and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society, 



2Q5 



PLANTAIN MEAL MANUFACTURE. 



The potentialities of plantain meal are pet forth 

 in an interesting article in the last issue of the 

 Indian Trade Journal, It is a subject which crops 

 up from time to time and then is apparently for- 

 gotten. The late Sir H M Stanley, during his 

 travels in Central Africa, was so struck with the 

 value of this product that he recommended mach- 

 inery for its manufacture being erected m Africa, 

 \ Company for manufacturing plantain meal, 

 called " Bananina", was formed at Home several 

 years ago, but its specialities have not become 

 well known. There is, however, no doubt that 

 plantain meal is a valuable food, especially to be 

 recommended for children and invalids on ac- 

 count of its digestibility, and it should form an 

 important minor industry in the country. Another 

 London Company has offered for sale banana 

 flour for bread, banana oats for porridge, banana 

 custard powder, banana cocoa, banana cake and 

 pastry flour, banana blanc-mange powder, 

 banana jelly powder, banana health salts, etc. 

 The meal, it is said, has also been manufac- 

 tured for several years in Central America and 

 the West Indies ; and in India there area 

 few scattered concerns, e. g., at Saharanpur, 

 The average weight of fruit required to pro- 

 duce 1 cwt. of flour is 5 cwt., and it is said that 

 R360 per ton represents the average cost of 

 production in Saharanpur, in Bengal, and at 

 Anuradhapura, in Ceylon. For foreign markets 

 the cost of packing, freight and shipping charges 

 has to be added to this iigure, — say, another 

 R20 per ton. The total cost should thus not 

 exceed R380 per ton, or just under 3 as. per lb. ■ 

 while the retail price in Calcutta is said to be 

 Rl per lb., which works out at R'2,240 per ton, 

 leaving a margin of profit of Rl,860 per ton, or 

 nearly 50") per cent. In Venezuela, on the other 

 hand, the price is said to be only 5 as. per lb. 

 and e^en this should provide a very fair margin 

 of profit. 



PACKING RUBBER SEEDS FOR 

 LONG DISTANCES. 



"CASTILLOA" UNDER SHADE: IN 

 MEXICO. 



A distinctive feature of the estates of the 

 Chiapas Rubber Plantation Co. (Sau Francisco) 

 property, in the State of Chiapas, Mexico, 

 shown is that it is a shade-grown plantation ; 

 that is, the trees are grown in only partial 

 clearing, as against total clearing, burning, and 

 planting in the sun, in vogue on many planta- 

 tions. This method, it is claimed by the Com- 

 pany, costs less in the first place, retains all the 

 natural richness of the soil, and produces a tree 

 with a soft, succulent bark, smooth and shiny. 

 A recent visitor to the estate says : — "Most of 

 the sun grown trees that I saw had a hard scaly 

 bark, very different from the shade protected 

 tree." — India Rubber World, July 1. 



HOW TO PACK LIMES. 



The Assistant Superintendent of the Botani- 

 cal Department at Trinidad, in order to deter- 

 mine the best method of packing limes, took 

 with him to England, at the close of last year, 

 from the island a few packages of fresh limes. 

 These limes were packed in various ways. The 

 results were as follows : — (1.) Packed in boxes 

 with no paper wrappers, the fruit arrived in 

 bad condition ; (2) packed in boxes wrapped in 

 tissue paper, the fruit arrived in fair condition; 

 (3) packed in baskets wrapped in tissue paper, 

 the fruit reached in good condition ; (4) packed 

 in baskets wrapped in stiff newspaper, the fruit 

 when unpacked was found to be in very good 

 condition. It would thus appear that when 

 limes are exported to a distance they should 

 be protected with paper wrappers and the 

 ftouter the wrapper the better, as it absorbs 

 the moisture. 



The Singapore Botanic Gardens authorities 

 have persistently refused to recommend War- 

 dian cases for transporting Para seeds on account 

 of the expense incurred. Mr. Ridley has always 

 got good results by packing in burnt rice husks. 

 The old rice husks are obtained from the padi 

 mills and burnt ; the residue consists largely of 

 finely-divided charcoal, very light in weight. 

 Before the seeds are packed in it, tho dust is 

 sprinkled with water. One kerosine oil tin holds 

 about 600 seeds; the tins are sealed in the ordi- 

 nary way, and despatched. Mr. Ridley stated 

 that after a journey occupying over four months 

 60 per cent of the seeds germinated. Such a 

 result is quite good enough, considering the 

 slight expense to which the purchaser is put. 

 I. was told that over 20,000 Para seeds had just 

 been sent for the plantations of the Liberian 

 Rubber Corporation in West Africa, from Singa- 

 pore. H. W. 

 — India-Rubber Journal, June 29. 



RUBBER IN MEXICO. 



Tula Ships 3,000 Pounds. 



We and two neighbors are now shipping three 

 thousand pounds of rubber and the brokers 

 write me this week that our rubber sample sent 

 them is finer than we have ever before offered 

 and will probably command ninety to ninety- 

 five cents a pound when it reaches New York. 

 This is better than I dared hope three months 

 ago. Several of our neighbours, though not all, 

 will tap again this summer, so Tula's shipment 

 of plantation rubber for the year will pass 5,000 

 pounds. Last year's- total was only 700' 



We shall begin tapping again within a fort- 

 night to ship the rubb or about December when 

 we shall start our winter tapping. This arrange- 

 ment of two tappings a year has now been suc- 

 cessfully followed for two years on the planta- 

 tions that I visited in Chiapas and their trees 

 are younger than ours. To pay our running ex- 

 penses from now on it is only necessary that our 

 trees do as well as theirs; but I expect that thoy 

 will do better by continuing to increase their 

 annual yield as they have for four years past. 

 This will enable us to pay off promptly the few 

 hundred dollars loaned by directors and stock- 

 holders. We owe nothing else. — J. H. Fostrk. 

 —Hular Meiiden, July 1. 



