§54 
THE TROPICAL 
Agriculturist. [June t, ms. 
per barrel during crop time, and they receive higher 
rates when the limes on the ground are few and far 
between. The juice is extracted in various ways, but 
the process of squeezing underlies them all. Cider 
presses are used in some places, and the small sugar 
mills have been utilized in others. The best form of 
mill is perhaps one made with heavy horizontal wooden 
rollers covered with sheets of copper roughly perforated 
so as to catch the limes. With a good press or mill, 
from seven to eight gallons of juice can be obtained 
from every barrel of limes. 
When the juice is exported iu its raw state it is 
necessary to take particular precaution to exclude all 
dirt, fruit-pulp and seeds. If the limes be gathered 
in rainy weather, the mud must be washed off them 
before they are pressed in the mill, and it is as well to 
strain the juice through several copper sieves with 
meshes of decreasing size. Another good plan is to al- 
low the juice to remain in puncheons or casks with a 
tap put in about ten inches from the bottom. The 
juice will then " settle," the seeds and the heavier 
part of the pulp falling to the bottom, the oil and other 
impurities rising to the top. The juice can be drawn 
off in three or four days, and it is allowed to run as 
long as it is clear. The casks in wisich the juice is ex- 
ported must be completely filled to exclude the air, and 
they should be bunged up as soon as possible. If the 
system be adopted, the juice will remain in good con- 
dition for some months. When it is ntcessary to keep 
it for a long time, half an ounce of salicylic acid can 
be added to every fifty gallons of juice, the acid pre- 
venting the fermentation and consequent destruction 
of the product. It may be remarked that the salicylic 
acid will not interfere in any way with the wholesome- 
ness of the juice. 
Concentrated lime juice is prepared very simply by 
evaporation in open copper pans until the required 
density is obtained. Iu Domiuica the juice is usually 
boiled down from 10 or 12 to I — tbe resulting product 
being a very acid stuff, about the color and consistency 
of molasses. The concentrated juice is sold in London 
or the United States, and is usua'ly shipped iu beer 
hogsheads, averaging about fifty-two gallons iu capacity. 
The price varies very much, a hogshead of juice at 
the higher concentration sometimes selling for about 
£13 and sometimes — but far less frequently — for nearly 
double that some. The demand for citric acid is in- 
creasing, but so is cultivation of the lime, and it is fear- 
ed by many planters that before long there will be an 
over-production, and a consequent heavy decline in 
the value of the juice. It is to be hoped, however, 
that this will not take place, for Domiuica and Mont- 
serrat would suffer very seriously if lime cultivation 
became uuremunerative. — Florida Dispatch. 
MADRAS AGRI-HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
Annual Meeting. 
Economic Plants.— The grievous depression amongst 
the plauting community of Southern India mentioned 
last year unhappily still coutirues and paralyses private 
enterprise in the direction of new introductions. The 
stock of such plants is, however, still kept up in the 
Society's Nurseries in hopes of better times reviving the 
demand. Numbers of Maragogipe Coffee, Erythroxylou, 
Coca, Lance-wood, Mahogany, Landolphia, Trincornalee- 
wood, Edible Prickly-Pear, and other useful plants are 
still available. 
Chocolate.— The large tree of Theobroma Cacao of 
whieb mention has more than once been made in the 
Committee's Annual Report as flourishing and bearing 
fruit under the shade of the Coconut Palms, suc- 
cumbed to the drought, but another plant a year or 
two younger growing near it not only survived, but 
seemed not to suffer. The old plant was isolated 
in the grass, so had no proieclion but the shade over- 
head, and got only such water as was given to it 
directly by hand ; while the survivor in in the new 
border closely surrounded, sheltered, and shaded by 
the Coconut Palms and the young trees and shrubs 
in the border, and got the full benefit of the periodical 
floodiugs of the border. The Honorary Secretary is 
still of opinion that the cultivation of Cocoa might very 
possibly be successful in Madras if the cultivators 
would take the same trouble as the growers of the 
Betel-leaf do in Bengal, to shade, shelter, and irrigate 
their crop. 
