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The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



to say this, but he could assure them that a few 

 months ago a gentleman who was visiting the 

 vineyard was so astonished to see 8 months' old 

 plants bearing fruit, that he was actually feeling 

 to make sure that the fruit was not tied on to 

 the branch ! It was certainly a wonderful sight 

 to see thousands of vines — some of them with two 

 or three bunches of the finest grapes that the world 

 can produce — when some of thorn were planted 

 only nine months ago. The first difficulty that 

 had to be contended with was 



WHITE ANTS ; 



but that destructive peat had been almost got 

 rid of. "Pardon me,'' exclaimed Mr Paul at 

 this point, — "1 was nearly forgetting another 

 and very funny obstacle that I had to overcome; 

 that was. Local Prejudice." From the very 

 beginning he was advised, even cautioned over 

 and over again (and this by friends) that his 

 Bcheme would be a complete failure in less than 

 twelvemonths, but this was the. happiest day 

 he had had since his arrival in Bangalore. Not 

 because Fortune was smiling on him, but 

 because he had overcome the nonsensical Local 

 Prejudice. Moreover he proved he was right 

 in his estimates. As they all knew, the old 

 English saying that the proof of the pudding 

 is in the eating, he invited them all to taste 

 and prove for themselves the first season's fruit 

 and to see if grapes and fruit can be grown to 

 perfection on scientific principles and in open 

 fields on "this land of H. H. the Maharaja of 

 Mysore." He closed by calling for three cheers 

 for His Highness. 



The cheers having been given with hearty 

 goodwill, the British Resident said a few words 

 in response to Mr. Paul's remarks. Mr. Fraser 

 spoke in very high terms of the fruit and of the 

 progress of the Syndicate's venture. He con- 

 gratulated Mr. Paul and the Chairman and 

 shareholders of the Syndicate on their success. 

 He believed that 40,000 tons of dried fruit was 

 imported yearly into India, and that the whole 

 of that quality, and even more, could be pro- 

 duced in the State of Mysore alone. This 

 ought to be very gratifying to His Highness 

 the Maharaja, and Mr. Paul deserved to be re- 

 garded as a benefactor of Mysore. In years to 

 come a statue ought indeed to be erected to 

 commemorate Mr. Paul's great work. There 

 was a fortune for the Syndicate in this enter- 

 prise, and he wished Mr. Paul and them long 

 life and prosperity. A large group photograph 

 was taken by Mr. Wiele before the assemblage 

 dispersed. — Madras Times, June 29. 



" NEW FRUITS" 



Mr. Frederick Boyle contributes an interest- 

 ing paper under this heading to the latest Corn- 

 hill Magazine. He begins :— " Most of us have 

 echoed the cry of Punch's footman : — ' It's high 

 time a new animal was invented.' But a new 

 fruit is still more desirable." It would appear to 

 have been found when the " cherimoya " was 

 introduced to Covent Garden ; but the author 

 does not think this comes up to its reputation 

 of combining the excellence of strawberries and 

 cream. The great necessity is to improve existing 



fruits and scientific gardeners say "hybridisation 

 is in its infancy.'' Darwin long ago showed why 

 countries occupied by uncivilised man — Aus- 

 tralia, South or any part of Africa, &c. — could 

 not be expected to yield fruits of any great value. 

 It is because the native plants have not been 

 improved by continued selection. All the 

 familiar fruits of Europe have been cultivated 

 and improved for ages unknown. Professor 

 Sayce believes there were regular botanical 

 gardens at Nineveh. The Greeks and Romans 

 did much : ' Attic figs ' attracted the Per- 

 sians. Lucullus first brought cherries to 

 Rome from Pontus long before the Christian 

 era and in less than a hundred years they 

 had passed into Britain. Turning to tropi- 

 cal fruit, the mango has undergone wondrous 

 changes in the last hundred years, and improved 

 varieties have been so freely distributed that 

 "they promise to be universal shortly." Dr. 

 Beccari, a great tropical explorer and high 

 authority, states positively: — 'the native land 

 of the mangosteen is unknown 3 ; and so also 

 with the durian, and yet again with the betel 

 nut palm, no wild species can be identified. 

 For a long time it tvas thought the mangosteen 

 would not bear transplanting far from the East- 

 ern archipelago ; but ten years ago the Duke 

 of Devonshire sent one of two mangosteens 

 grown at Chatsworth to Her Majesty, and 

 these two were all the result of 20 years 

 of expense and culture — and with a Malay 

 gardener, it is said. But mangosteens are 

 now getting quite common in the West 

 Indies as well as in Ceylon. A great pro- 

 blem, but one that should be solved, is to rid 

 the durian of the offensive odour peculiar to 

 the rind : when this is effected, the rage for the 

 durian will be universal. ' Mr. Boyle thinks 

 the 40 species of banana known to the Malays 

 and 17 peculiar to the Philippines the finest in 

 the world; but what of the 60 varieties said to be 

 distinguished by the Sinhalese ? Probably the 

 very finest will succeed as well as the common 

 kinds in the West Indies. Looking across the 

 Atlantic Mr. Boyle asks, ' who transformed the 

 wooden pinuela into the luscious pineapple ■ ? 

 Then as to fruits never seen in Europe, so far, 

 we read : In Malay countries are the tarippe, 

 most excellent of breadfruits ; the jintewan, as 

 large as a big pear, very pleasantly acid — the 

 plant is an india-rubber vine and the flesh 

 lies in a thick envelope of india-rubber ; also 

 the bilimbing l(Ceylon bilimbi ?) mandaint, 

 lang-sit, loring, rambi, this last in bunches like 

 sweet grapes.' Not one of these, he adds, is 

 cultivated and yet cultivation (with cold stor- 

 age) might do wonders for the European 

 markets. Dr. Beccari found five new species 

 of Nephelium in one Borneo village or- 

 chard, and all excellent; also a Ficus bearing 

 great bunches of fine red fruit agreeably acid ; 

 and a new variety of garcinia with acidulated 

 pulp not unlike mangosteen. Then a Euphorbia 

 (Elatererospermum Tapos) is favoured by the 

 Dyaks calling it Bua ruppi, and he speaks 

 highly of the fruit of the so-called " Rain Tree 

 Pithecolobium Saman, so well-known in Ceylon 

 and India : — "Its fruit has 6 or 8 seeds em- 

 bedded in a sweet pulp which all human beings 

 like and some think exquisite," and he hopes to 

 see it freely sold in Covent Garden. Sir Geo. 



