May i, 1895.1] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURtST. 
767 
Tasmania.— The following is a list of steamer 
carrying Tasmaniau AppleB, Reason 1895, giving date 
sailing, and approximate number of cases shipped ;— 
Feb, 25, per Cuzco ' 1.245 cases 
March 4, „ Rome 12,447 „ 
„ 11, „ Anstral 23,782 ,. 
„ 18, „ Parramatta 22,979 „ 
,. 25, „ Ophir 23.3% „ 
April I, „ Oceana 9;906 „ 
,, 8, ,. Orizaba 11*025 „ 
„ 15, „ Australia 9,229 „ 
„ 22, „ O ova 14.175 „ 
„ 29, „ Massilia 22 390 „ 
Total 160,574 „ 
In addition to the above, there will probably be 
three outside steame-s, carrying about 20,000 cases 
altogether, and making an approximate grand total 
of 190,574 cases. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 
War Water Valley in Jamaica.— The river 
valley depicted in the photograph is one of the 
prettiest in th» beautiful island of Jamaica. It is 
in the heart of the lower slopes of the Blue; 
Mountains, where the Mango-trees of India are 
re-clothing the land once cleared for Coffee planta- 
tions. Close by are the lovely Castleton Gardens. 
In the foreground is a negro-hut surrounded by 
Banana trees, over-topped here and there by lofty 
Cocoa-nut Palms. Along the banks of the streams 
are tall trees of the Horse- wood (Calliandra latifolit) 
species of Anonacere and Malvaceae, with the rampant 
cable-like growths of Entada scandens, the "Cocoon" 
of the negroes. The feathery plumes of Bamboo 
shoot up Irom the water's edge, both softening the 
aspect of the scenery, and marking the devious course 
of the steam. The late Prof. Froode vi-ittd this 
beautiful valley in 18861 He says, "Wild nature 
was luxuriantly beautiful. We picknicked by the 
river, which here is a full rushing stream, with 
pools that would have held a salmon, and did hold 
abundant mullet. We found a bower formed by a 
twisted vine fEntad 1 scandens) so thick that neither 
sun nor rain could penetrate th3 roof. The floor 
was of shining shingle, and the air breathed cool 
off the water. It was a spot which nymph aud 
naiad may haunt hereafter, when nymphs are born 
again in the new era the scene remains upon the 
memory 'ike some fine finished work of art. " — B.M. 
—Ibid., , ... ..{A, 
Colonial Fruits.— Up to the c ose of last week 
three Hieamships had arrived here from the Cape, 
fruit laden, aud in a short t ; me the first fruits of 
the colonial supply were dispersed, a large quantity 
finding its way to the stalls of the hucksters. This 
latter fact indicates 1 ither an oversupply, or inferior 
quality • unfortunately, both facts are required in 
explanation, and we regret to think that, fruit-shippers 
at the Cape nave ai;ain learnt the lesson that not 
anything, or everything, wi 1 find profitable cusiomers 
in London, at this tini3 of year. True, the intense 
cold must have affected sales, but unripe fruit will 
ly sell at a very low price, as now, f r instance, 
J boxes of Sweetwater Grapes fetched only Ihd. 
per lb. nil over; Tomatos were in many instances 
equa ly unripe, and equally low in price. We are 
informed that, betwe n them, the thrre steamers 
carried to London nearly 2000 boxes of Peaches. 
450 boxes of Nectarines, 150 boxes of Apples, some 
of which were carried outside the cool fruit room, 
and arrived in tine ord ; 370 boxes of Pears 758 
boxes of T matos, 6 boxes of Greengages, 2o boxes 
of Chillies (which fetched 4s. per box of 300 fruits); 
four boxes of Plums were not s'dd the other day : 
16 boxes of Grandillas, we were told, fetched 9a. 
per box; Granes numbered 200 ;boxes ; and of Melons 
there wvre 22 boxes. Pea.;hes rang, d in price from 
3s to 13s. per box of twenty. Apples varied much 
iu size, so also in price. But it is idle to proceed 
seriatim with fruits and prices— nearly all are now 
th.ngs of the past; but sundry lea on r remain for 
growers and shippers, which, we trust, will be taken 
to heart, and the determination formed to send for 
the future, on'y the best— for in this way lies the way 
to prone — l/>i'l. 
on 
100 
The " Ceylon Forester." — A monthly magazine 
of Forestry, Natural History and Shikar, edited by 
H. P. C. Armitage, Forester Trincomalee. Contents 
for March : — Forest Reserves. No. III. ; Teak Plan- 
tations ; Exportation of Ceylon Orchids ; A New 
Industry ; New Books ; Elephant Catching ; Corre- 
spondence ; Changes in the Department. 
The Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana) — " Red 
Crdar is the wood of lead pencils,; and practically 
the wood in a:l these indispensable articles, at 
least iu pencils of gonl qualily, is the wood of 
this tree irom Florida, where there are great fac- 
tories belonging to German manufaturers, devoted 
to cutting up Cedar wood into pencil stock. Every 
artist in all the civilised world, every mau of letter, 
every school-teacher, all the bankers, lawyers and 
ether men of affairs, the men aud women who 
control the world, and all the school-children who 
are going to control it, hold every day in their hands 
a piece of this w od. It would be interesting to 
know what portion of these men and women, the 
most intelligent aud b st-educated of the human 
race, knows anything of the origin of these little 
cylinders of wood, of the character and appearance, and 
01 the name even of the tree that budd. them up in its 
Ion* life of slow accretions. ' — Garden and Forest. 
Coffee in the Nilgiris. — Mr. King-Harman of 
Drayton, Kotagalla, who is now in Colombo, is leaving 
the island on the 27th inst. in the " Avoca " for 
Madras en route to the Nilgiris, where he has just 
acquired by purchase an estate that he will plant up 
with coffee, and which he hopes to extend as time 
goes on having been strongly advised by his brother- 
in-law. who is a planter in the Nilgiris, and by our 
old friend, "Dick" Turpin, formerly of the Scrubbs 
and of the Kelani Valley, to purchase the estate, he 
is off to become a Nilgiri planter. His purchase, 
which is at present virgin soil, for no part of it has 
yet been opened, is situated at an elevation of 4,200 
ft., and it is reached from Madras in nine hours or 
thereabouts. He visited the place a short while ago, 
and was very pleased with what he saw. Coffee on 
the neighbouring estates was flourishing; while a man 
could not desire a country that offered more in the 
way of sport. Mr. King-Harman is taking with him 
four-and-a-half couples of hounds, and he speaks half- 
earnestly of bringing a footer team down from the 
Nilgiris to beat Colombo and Up-country in the 
coming August. Evidently he is not going to let 
himself rust as an athlete ; we hope that as planter- 
proprietor he will find his path a smooth and pros- 
perous one. 
West Africa : Niger Coast Protectorate. 
— We are in receipt of an interesting- Adminis- 
tration Report (covering August 1893 to August 
1894) furnished by Sir Claude MacDonald to 
Lord Kimberley on the administration of the 
Niger Protectorate. Sir Claude has been doing 
a good deal of travelling ami exploration 
along the 10 rivers running back from over 250 
miles of coast and lie is well backed by his 
stalf ':— Vice-Consul Wall ; and Capt. H. L. 
(lallwey, Fast Lancashire Regiment, Vice-Consul 
for Benin, where lie '.' has clone most excellent 
work ;" while Mr. Horace W. L. Billington as 
Curator of Botanic Gardens supplies very interest- 
ing Reports. A London correspondent in drawing 
our attention to Mr. Billihgton's Report says : — 
" This is a good record of what has been done by a 
man with a commercial training. Trained at Malvern 
House, Sydenham. A 24 Lime Street, in drugs and 
plants." 
The opening passage iu the Curator's Report 
explain- his mission : — 
" In February of last year (1893; I had the honour to 
be appointed by Sir Claude MacDonald, k.c.m.g., 
Curator of the botanic station that he was just starting 
for the purpose of ascertaining what economic plants 
were suitable for cultivation in the Protectorate, and 
to encourage the natives to grow them as well. a< 
an example for them to see how useful plants should 
be planted and grown. I arrived in Old Calabar on the 
20th March, 1893." 
