July f, 1887.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
2LJ 
according to the waiter of the notes, such is not 
really the. case. Malayan fruits are admitted to ex- 
ceed English fruits in size and ofteu in strength 
of flavour and odour, but it is claimed that the 
English strawberry, pear or peach (or a green-house 
pine) is quite unequalled by anything grown in 
tropical countries. This after all is purely a matter 
of opinion ; and the fact cited that Europeans in 
the tropics ignore local fruits and fall back on 
tinned and bottled English fruits, is merely another 
way of sajiug that Europeans have certain set 
habits and tastes, and a love of " home " things, 
which they will not or cannot give up. It must be 
remembered, however, that tropical fruits have not, 
as a rule, received that careful and scientific culture 
which has been expended on European fruits: in 
fact that they are practically wild fruits, more or 
less indigenous to the country, and suited to be used 
only under the special circumstances in which they 
are found. A pine-apple grown in a tropical 
country and costing ouly a few pence may not be 
equal in size and flavour to a pine-apple grown in 
an English hot-house, and costing twice as many 
shillings. But what English fruit is so refreshing 
and so suitable for the composition of a really well- 
cooked dish in the tropics as the lime?* 
Opinions may differ as regards the special merits 
of the mangosteeu, " fig " banana, mango, cherimoya, 
freshly-gathered date, the litchi, a really good orange, 
or a dozen other tropical fruits that may be named ; 
but if we take each one on its merits, and use it 
according to the circumstances and habits of the 
country iu which it is found, there are few, if any, 
English fruits that are so well adapted to refresh 
aud revive flagging physical energies, as those we 
meet iu the tropics. 
Having said this much by way of defence of 
tropical fruits, I turned to the varied and interesting 
collections shown in the Court of the Straits 
Settlements. 
The chief place is taken by the pine-apples of 
Singapore, which, preserved whole in syrup, have 
entered into commerce, and are now regularly 
supplied by Loudon stores. The pine-apple is canned 
and shipped in a similar manner from the Bahamas, 
Fiji, and Natal ; but owing probably to the greater enter- 
prise shown by Singapore firms such as Bastiani, Tye 
Seng Bee, and Netiiersole & Co., each of whom have 
London agents, the Singapore pine-apple has estab- 
lished itself as one of the best in the market. 
There were stalls with a tastiug-bar maintained at 
the Exhibition, which no doubt greatly contributed 
to make the Singapore fruit widely known. The 
Singapore Preserving Company, the Chasseriau Land 
Planting Company, C. Favre & Co., J. Graham, and 
others, exhibited an excellent series of tropical fruits, 
which attracted considerable attention. Many of these 
fruits, unfortunately, had ouly the native names both 
on samples aud in the Catalogue, and hence were 
difficult to recognise. But the maugosteen, durian, 
mango, papaw, guava, pumelow, rambutan, banana, 
lemon and bread-fruit were easily recognised. 
BRITISH GUIANA. 
Owing to the enterprise of Messrs. Scruton & Sons 
in fitting up one of their steamers with a cool- 
chamber, fresh tropical fruits from British Guiana 
were among the most interesting features of the Colonial 
Market. It is now clearly deimnstrated that by 
can ful aud judicious treatment aud storage in a cool- 
chamber, numerous tropical fruits from the West Indies 
can be brought to England in a perfectly sound 
condition. Bananas arrived from British Guiana on 
several occasions which were sold for the first time 
in the Loudon market, while such perishable fruits 
as papaw, sapodilla or naseherry, bread-fruit, mango, 
and the Avocado pear were received from the West 
* Lime juice is refreshing and is used iu Ceylon 
cooij.ry to give tenderness to newly killed fowls, 
'-'me pickle is also nice, but we do not understand 
whnt i- meant by the fruit entering into tl o eom- 
lositiou of a weil-cooked dish. — Ku. 
Indies in excellent condition, and utilized as dessert 
fruit at English dinner tables. As an experiment 
th • enterprise has been thoroughly successful. There 
remain, however, many details to be arranged before 
a regular trade in tropical fruits is established, but 
of ultimate success there would appear to be little 
doubt. 
