3^ 
f HE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [July i, 1887. 
ported from Ouba. The Cuba banana has now been 
almost entirely replaced by the brighter and nmre 
attractive as well as the more luscious fruit from 
Jamaica. The banana generally se«n in England is 
the Chinese banana (Musa Cave)idishii), which has a 
smaller fruit than the variety oE Musa s'lpieatum 
above described. The choice and small bananas known 
in the West Indies as Fig bananas are seldom ex- 
ported: the attention of traders being evidently 
directed to the larger and more bulky, though less 
delicate varieties, which make a greater show in the 
market. 
The oranges exported from Jamaica are a sweet 
well-flavoured kind, with a fairly thick rind and a 
bright colour when ripe. They approach very nearly 
to the once noted St. Michael's oranges, from which 
they were, no doubt, once derived. The trees yield- 
ing the bulk of the present oranges in Jamaica are 
self-sown seedlings growing in cattle pastures — although 
several well-kept plantations in the neighbourhood of 
railways and shipping ports are springing up. 
Limes are abundantly produced, and while some 
(809 barrels) are exported in the green state, or 
pickled in briue (to suit the special taste of the 
people in the States), the larger quantity is utilized 
in the preparation of lime-juice, which is exported 
to be converted into citric acid to the extent of 
55,000 gals, annually. Sicily lemons and the true 
citron are being cultivated on a small scale, while a 
choice pink-fleshed pumelow is also planted. 
Pine-apples are exported in the green state only. 
The choicer sorts, like the Ripley pine, which have 
been known for the last hundred years as the most 
acceptable of Jamaica fruits, are seldom able to bear 
the rough treatment at present accorded to them. The 
Madeira and Canary pines, which reach England in 
such excellent order, are packed in light boxes with 
a separate compartment for each fruit. The Jamaica 
fruit, on the other hand, is badly selected in the first 
place ; and is generally packed in bulk two or three 
dozen together, in an ordinlary flour barrel. 
The mango is completely naturalized in the island, 
and thousands of tons of this fruit are produced, of 
which probably only one-fourth is at present utilized. 
The crop comes in from May to September, when, 
unfortunately, there is little demand for tropical fruits 
in the northern markets. The best varieties might 
be canned or preserved: and, in my Report on the 
Botanical Gardens of Jamaica for the year 1884, p. 45, 
I have there suggested that the commoner sorts 
might be utilized in the production of a useful spirit, 
or for the manufacture of glucose. 
BAHAMAS. 
These islands, from their proximity to the United 
States, and the rapid means of communication, were 
the first to establish an export trade in tropical 
fruit, which, in the one item of pine-apples is pos- 
sibly the largest of any in the world. The particulars 
of fruit exported in 1885 are as follows : — 
Quantity. Value. 
Pine-apples 455,965 doz. ... £50,847 
Shaddocks 34,000 No. ... 64 
Avocado Pears ... 2,950 ,, ... 8 
Bananas 15.358 „ ... 618 
Coconuts 26,170 „ ... 193 
Oranges 1,900,000 „ ... 1,753 
Sapodillas 102,550 „ ... 26 
Total value ... 53,509 
The tinned pine-apples of the Bahamas, as also the 
bulk of the fresh fruit, form a large trade; but, 
under a more careful and enterprising system of cul- 
tivation, it is possible to extend and improve this 
industry, which in many respects is the best suited 
of any to the circumstances of these islands. The 
pines generally cultivated are th», Cuban and Scarlet 
varieties, which evidently thrive well in hot shallow 
noils. The Bahamas Factory exhibited a series of 
preserved fruits, as also pine-apples preserved whole 
in a similar manner to the Singapore fruit. The 
gu»va jolley from the Bahamas was excellent. Models 
of tropical fruits were well shown. The general 
character of Bahamas plants was illustrated by water- 
colour drawings made by Mrs. Blake, wife of the 
Governor, and among these were accurate and life- 
like delineations of many West Indian fruits. 
BRITISH HONDURAS. 
Since British Honduras was connected with New 
Orleans, the great commercial port of the Southern 
United States, by a regular mail service, the fruit 
industry has assumed gome importance. The exports 
for the year 1881 consisted of: bananas, 88.538 bunches, 
of the value of £7869; coconuts, to the United King- 
dom, 796,172, of the value of £2688, and to the 
United States," 757,977, of the value of £2,833 ; limes, 
6J barrels, of the value of £3 ; mangoes, 47 barrels, 
of the value of £24 ; oranges, 12 barrels, of the value 
of £6 ; Avocado pears, 6 barrels, of the value of £4 ; 
pine-apples, 8,496 barrels, of the value of £1,017 ; and 
tamarinds, 6 barrels, of the value of £3. The tital 
value of fruit exported in 1834 was £14,464. The 
coconuts of Central America and British Honduras 
are of large size, very heavy, and generally command the 
highest prices. The whole seaboard of British Honduras 
should in time be covered, as in Ceylon, by extensive 
groves of this valuable palm. Bananas are being ex- 
tended in the alluvial soils of the SouHiern districts, 
and find a ready market. Oranges, limes and lemons 
are hardly yet established, although in the drier aud 
more rocky portions of the colony they would do 
well. Pinvapples are grown in light loamy soils; 
and although the exports at present are small, they 
are gradually increasing. 
There is in this Colony an unlimited field for fruit- 
growing ; but it is right to mention that only those 
who have had previous experience in the tropics and 
possess some capital are suitable for pioneering work 
in a comparatively unopened country. British Hon- 
duras was too remote to exhibit fresh fruit at the 
Exhibition ; the dry coconuts were, however, a con- 
spicuous feature in the decorations. The preserved 
fruits consisted of preserved citron, preserved papaw 
and a wild fruit known as " Craboo,'' preserved in 
rum, very much resembling cherries. Tamarinds pre- 
served in sugar were shown by two exhibitors. 
TRlNFDAD. 
This island so far exports only coconuts under the 
category of fruits, but it is capable of growing and 
exporting immense quantities of all kinds of tropical 
fruits if a suitable market were available. In the 
Trinidad Court were numerous samples of preserved 
fruits of an attractive character. 
GRENADA. 
The fruits of Grenada were excellently shown in 
large glass jars by Colonel Duncan, to whose enter- 
prise the island owes much in the introduction of 
new objects of culture. Amongst the fruits exhibited 
were granadilla, pine-apple, nutmeg, tamarind, shad- 
dock, custard apple, pois dou.v, lime, sapodilla, mammee 
sopote, sour sop, mammee apple, papaw, bread-fruit, 
forbidden fruit, jack fruit. Preserved oranges, nut- 
meg jelly, guava jelly and shaddock peel were also 
shown. The exports of fruit from Grenada at present 
consist of coconuts of the value of £49, pine-apples, &c, 
£52, and plantains, £285. 
TOBAGO. 
This island made an excellent show of preserved 
fruits and jellies too numerous to mention. A can- 
ning establishment would appear to have a good field 
for starting operations here: and as laud is cheap 
and labour abundant, "capital and well-directed energy" 
are the only requisites to success. In quality and 
general representative character the preserved fruits 
of Tobago, consisting of above 200 exhibits, were the 
most complete of any in the tropical section. 
ST. LUCIA. 
The Agricultural Society of St. Lucia exhibited the 
fruits of this island in a preserved state, consisting 
of about twenty specimens, such as shaddock, orange, 
