good example. 

 Citrus Fruits. 



Among the grafted fruit trees which can now 

 be purchased in Ceylon are several kinds of 

 citrus fruits, members of the Orange and Lemon 

 families. These require generally treatment and 

 cultivation such as we have given as directions 

 for Orange growing. 



The Pomelo, Citrus Decumana, is one of the 

 fruit plants which can be obtained at Rs. 1*50 

 each by members of the Ceylon Agricultural 

 Society. 



The tree is attractive looking, and when in 

 flower, is beautiful with its tine scented waxy 

 flowers, followed later by a crops of huge fruit. 

 The Pumelo fruit attains a weight of 4 lb. The 

 tree thrives in moist climatic conditions, where 

 Oranges will not do Well, and likes a very rich 

 soil, which should be porous and well drained. 

 Broken up old bricks and mortar, and old buil- 

 ding material, mixed up with old cattle manure 

 and garden soil makes a good planting medium, 



