IllK WEST INDIAN FRUIT INDUSTRY. 



637 



the work. Similar work is carried on at other stations, although not in 

 all to the same extent, Dominica being one of the islands well suited to 

 fruit culture ; and if in the future a considerable fruit industry be 

 established in this island, it will be due in great measure to the laborious, 

 painstaking work quietly carried out at the botanic station. 



Plant Selection and Improvement. 



Spineless Lime. — The ordinary Lime tree (Citrus Medica var. acida) 

 bears on its branches stout, sharp spines, which often render it very 



Fig. 193. — Custard Apple. 



difficult to gather the fruit from the tree by hand without injury. In 

 1892 there was noticed on the Shawford Estate, Dominica, a Lime tree 

 without the usual spines. Seeds from this plant were collected and sown, 

 and about 75 per cent, came true.. A plot of " Spineless Limes " has been 

 maintained for several years at the Botanic Station, Dominica. These 

 plants fruited a few years ago, and from the seeds of this, the second 

 generation, a third generation has been raised, and has bred true to the 

 original parent plant. Spineless Limes now form part of the regular stock 

 of the station, and figure in the return given above for 1903-4 of plants 

 distributed. 



In the Annual Report on Dominica Station for 1901-2 (see also 

 "Agricultural News," vol. i. p. 180) Mr. Jones says: — "This variety 



