94 THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [August t, 1887 
or June. The seeds are gathered when the dehiscence 
of the capsule takes place. They should be carefully 
freed from the husk and episperm (all damaged and 
worm-eaten ones being removed), and if it is desired 
to ship them in a fresh state, it should be done 
baskets lined with some large thick leaves, Fre9h 
nuts are generally sold at the rate of 40 i. to 50s. per 
cwt., but the market for fresh seed is very limitid. 
To dry the seed, so as to lose as little weight an 1 
properties as possible, they should be placed in layers 
on trays in the shade, where there is plenty of air, and 
left till perfectly brown and dry. So treated, they will 
have a fine appearance, being neither blackened or 
shrivelled, which is the case when allowed to dry in 
the_ sun, when they lose much in weight by a too 
rapid exhaustion of the moisture. 
For mauy purposes, slow drying is not absolutely 
necessary, for instance, in cases where the nuts are con- 
sumed in a powdered state; but every care must be 
taken to prevent their becoming mouldy or worm-eaten 
a parcel of nuts with the faintest odour of mustiness 
would be discarded by manufacturers. The prices vary 
a good deal according to supplies and quality. A nut 
with a good appearance may fetch as much as 70s. to 
90s. per cwt., whereas small shrivelled-up nuts have 
sold for 20s. to 35s. 
This tree is certainly worthy of a more extensive 
cultivation, and would yield a handsome return to those 
having low-lying lands unfit for other products. The 
demand would greatly increase if manufacturers were 
assured o£ a continuous supply, enabling them to intro- 
duce permanent articles, which they are now precluded 
from doing for want of reliance upon the present 
shippers. A very useful little pamphlet on the medi- 
cinal and other drugs has been published by Mr. B. 
M. Holmes, curator of the museum of the pharmaceut 
ical Society. 
Stabches. 
Many of these on examination have proved suitable 
for sizing and finishing of textile fabrics. 
Fruit. 
I need not discuss. "West Indians are alive to its 
importance. The rapidly increasing population of the 
American continent will absorb as much as can be grown. 
The difficulty is safe transportation. Growers of pines 
bananas, and oranges, should avoid being shippers. 
The orange tree disease in the Bahamas has almost 
ruined that branch of trade. It is to be hoped that 
it will not extend to Jamaica. 
Kus-kus. 
The Kus-Kus grass, which is abundant in the West 
Indies, is barely utilised at all ; whereas in India it 
is]a well-known article of commerce, and advantageously 
employed in the manufacture of fans, window blinds 
and screens. Being delicately scented, when damp, 
it produces a cool and refreshing odour. We had 
fine samples in the Exhibition, but none manufactured. 
Dagger oe Yucca Plant. 
The various articles exhibited male from this plant 
attracted very great attention, and elicited many in- 
quiries from dealers as well as visitors. 
While the fancy manufactured articles must not be 
neglected, a good deal of the ribbon of a more rigid 
character might be sent to England. This would 
enable manufacturers and purchasers not only to make 
independent experiments with the substance, but to 
work it up into various articles in accordance with 
the prevailing taste and fashion. 
It is well worth attention, but the slow growth of 
the plant is rather against large exports. It grows 
in poor land. 
Palmetto Plaits. 
We made many inquiries with respect to these. 
There is, no doubt, a market for them; if a factory 
could be established, and a sufficient quantity sent on to 
create a demand for them, very large quantities, indeed, 
could be sold. The Jamaica and Bahama exhibits 
were excellent. The sale is only a question of price. 
DISCUSSION. 
Mr. Morris did not quite know what the reade n 
of the paper meant by saying that coffee should b e 
s««t home in the parchment. Coffee was never ex 
ported in this state, and, if it were, he believed it 
would not find a market. With regard to kola nuts 
his opinion was that there was no real commercial 
demand for them in this country at present. The 
only people who consumed these nuts to any extent 
were those on the West Ooast of Africa. He had 
heard that a kind of chocolate or cocoa had been 
prepared from kola nuts, but he believed this was 
only an experiment. He considered that if the nuts 
were grown in the West Indies it would be at a loss 
owing to there being no market for them. The reader 
of the paper stated that each pod contained fifteen 
seeds, but if so, this must be a new variety, for he 
had never seen one containing more than three to six 
seeds, which of course are different irom the " nuts " 
composed of the divided cotyledons. Of these there 
might be and number up to thirty. 
Mr. Lascelles-Scott said with regard to the sugar 
industry, he had good reason for believing that a 
remedy, other than by fiscal arrangements, was not 
far distant, for Professor Robert Galloway, of Dublin, 
had lately devised a process whereby the enormous 
waste which at present occurred in the extraction of 
crystallised sugar from juice would be considerably 
reduced. With regard to kola nuts, he believed that 
when their composition was known that there would 
be a great demand for them. A friend of his had 
just received an order for twenty tons of these nuts, 
and a further supply had been asked for them. The 
manufacture of kola paste and chocolate was con- 
tinually increasing, and it had been favourably reported 
upon by the engineers who were laying some railway 
lines in the Soudan. In the catalogue of the Colonial 
Exhibition reference was made to the plant Siegesbeckia 
Oriewtalis, and this plant he found had obtained a 
large reputation in the Mauritius, so much so that he 
believed in the future it would be found to be of 
great value in miteria media. la the Mauritius the 
plant was known as the divine herb, and in this 
country it had been tried by one or two medical 
gentlemen, who had reported most favourably upon 
it. Dealing with the subject of fibres, he produced a 
specimen which he said belonged to the silk or cotton 
orders, and as the fibre had a peculiar absorbing 
quality, he thought it was particularly well adapted 
for the manufacture of surgical dressings. He strongly 
recommended the cultivation of this plant, believing 
that in the future it would find a ready market. 
Sir Augustus Addeeley said he concurred to some 
extent in the opening remarks of Sir Rawson Rawson, 
that as the sugar industry was not prospering they 
should look to other products for improving the 
oondition of the West Indian Colonies. As to the 
competition to develop in the future, from Queensland 
and India, in growing sugar cane, West Indian planters 
only wanted fair play; they were quite ready to 
fight the world, and give in if they could not make 
sugar as cheap. The sugar bounties should be abolished 
for their unfairness, and as adverse to the principles 
of free trade. Planters should watch the markets in 
order to see what was wanted, and not go on planting 
products which were evidently being over-produced. 
As to there being no market for kola nuts, he might 
say that he had lately sent out a large order to 
Trinidad, but had not been able to get the order 
filled. His remarks as to the parchment on coffee 
were based on the suggestions of M. Pasteur, and a 
considerable quantity was now denuded of the parch- 
ment in London. With regard to not having touched 
on products of British Honduras, he felt that it was 
impossible in a paper dealing with the West Indies 
to properly deal with this colony, considering that 
it would require a paper to itself. British Honduras 
merely required capital and cheap labour in order to 
develop its resources. As to the silk cotton referred 
to by Mr. Lascelles Scott, he believe 1 it was being 
taken up in Germany for bedding, though he thought 
the fibre was not sufficiently long for the manufacture 
of surgical baudages. There was some similar cotton 
in the Exhibition which came from Jamaica, which 
had a very long fibre, and this, he believed, might 
be worked up for surgical bandages. 
