mid Magazine of the Ceylon Agrumlttiral Society. 



m 



PLANTAIN MEAL OR BANANA FLOUR. 



Colombo, May 4th. 

 Dear Sir, — A correspondent, writing soine 

 weeks ago, stated that nothing appeared to have 

 been done with regard to plantain meal in 

 Ceylon. 



Nearly twelve years ago Mr. Chas. Stouter, 

 then Chief Clerk of the Anuradhapura Kach- 

 cheri, took up the matter with a view, if possible, 

 of starting a local industry. He forwarded 

 through the Government Agent a sample upon 

 which 1 made a report at the request of Govern- 

 ment {vide Government Circular No. 150 of 

 1898). Subsequently I made a further and more 

 detailed report (vide No. 227 of 1898) in which 

 particulars re cost, &c, will be found. 



Samples of the meal were sent by me to 

 London, but the valuation placed on them was 

 most discouraging. A large tirm of manufac- 

 turers of a well-known patent infants' and 

 invalids' food was ready to place orders for 

 large quantities, but the rate they quoted dis- 

 pelled all hope of a remunerative industry. 



It is the tendency to value the flour on the 

 same basis as cereal Hour that makes it impos- 

 sible to push the enterprise. 



Plantains or bananas (unlike cereals) have a 

 distinct value of their own as fruit, and quota- 

 tions for the meal must be on an entirely 

 different basis if its special merits as a digestive 

 food are to be availed of.— Yours truly, 



C. DRIEBERG. 



BANANA-GROWING IN MEXICO. 



Testimony of an Ex-Ceylon Planter. 



(To the Editor of the Over Seas Daily Mail.) 



Sir, — As one well identified with tropical 

 agriculture in Mexico, I notice with interest 

 the letter of Mr Henry S Penny, of Mexico 

 City, which appeared in your issue of January 

 23rd, and without in any way disparaging the 

 growing of bananas in Mexico, I have to give an 

 unqualified denial to his statement that bananas 

 can be commercially grown with success in that 

 country. 



My connection with Mexico dates back to 

 some fifteen years ago, having been interested 

 in one of the best known and probably the 

 largest agricultural properties in that Republic, 

 having an area of some 130,000 acres, which, 

 without doubt, owing to its location for cbeap 

 transport, nearness to two ports of shipment — 

 viz., Vera Cruz and Tlacotalpam— navigable 

 river connection, and railroad facilities, cannot, 

 I think, be surpassed in Mexico. Had it been 

 possible to grow bananas commercially with 

 that success, as stated in Mr Penny's l.;tter, 1 

 should have had years ago one of the largest 

 banana plantations in the world, from the fact 

 that Vera Cruz is only two days' distant from 

 the great distributing fruit ports of New 

 Orleans and Galveston. The great drawback 

 to banana-growing is lack of labour, which is 

 amply verified by all Consular reports, and this 

 is also felt in the growing of coffee, rubber, 

 tobacco, pineapples, oranges, and other tropical 

 products. , 



As an old planter in Ceylon and other count- 

 ries 1 have to state that I have seen no country 



G3 



whore the banana can be grown to such per- 

 fection as in Mexico, and this also applies) to 

 pineapples, some of which are grown in the 

 locality of the property I am interested in, and 

 which turn the scale at thirty to thirty-two 

 pounds each, and which, if possible to bring 

 to Covent Gardens, would realise enormous 

 prices. Coft'oe equal, if not superior, to any 

 I have grown in Ceylon, can be grown in 

 Mexico, but many of the plantations have been 

 abandoned through lack of labour. This also 

 applies to the difficulty in growing rubber in 

 commercial . quantities unless in one or two 

 favoured localities. 



I may state, were it not for the labour 

 question, Mexico without a doubt could supply 

 the greatest amount of tropical products of any 

 country in the world, but until this difficulty 

 is got over I should advise intending British 

 investors to take a warning from the Americans, 

 who have lost millions sterling during the past 

 ten years in the attempt to grow agricultural 

 products profitably in Mexico. 



For profitable banana-growing, as also other 

 tropical fruits, 1 do not think for the British 

 investor there is any country equal to our own 

 West Indian colonics, notably Jamaica, and 

 I cannot understand why more attention is 

 not paid to this industry in Great Britain, as 

 at present, outside of the few shipments carried 

 by the Elder Dempster Line, this industry is 

 left entirely in the hands of Americans, who 

 reap enormous profits. 



Bananas yield £20 to £25 per acre ; pine- 

 apples £40 to £45 per acre; and oranges, varying 

 according to age of trees, £20 to £200 per acre. 



Wm. LAINO MATiCOLMKON, 



Late Vice President of the United States 

 Banking Corporation. 

 Mexico City. 



THE ART OF MANURING. 



The art of manuring consists in providing, by 

 the application of manures suitably chosen, for 

 the presence in the soil of all the principal 

 foods of the plant in sufficient quantity, and in 

 a state in which the plant can make use of them. 



Plants do not live on a single nourishing 

 substance, but on a food composed of various 

 nourishing substances. That is a truth which 

 has constantly to be borne in mind. 



Thus, if only one of the necessary ingredients 

 of the food of the plant be wanting, or be pre- 

 sent in sufficient quantity, the plant cannot de- 

 velop and thrive to perfection. 



A plant can form no leaves, no stems, and no 

 grain from nitrogen or phosphoric acid or potash 

 alone ; the several nourishing materials must 

 act together, and each must be available 

 in proper quantity. For instance, oats are 

 capable of producing a crop of 11,5001b from 

 801b of nitrogen, 1001b of potash, and 501b of 

 phosphoric acid ; but if, besides the 1001b of 

 potash and 501b of phosphoric acid, only 40lb 

 of nitrogen be present in the soil in a form in 

 which the plants can take it up, only the hall of 

 the crop can be produced. 



In practice, the question for the farmer is, 

 "How can I furnish to my crops nitrogen, phos- 

 phoric acid, and potash in the best forms and 

 at the le»3t cost ? " — Auckland Weekly Neivs, 

 April 8. 



