April i, 1895. J 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
685 
the various preparations of maize and black beans 
called trijolcs, the staple food of the lower classes. 
Among these fruits may be mentioned the mango, 
pinejpple, custard apple, alligator pear, lemons, 
limes, oranges, and bananas, the latter forming an 
impoitant article of export. The cultivation of such 
fruits as strawberries and cherries, in fact, all those 
indigenous to a cooler clime, has not met with any 
great attention, buo could doubtless be grown with 
successful results in the temperate zones. An 
important article of expoit is tobacco, which is the 
finest grown in Central America, and is said by some 
to equal the Havana product. This is one of the 
oldest agricultural industries in Honduras, having 
flourished as far b iqlt as the last century, when it 
was grown with g eat success in the department of 
Santa Rosa. The industry has flourished satisfactorily, 
and considerable quantities of tobacco are annually 
exported, a large portion to Havana, where it is re- 
dressed and sold in a manufactured state as Cuban 
leaf. Coffee, the staple export of the neighbouring 
Central American Republic, has never engaged much 
attention in Honduras, although the berry grown 
there is asserted to equal that of Guatemala and 
Costa Rica. The sugar industry is also in a back- 
ward state, and m this, as with coffee, there is room 
for considerable development. Mr. Gosling states 
that the former might well constitute an important 
article of export, as the cane is of superior quality 
and thrives remarkably well, both in the plains and 
mountain districts. It is estimated that there are 
about 800 acres devoted to the cultivation of sugar- 
in the Republic, the departments of Comayagual 
Gracias, Yoro, and Santa Barbara being the chief 
centres of the industry. One of the staple agricultural 
products of Honduras is the banana, large quantities 
of which are annually exported to the United States. 
It flourishes best on the Atlantic coast, where it is 
marvellously prolific and commercially successful. 
Another branch of agriculture eminently suited to 
the soil is the cultivation of indigo. As yet, how- 
ever, it is only grown on a small scale by tne Indian 
population, but it has attracted attention in the 
United States from its superior quality, and in the 
valleys of the Chameleon the plant is at piestnt 
being largely sown. Last year the trade was un- 
usually brisk, and large exports were made to France. 
Maine glows throughout the country in a semi-wild 
state. Wheat and other cereals are successfully 
raised, but the amount produced does not suffice to 
meet the requirements of the country. Rice is grown 
in small quantities by the Indian population, who 
also cultivate potatoes and cochineal, cotton, vanilla, 
sarsaparilla, and numerous other minor agricultural 
products. Cattle-breeding is among the most im- 
portant industries in tne country, and live stock 
forms one of the chief articles of export, while in 
dairy-farming there is, according to Mr. Gosling, a 
decided opening for the foreign settler. In the 
capital and towns throughout the country cows' 
milk is scarce, and is retailed at almost prohibitive 
prices. As a natural consequence, the manufacture 
of butter is small, and what is obtainable is of very 
inferior quality. Large quantities of thin cheese are 
made for home consumption, but it is of a poor quality. 
In conclusion, Mr, Gosling says that there is room 
for considerable development in all branches of the 
agricultural industry in Honduras. This is, however, 
not due to any want of success on the part of the 
agriculturist, but is directly attributable to the 
sparseness of the population, demonstrating equally 
the wide field existing in Honduras for foreign 
immigration and private enterprise. — Juanm! of the 
Society of Art*. 
MooKSHKDABAD MANGOES. 
[llV J'ltAsAXXA K. T.AIItKI, MoOItSH KDAJBAD. ] 
ll cannot bo definitely stated when and by 
whom the cultivation oi the mango {Mgcngifera 
Jsm&sa — not Unl A tici 'iri/'iria) wax first intro- 
i; duced into this district. Some of the earlier re- 
cord? of .Mahomedan rule ohow that there wore 
then only two varieties existing- in the country, 
viz., the Maldah and the Choonakhali ; and these 
long before Moorshed Kuli Khan founded the 
city. Maldah having been a border district, it 
was quite natural that the cultivation of the 
fruit should have reached here long before it was 
known to the distant parts of the province. 
Choonakhali was a village in the environs of the 
old cown ot C'ossimbazaar. Whether Choonakhali 
and Maldah were of the same stock cannot even to 
this day be decided, as they dilier widely in size 
flavour, and appearance. Tradition, however' 
ascribes the introduction of the fruit to one of 
Hindoo Rajahs of Kanganiati by whom it was 
brought from Gour, when the latter was deserted 
as the capital of Bengal, owing to the insalu- 
briousness of its climate. Be that as it may, I 
am of opinion — and this opinion is shared by 
many — that the variety known as the Moorsheda- 
bad mangoes are the cross-production of the 
Maldah and the Choonakhali sorts. 
It is said that the improvement of mango cul- 
ture rose to its climax during the time of JN'awab 
ivaziui Mobaruck-ud-Dowlah, the youngest son of 
Meer J after, on or about the year 1790, when 
Meer Koka, his nurse's son, and a great favourite 
of his, laid out the splendid Mobaruck Munzil 
garden and planted therein hundreds of man^o 
trees of rare varieties. There were, however 
mango groves dating from the days of Moorshed 
Kuli and Ali Yardi Khan, but they bore no fruit 
worth the name. And no sooner was the system- 
atic culture of the mango initiated by the 
Meer Koka, then all the waste lands around the 
city were utilized in a profitable direction. 
Mango delights in a rich, sandy loam, and this 
fact accounts for the superiority of the man<>oes 
obtained on this side of the river over those ''town 
in liarh, where the soil in general is hanf clay 
of mountainous origin. 
Trees are propagated from seeds, i.e., the stone 
inside the flesh of the fruit, or by cuttings. Seeds 
are generally sown in seed-beds 18 inches apart" 
in rows of tlie same distance from June to August' 
and seedlings appear in about ten days. They 
are removed and planted elsewhere during the 
rains the following year, with their taproots 
gently cut by a pair of sharp scissors, care been 
taken not to inflict the slightest injury to the 
small thread-like crown roots. They are then 
permanently transplanted to the place prepared 
tor their reception the next year. Cutting's are 
made from the small branches, either by "rafrin" 
or by inarching, the latter method being esteemed 
the more profitable and easy, and free° from the 
risk of failure. 
It is usual to plough the land in order to re- 
duce it to a fine tilth. Holes are then dug 18 
inches deep and of 18 inches diameter^ at 
a distance of 30 feet from each other and 
20 feet between the rows. They are then 
filled witli small pieces of bones, a hand- 
ful of kunkar modular lime-stone, burned) 
lime, and fresh dry earth, and left to the influ- 
ences of the atmosphere till the approach of the 
periodical monsoon, when the seedlings and cut- 
tings are, as stated above, put in. " \\ ben tin- 
rains are over, should the plants show signs of 
withering, they are occasionally watered and 
weeds around the roots exterminated. They 
generally bear blossoms in the third year, but to 
allow the plants to attain full development and 
size the blossoms are destroyed by the sprinkliii- 
of hot water and the roots are laid open in 
Novemlier or (December and filled with dry earth 
to drain off the excessive moisture absorbed dux. 
iog the rail);, • 
