381 



Edible Products. 



elements which are required to a greater extent by the big-nut varieties. The 

 planter must choose between having small nuts without trouble and having 

 double the crop by using proper methods of cultivation and selection. 



COLA AND CACAO. 



5. The African political prisoners have purchased a few seedlings of 

 cola. The varieties of cacao introduced have been most kindly selected by 

 Messrs. Wright and Nock of Peradeniya, and as they withstand the disease it 

 is to be hoped that cacao cultivation will be continued on a greater scale in 

 future, and even that they will be used as stocks for grafting the local variety 

 which contains white cotyledons only. However, the areas suitable to cacao 

 cultivation are limited to some parts of North and South Mahe, and this industry 

 cannot be carried on extensively. A few planters who had ordered seedlings 

 from the Botanic Station prior to my visiting their estates have been advised 

 not to take up this culture owing to the soil in these localities having been 

 too much washed out and consequently lacking in depth. 



6. The following are the other plants introduced during the year which 

 are worth mentioning :— 



1. Washington navel oranges. 



2. Cape oranges. 



3. Medicinal aloe. 



4. Camphor. 



5. Bombay mangoes. 



PROGRESS OP PLANTS. 



Coconuts. 



8. The plantation of coconuts for the year amounts to : — 



Nuts exported ... ... 882,044 



,, converted into oil ... 11,096,000 



,, ,, ,, copra ... 1,781,333 



„ soap ... 1,599,000 



„ consumed locally ... 4,000,000 



Total.. .19,349,377 



This is an average crop in spite of the reduction caused by the drought. — 

 Colonial Reports — Annual No. 1>5Q Seychelles, Report for lQOlt. 



THE PEPPER INDUSTRY IN MALABAR. 

 The story of the struggle for the pepper trade of the West Coast 

 between the English on the one side and the Dutch Portuguese and the French 

 on the other, takes up 62 pages in Mr. Logan's well-known Manual of 

 Malabar. The struggle is still continued— not with powerful European potentates 

 but with twentieth century science ; and the pepper vine disease, which 

 has been doing much to decrease the output of this valuable spice. Some 

 ten years ago there was a great boom in the pepper trade, when the price went 

 up to Rs. 230 per bhanum. At once there was a great rush and many embarked 

 on this industry, even with borrowed money. As a consequence, there was a 

 slump in the market and the price went as low as Rs. 70 per bhanum. During 

 the last six years there has been an improvement, and the latest quotation from 

 Tellicherry, the chief port of shipment for the European market is Rs. 170 per 

 bhanum. According to the Review of the Sea-borne Trade of the Presidency, 

 published in the Fort St. George Gazette of the 20th June last, there has been a 

 decrease of Rs. 11*80 lakhs in the trade in spices, and this is due almost solely to 



