«4 
TH£ TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [August i, 1S88. 
dom from disease, is capable of extension without 
limit. A valuable preserve is being made from this 
grape, which threatens to take the place of black 
currant jelly. 
Strawberry.— This valuable fruit is coming into 
general cultivation, and may be extended on any 
scale. It is in season from December to April. 
Prices vary according to season, 6d a pint being the 
minimum. 
Cape Gooseberry.^— This valuable esculent is not 
cultivated, being permitted to occupy fences and 
fallow lands iu native vise. It might be taken into 
cultivation, and by this means could be extended. The 
natives enjoy the entire trade, collecting the fruit in 
their own way and at their convenience, selling it to 
Europeans in town or country. The price is gener- 
ally about 4s 6d a bushel. According to situation 
as to coast or upper districts, the fruit is iu season 
from February to May. This fruit is made into a 
jam, which is hardly ever known to ferment. 
Amatungula. — This is entirely a coast plant, and 
the fruit is in season from January to May. As a 
rule the plant has not been cultivated, but it admits 
of ready extension by cultivation and thereby its 
productiv« ness is greatly increased. The natives col- 
lect the fruit from the plants in their wild state, 
and dispose of it to Europeans. The price, therefore, 
varies from a mere nominal sum to anything they can get. 
Tamarind. — This has been tried, but on a limited 
scale. The fruit ripens in May, but there is scarce 
any demand for it. 
Mangoes can be grown in abundance, and come in- 
to season in May, but there is no demand for them. 
Avocado pear can also be grown in abundance, and 
comes into season in March, but there is no demand 
for the fruit. 
Question 3. — What fruits are at present exported (1) 
iu a fresh, or (2) in a preserved state ? Please state 
the destination, the quantity, and the estimated value 
of each sort. 
In 1886 the dried and preserved fruits exported 
were entered of the value of £422, but the sorts are 
not enumerated, The green fruit exported, chiefly 
bananas, were entered of the value of £2439. Both 
kinds, viz., the preserved fruits and the green or fresh, 
were shipped to the Cape Colony. 
Question 4. — Are all, or any, of the fruits mention- 
ed above capable of being produced in much larger 
quantities than at present? If so, what steps are 
necessary to start or develop a fruit trade, and what 
inducements, if any, do local men specially desire to 
open or extend a trade in fresh or preserved fruits, 
either with the mother country or neighbouring states ? 
All the above-meutioned fruits are capable of being 
produced in much larger quantities. The absence of 
a market has deterred the farming community from 
pursuing this industry bayond their own special and 
local requirements. The steps, in my estimation, 
necessary to develop a fruit trade are, first, the pre- 
servation of the fruit either by judiciously drying it 
or by preserving it in time. Messrs Jameson & Co., 
Durban ; Hulett, Nonoti ; Ladds, Mooi River ; and 
B'.aker, Estcourt, have made a good start in that 
direction, and others will fellow their example. Local 
men complain that the tariffs of neighbouring states 
militate seriously against the use therein of Natal 
preserved or green fruits, import duty being so high 
as to prove prohibitive. This, no doubt, is (as the 
question would be viewed in the light of free trade) 
omitting the consideration of the question whether the 
industries of these states do not stand in need of some 
such protection as is secured by a high import duty. 
The trade with the mother country is seriously menaced 
by the long ocean voyage and the risks of damage to 
green fruit, however well it may be prepared before 
embarkation. In the case of preserved fruits, the 
new industry here will have to cope with the same 
industry established in other colonies and states for 
many years enjoying a reputation which cannot easily 
be set aside. 
Question 5. — What fruits are now imported into the 
colony, either fresh or preserved? Please state kind, 
quality, and value, aud the market whence derived. 
Dried fruits, unspecified, from the United Kingdom, 
80,000 lb. ; value £1252. From Bombay, Oalcutt.i, and 
Madras, 195,867 lb. ; value £612. Mozambique, 608 lb. ; 
value £8. Ame. iea, United States, 850 tt>. ; value £14. 
Currants and raisins from the United Kingdom, 
183,828 lb. ; value £2541. From Gape Colony, 34,54k lb- ; 
value £346. Preserved fruit from United Kingdom, 
unspecified, 26,378 11). ; value £653. Calcutta, 180 lb, ; 
value not specified. Cape Colony, 38 IIj. ; value £». Fresh 
fruit:— Cape Colony, quantity not specified, value £lw. 
Mauritius quantity not specified, value £10. The total 
of imported fruit, preserved, dried, and fresh, is nearly 
£6000 per annum, while the exports are not quite 
half that sum. 
Question 6. — Please add any special points of interest 
connected with the fruits of the colony herein reported 
upon, which are desirable to place on record. 
In certain conditions of the weather favourable to 
the development of insect life, fruit is liable to suffer 
much, the only remedy for which is the maintenance of 
the trees in the most vigorous possible condition, giving 
proper heed to the due supply of manure and moisture . 
Violent hailstorms occasionally do much damage ; but 
as they are very local it rarely happens that a district 
suffers. Of two plantations a quarter of a mile apart, 
one may escape entirely, while the other may have 
been entirely denuded of its fruit. 
Regarding the institution of a fruit trade with the 
mother country, or with the neighbouring states, it 
appears to me that the first object should be to remove 
the necessity there is for importing fruit in a pre- 
served state or dried. As I have already observed, 
steps have been taken towards this end. When im- 
ports cease, no doubt there will be a surplus of 
preserved and dried fruit which may with perfect 
safety be placed upon the markets at home, or in 
other colonies or states where there may be a de- 
mand for the same. Much experience and unwearied 
care are necessary in the conduct of the export of 
fresh fruit. Facilities of shipment are, it is true, so 
great now, as to lessen the time the fruit requires 
to be at sea considerably below the period required 
fifty years ago for the passage from the Mediterranean 
or the Azores. It should, however, not be forgotten 
that the latter slow passage was made by a sailing 
vessel in a cold season of a temperate climate, 
while the modern quick passage is made through the 
tropics in a steamer of great heat. Preserved and 
dried fruits suffer comparatively little from such heat 
as would be totally destructive to fresh fruit. Much 
no doubt may be done by careful packing and the 
maintenance of the lowest temperature circumstances 
may permit, but these conditions may involve expenses 
that will exceed the value of the fruit when exposed 
for sale in the home markets. — I have, &c, (Signed) 
P. O. Sutherland. — Natal Mercury. 
: — 
Notes from Peermaad (Travancore), April 10th. — 
The splendid showers with which we were favored last 
month brought out a grand blossom, and the sorely - 
tried coffee-planter is beginning to feel a wee bit 
cheerful again, and almost to realize that the big 
crops of 15 years ago were actual facts, the " chiels 
that wwnna ding, " and not new creatures of his 
imagination ! Such a blossom has not been seen in 
this district for many years, and there is, so far, 
every prospect of the coming crops being a good 
one. Many of those, both here and elsewhere, 
who have gone in largely for tea, and whose opinions 
regarding the utter hopelessness of attempting to 
cultivate coffee successfully have been so extensively 
circulated, are, while no less loud in their praises of 
their pet product — tea, a trifle less abusive of "the 
Old King, " and are compelled to admit that their 
condemnations were perhaps a little too strong. Tea 
has also benefited enormously by the show ers, and 
has been flushiug nicely, so that planters generally 
are cheery, and, if not altogether satisfied with their 
prospects — by the way, when do agriculturists ever 
admit that they are satisfied ? — are decidedly much 
less dissatisfied than they have been for years.— 
Madras Times, 
