118 



EDIBLE PRODUCTS. 



[Feb. 1908. 



THE VANILLA CROP SINCE 1901. 



According to a calculation ot Mr. Maurice Simon, of Paris, the following 

 table represents in Kilogrammes the Vanilla harvests of recent years in the 

 principal countries of its production :— 



Bourbon 

 Seychelles 

 Komoros Mayotte 

 Madagascar, Nossi 

 Mauritius 

 Antilles... 

 Ceylon, Java 

 Fiji Islands and 

 Congo... 



Mexico 



Total 



1Q01 09 



1Qf>9 0.3 



j.yUiS-Utj. 



110,000 



100,000 



72,000 



52,000 



40,000 



70,000 



e — 

 2,500 



2,000 



5,000 



10,000 



1,500 



4,000 



2,000 



1,500 



233,000 



239,500 



30,000 



38,000 



1903-04. 1901-05. 1905-06. 



90,000 

 65,000 

 £5,000 



2,000 

 6,000 

 3,000 



2,000 



223,000 

 35,000 



55,000 

 50,000 

 95,000 

 20,000 

 2,000 

 3,000 

 3,000 



1,300 



229,300 

 130,000 



50,000 

 45,000 

 125,000 

 30,000 

 2,000 

 2,000 

 2,000 



257,000 

 75,000 



1906-07. 1907-08. 



(Estimated.) 

 30,000 50,000 



20,000 

 105,000 



40,000 

 3,000 

 5,000 

 3,000 



50.000 

 85,000 

 60,000 

 2,000 

 10,000 

 4,000 



1,000 1,000 3,000 



207,000 

 120,000 



264,000 

 200,000 



In the above table no account is taken of the crop in various countries which 

 have only recently begun to produce Vanilla, such as Zanzibar, German East Africa, 

 the New Hebrides, etc.— Tropenpflanzer. 



TEA IN JAMAICA. 



By the Hon. H. E. t3ox, Jamaica. 



In bringing before you the subject of 

 tea culture in this island, I will deal 

 firstly with its history ; secondly, the 

 conditions under which it has taken 

 place ; thirdly, the mode of culture fol- 

 Ipwed; and lastly, the preparation of 

 the leaf for use. Tea is essentially a 

 factory crop; by over-production in the 

 -past the market prices have been forced 

 down to such a low level thai% only by 

 (the use of the best machinery, and the 

 utmost economy in management (for 

 which a large area under cultivation is 

 necessary), can the cost of production be 

 recovered. But it is a safe crop for a 

 settler who lives within range of an 

 existing factory, for he can always have 

 there a steady market for the leaf grown 

 on his holding. 



HISTORY OP TEA CULTURE AT JAMAICA. 



The pedigree of the tea plant is a long 

 one. The origin of its use as a beverage 

 is lost in the mists of Chinese antiquity. 

 Until the year 1833, it was not known to 

 •exist outside China, but in that year a 

 variety, far more robust than the Chinese 

 kind, was discovered in Assam, and 

 became the parent of the Indian, and 

 later of the Ceylon teas. 



In Jamaica, the history of the tea 

 plant dates only from 1868. Indian and 

 Chinese varieties were then imported 

 for the Government Gardens at Cin- 

 chona. In 1887, a cultivation of a few 

 acres was made on the Blue Mountains, 

 /but was not continued, and no further 

 attempt was made to grow it on a com- 



mercial scale until the cultivation was 

 commenced at The Ramble in St. Ann. 

 At first this experiment proceeded very 

 slowly. The red soil of Sb. Ann is very 

 different from the black soil of the Blue 

 Mountains ; the elevation of The Ramble 

 above sea-level is only 1,600 feet, while 

 that of the Gardens at Cinchona is 

 4,500 feet, and the rainfall in Sb. Ann 

 is considerably less. It was there- 

 fore necessary to proceed cautiously. 

 The experiment was commenced with 

 250 plants and a packet of se«d from 

 Cinchona. Afber a year's trial it was 

 found that these grew freely; other 

 plants and seeds were then obtained 

 from the same source to extend the 

 cultivation, but the supply being neces- 

 sarily limited, the increase of acreage 

 was small. For some years no 

 attempt was made to manufacture tea 

 from the first few acres planted ; the 

 trees were left to grow on, to flower and 

 bear seed for further planting. This 

 reserved seed garden is now giving a 

 steady supply, so that planting can go 

 on more rapidly. It may be asked why 

 seed was not imported. No seed could 

 be had from Ceylon, as there is a pro- 

 hibition in this colony against any im- 

 portation of seeds or plants from that 

 island, so as to safeguard the country 

 against any introduction of the coffee 

 leaf disease. From Assam, seed might 

 have been obtained, but two reasons 

 made it undesirable. Firstly, there was 

 danger that some of the enemies of the 

 tea plant which are found there might be 

 introduced with the seed ; and secondly, 

 any change of soil and climate affects 



