February, 1909.] 



Ill 



Edible Prodticis. 



result that the average cost per box of 

 both packing and marketing oranges to 

 Exchange growers has during recent 

 years averaged around 35c. as against 

 75c, per box at the time the Exchange 

 was organised, when the charges by 

 speculative shippers for packing alone 

 was 40c. to 50c. per box, to which was 

 added for selling 7 to 10 per cent, 

 commission on the delivered price. 



" This co-operative movement is no 

 longer an experiment, organised upon 

 lines materially differing from any other 

 co-operative organisation; all the details 

 had to be worked out with extreme care 

 and caution. To have failed would have 

 been to utterly demoralise the citrus 

 fruit industry, as there were no adequate 

 marketing facilities. Serious blunders 

 in the execution of the plan would have 

 been almost equally disastrous. Natur- 

 ally this Growers' organisation has met 

 with very strenuous and, in some in- 

 stances, bitter opposition from the 

 speculative elements in the fruit trade. 



"The Exchange is not a Trust. It 

 neither seeks to control production, nor 

 arbitrarily to fix prices. It does, of 

 course, undertake, so far as possible, by 

 a simple method of co-operation, to 

 displace the competition of one grower 

 with another in the matter of packing 

 and marketing their fruit. By purely 

 economical, as distinguished from trust, 

 methods, it ensures to every grower the 

 full reward of growing good fruit, and 

 to every association the benefit of 

 good grading and packing. — Agricul- 

 tural Gazette of New South Wales, Vol. 

 XIX., Part II. 



THE FUTURE OF CACAO PLANTING. 



In a paper on this subject in the 

 Journal of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society, Mr. H. Hamel Smith points out 

 the analytical and experimental ways of 



Ceylon are penetrating to the West 

 Indies, and he thinks that soon planters 

 will pay more attention to judicious 

 manuring and grafting, to pests, and 

 the adoption of vacuum driers to the 

 reduction of shade and mixiug of planta- 

 tions. — Ed . 



CACAO INDUSTRY. 



Results of the Recent Experiments 

 with Cacao in the West Indies. 



DOMINICA. 



Manurial Experiments. 

 By Francis Watts, c.m.g., d.sc 

 f.i. a, F.C.S., 

 Government Chemist and Superinten- 

 dent of Agriculture for the Lee- 

 ward Islands- 



Experiments at Botanic Station. 

 The experiments conducted by Mr. 

 Joseph Jones at the Botanic Station, 

 Dominica, have been carried on for a 

 number of years on uniform lines and 

 furnish information of considerable 

 value. They consist of five plots, each 

 of approximately quarter acre, which 

 since 1900 have annually been manured 

 as follows :— 

 Plot No. 1 ... No manure. 

 ,, ,, 2 ... 4 cwt. basic phosphate, 

 li cwt. sulphate of 

 potash per acre. 

 ,, ,, 3 ... 4 cwt. dried blood per 

 acre. 



,, ,, 4 ... 4 cwt. basic phosphate, 

 H cwt. sulphate of 

 potash and 4 cwt. 

 dried blood, per acre. 

 ,, ,, 5 ... Mulched with grass 

 and leaves. 

 The yield of cacao has been recorded 

 since 1902-3, and the results are summa- 

 rized in the following table : — 



Yield of Cured Cacao in Pounds per Acre. 



Year. 



Plot 1, 

 No Manure. 



Plot 2, 

 Phosphate 

 and 

 potash. 



Plot 3. 



Dried 

 blood. 



Plot 4. 

 Dried blood, 

 phosphate 

 and potash. 



Plot 5. 

 Mulched 

 with grass 

 and leaves. 



1902- 3 



1903- 4 



1904- 5 



1905- 6 



1906- 7 



1,138 

 822 

 1,009 

 1,122 

 1,095 



1,540 

 1,170 

 1,179 

 1,105 

 1,285 



1,491 

 1,132 

 1,132 

 1,231 

 1,134 



1,599 

 1,069 

 1,418 

 1,506 

 1,461 



1,300 

 1.092 

 1,838 

 1,724 

 1,743 



Total for five 

 years. 



5,186 



6,279 



6,279 



7,053 



7,197 



Average for 

 five years, ... 



1,037 



1,256 



1,224 



1,411 



1,439 



