Dec. 1906.] 



483 



Edible Products. 



MONTHLY FLOWER PERIODICITY, 1905. 



Total flowers Av6 nf flowers ber Average number of flowers 

 for 42 trees. per tree< per tree. 



1905. 



January ... 13,524 



February ... 15,893 



March ... 19,773 



April ... 19,999 



May ... ... 55,752 



June ... ... 157,913 



July ... ... 50,730 



August ... 25,354 



September ... 10,697 



October ... 5,650 



November ... 40,946 



December ... 88,879 



Total ... 505,110 





ion J 



lyuo. 



All 



280 



102 



37S 



308 



109 



470 



696 



608 



476 



1,363 



443 



1,327 



2,000 



1,710 



3,759 



2,008 



356 



1,207 



770 



519 



603 



269 



365 



254 



370 



503 



134 



591 



409 



974 



475 



264 



2,116 



423 



275 



12,020 



9,553 



5,663 



CACAO FLOWERS 



ON ESTATES. 





These observations prove that there is not a month in the year when flowers 

 are not produced if a minimum of say ten trees is chosen. On six out of the 

 forty-two trees selected no flowers were produced during certain months of 1903, 

 these months including only February, March, and April, 



The total number of flowers produced on a cacao estate may be from 

 1,700,000 to 3,606,000 per acre, per year (300 trees to the acre). A yield of 3 cwt. of 

 cured cacao per acre means that at the most only about 8,000 flowers develop into 

 mature fruits on each acre per year, or, in other words, a balance of 1,692,000 to 

 nearly 3,600,000 flowers, per acre, per year, are at present of no value to the average 

 cacao planter. A large number of flowers appear to have been fertilised, but the 

 expanding fruits soon turn yellow and shrivel ; for the year 1903 out of a total of 

 569,738 promising fruits, no less than 288,205 were of this class. 



These facts show that there is ample opportunity for research in connection 

 with flower pollination and fertilisation. The cacao trees on which these observ- 

 ations were carried out were normal ; it would have been possible to select much 

 more vigorous plants, and to show that the average number of flowers produced 

 was in excess of those under observation for that year. 



For the present it is important to note that the period for maximum flower 

 production was in the months of April, May and June, and that this was preceded 

 or followed by minor periods of floral activity in the years 1903, 1904 and 1905. 



THE LEADING TEAS OF THE WORLD -INDIA. 

 By Herbert Compton. 

 In dealing with the varieties and characters of the teas grown in the different 

 districts of India, it is difficult to generalize. In the first place, in the same district 

 there may be a vast deviation in quality owing to individual causes — such as soil, 

 the management and the system of manufacture followed. Then, again, some plant- 

 ations go in for quantity, which means low-grade teas ; while their neighbours con- 

 fine their efforts to turning out a small crop of the very highest liquoring character. 

 Lastly, there are the differences in the crop itself, which is acted on by the changing 

 conditions of the climate. It is not too much to say that the average plantation 

 makes four distinct qualities of tea in the year, each with its distinctive character- 

 istics. There is the " spring crop," which used to be considered the choicest in 

 China, but is a poor liquoring one in India, where its quality is sacrificed to " making 