Rubber Plants.— The Landolphia plant mentioned 
in iast report successfully ripened its crop of fruit, 
and from the seeds Mr. Cleesou raised abou' 80 plants 
which were iu due course placed at the disposal of 
Government for future experiments. Orders have been 
issued to various officers to take over tbe plants and 
try them in climates and situations which are expected 
to be favourable to their growth and development. 
The Castilloa elastica plants mentioned in last report 
still thrive. 
Bread-Fbuit. — A batch of root-cuttings of the tree 
which bears the seedless bread-fruit was obtaiued 
through tbe kind offices of Mr. Logan, the collector of 
Malabar, and the Superintendent hopes to raise from 
them a few good plants. A large, rooted plant was 
also obtained by Mr. Robinson, the Chief Engineer 
of the Madras Railway, from the Western Coast, 
presented to tbe Society, and planted at once in the 
coco.jut tope where it is showing great promise. Two 
other fine plants are thriving, planted out in the 
gardens, one having been presented by Mr. Loverv, 
and one being tbe survivor of a number received from 
Dr. Trimen, Ceylon. The Committee is informed that 
Mr. Lovery has interested several of the wealthy 
Brahmins living in an! about Malapore in the subject^ 
the produce of the tree being specially suited to the 
needs of their community. The Society is of course 
willing, and auxious, to do its best to obtain plants 
from Ceylon or the Western Coast, for every one 
who is prepared to pay the cost which should not 
come to more for each plant than that of a young, 
grafted mango. 
Tree Tomato.— The Committee still hears frequently 
from the hills of the great success of its introduction, 
thanks to Mr. Morris of Jamaica, of Oyphomaudra 
betacea. Unfortunately the plant will not grow on 
the plains, but in the cooler climates of Southern 
India, it is an unqualified successs, and its popularity 
continues to increase. Happily its fecundity is so gre tt 
that the Society has no difficulty in complying with 
demands for seed by applying to some of its correspon- 
dents in more favoured localities. 
Prickly-Peak.— A few enquires have been made 
during tbe year for plants of the Edible Opuntias 
introduced from Cyprus and Malta, but no report has 
yet been received of their success. In the Society's 
Gardens, plants of both are well established and grow- 
ing freely, but have not jet fruited or even produced 
perfect flowers by which they could be identified. 
The Society's collection of Cactacea has been greatly 
enlarged by gifts from Poona, Calcutta, and elsewhere 
. during the year, and it is hoped that progress may 
shortly be made in naming them all correctly ; but, 
with the exception of the naturalised species, and two 
or three others, plants of this order do not appear 
to flower freely in the climate of Madras. Interest- 
ing information is now being collected on the subject 
of the local distribution of naturalised species. 
Caeludovica Palmata. — In August, 1887. three 
plants of this palm were received in a Wardiau case from 
Dr. Henry TrimeD, Director, Royal Botanic Gardens, 
Ceylon. Two of them unfortunately died, but the 
third promises to grow well, and is now five or six 
times as lavge as they were when they arrived. 
Pabitium Elatum.— (The Mountain Mahoe) seeds 
of this plant were received from Kew, on the 19th 
July, 1881 from which a few plants have been raised. 
Two of them have been planted in the new border 
in the coconut tope where one of them is very promis- 
ing, being now about 23 feet, 9 inches high, and 9 
inches in girth, and 3 feet from tbe ground. It is 
stated iu the Treasury of Botany, 2nd Edition (page 
847), that this plant "affords the beautiful lace- 
like inner bark called Cuba bast, at one time only 
known as a material used for tying round bundles 
of genuine Havannah Cigars, but afterwards imported, 
particularly during the Russian War, as a substitute 
for the Russia bast used by gardeners for tying up 