In the rich alluvial soils of British Guiana, all 
tropical fruits are capable of being cultivated : and 
the dried and preserved articles shown in the British 
Guiana Court, no less than the models of fruits pro- 
duced in the Colony, would indicate that a large and 
undeveloped field of industry is connected with them. 
JAMAICA. 
The fruit industry at Jamaica is one of the most 
important of any tropical Colony. The value of fruit 
exported from this island, chiefly to the United States, 
is nearly £200,000 annually. The principal fruit so 
exported is the banana, which, in 1885, reached a 
total value of £129,917. Next comes the orange, of 
the value, in 1885, of £31,6(30. The development of 
the fruit trade in Jamaica has been very rapid, and, 
as in British Honduras, was chiefly due to the establish- 
ment of subsidized steamer communication, whereby 
regular and rapid sailings were secured and loss of 
fruit in transit reduced as much as possible. In 
1867 the value of the fruit exported from Jamaica 
was only £728. Two years later an agency was es- 
tablished at Port Antonio (which was then a decaying 
port) for certain fruit houses in the United States, 
and seven schooners were loaded with bananas. In 
the following year coconuts and oranges were added, 
and since then the trade has gone on progressively, 
and has extended itself throughout the island. Several 
steamers are now engaged iu this profitable business, 
the greater part of the fruit being conveyed to New 
York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and New Orleans. 
The Jamaica fruit consisting chiefly, as noted above, 
of bananas and oranges, is packed in the hold of 
ordiuary steamers, with no special appliances or cold 
storage. Every effort is made to give the fruit as 
much air as possible ; but there is much room yet for 
improvement both in the selection and packing of the 
fruit, as well as in the arrangements for carefully 
stowing it on board ship. 
Jamaica produces numerous choice and luscious fruits, 
which are, however, too delicate to bear a long sea- 
voyage, and hence are comparatively unknown in 
Northern latitudes. Amongst the samples of fruits 
preserved in spirit, and shown at the Jamaica Court 
of the Colonial and Indian Exhibition, there were 
Cherimoya (Anona chenmot/er), Sweet Sop (Anona 
squamosa), Alligator Pear (Per.<ea gratissima), Ginep 
(Melicocca bfo'uga), Tamarind (Tama rivdus officinalis), 
Jew Plum (Spondias dulcis), Mango (Af ant/if era indica) , 
Papaw {Carica papaya), Guava (Psidiv.m t/uaiava), 
Chinese Guava (Pstdium cattlei/anum), Blimbing 
(Averrhoa bilimhi), Coco Plum (Chrysobalanus icaco), 
Akee (Blir/hia sapida), Sweet Cup (Passiflora edit/is), 
Pomegranate (P/orica granatum), Naseberry or Sapodilla 
Plum (Achi-as sapota), Tree Tomato (Ci/phomatidra 
betacea) . 
This, although a fairly representative list of "West 
Indian fruits well known and largely produced at 
various elevations in Jamaica, is by no means au 
exhaustive one. 'With cool storage and refrigeratiug 
chambers fitted up in rapid-going steamers, a large 
number of other fruits might be utilized and exported. 
Of fruits not mentioned above, there are the Sour 
Sop {Anona muricata), Custard or Sugar-apple (Anona 
reticulata), Granadilla (Passijlora (fiiadrangularis) , 
Pomme d'Or or Water Lemon (Passiflora laurifolia), 
Calabash Sweet-cup (Passiflora mahformis), Oararaba 
(Averrhoa caiamhofa). Bread-fruit Udrto carpus incisa), 
Anchovy Pear ((Irias cau/iflora), Locuat (Eriobotrya 
japonica), ltose-npple (Jambosa wdffaris), Mammee apple 
( Mammea Americana). 
The particular variety of banana exported from 
.Tamn'ca is the largo yellow kind, sometimes known 
as the Martinique banana, but uow generally known 
in the United States as the Jamaica banana, to dis- 
tinguish it from the large rod bannua formerly ex- 
