FRUIT PRODUCTION OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 



103 



Eastern Bengal and Assam head the hst with over a milhon acres ; then 

 Madras, with close on a million. Bengal has three-quarters of a 

 million, the United Provinces nearly half a million, and Burma four 

 hundred thousand; these Provinces between them account for 3,582,148 

 out of 4,020,136 aci-es, the total acreage under such crops in India. 



The figures for India are perhaps somewhat misleading, including 

 as they do the acreage under garden crops, of which detailed statistics 

 are not available. Garden crops include vegetables, &c., produced by 

 natives not only for their own use but for market purposes. The 

 large number of Europeans who are resident in India, both for military 

 and civil purposes, has fostered an industry in European vegetables 

 which could hardly have existed and certainly could not have flourished 

 before the advent of the British race. The excellence of the English 

 vegetables now obtainable in large quantities says much for the efficiency 

 of the native gardeners, and such products as the potato, turnip, radish, 

 and even the homely cabbage, are readily obtainable for the table. The 

 market gardens and those supplying the native wants in this direction 

 would probably account for a large portion of the area under fruit and 

 garden crops. India, with its varied heights, soils, and climates, is 

 able to produce almost a-ny fruit grown in other parts of the world. 

 In the hills are to be found such temperate fruits as the apple, pear, 

 apricot, peach, &c., which are grown extensively, and the trade in 

 these kinds from Kashmir and elsewhere is a large and important one. 

 In warmer districts, almonds, limes, oranges, and lemons are widely 

 cultivated, and tropical fruits such as the guava, pomegranate, 

 banana, pine-apple, coconut, &c., flourish in the plains and South 

 India. If it were possible to obtain figures on the subject it would 

 probably be found that the mango is the most widely cultivated fruit. 

 At certain times in the year it forms the staple food for millions of 

 natives, and its wide use for many such purposes as chutney s, curries, 

 preserves, kc, must mean the consumption of enormous quantities. 

 The mango plays, and has played, for many centuries, an important 

 part in the dietetic history of India, so much so, that it is involved in 

 the ancient mythology of the country. 



Ceylon. 



In 1908 Ceylon had 100,765 acres in fruit gardens, but no figures 

 are yet available as to the quantity produced. Probably a large per- 

 centage of the produce would be raised for the personal use of the 

 natives. The coconut palm is largely cultivated, 915,373 acres being 

 under it. The importance of this branch of the fruit industry can be 

 gauged by the fact that in 1907 the value of the export of coconut palm 

 products was £1,738,523. 



Jamaica. 



Fruit forms now one of the principal items of export in this island. 

 The export of oranges in 1907-8 was valued at £77,105, and that of 



