JwLY 1, 1902.J THE TROPICAL 
arrival of the " Post Morant," the'pioneer vessel of 
the fleet, was awaited througout the island in 
February last, and the crowds which thronged the 
wharves to watch her progress up the harbour when 
her approach was signalled. It was felt that the 
liuKS which bound the ancient British colony to 
the mother country, neglected and almost rusted 
through, were now being forged afresh, and that a 
new e°ra was about to dawn. And I remember how 
eagerly the telegram was longed for which should 
announce the arrival of the ship at Bristol, and the 
condition of her cargo ; and what a wave of rehef 
and rejoicing swept through the island when news 
of the best was flashed "across the wires. Since 
then the venture has made steady progress, and the 
fruit trade between Jamaica and England may be 
regarded »s being established on a firm basis. 
Experience and resolution have corrected the faults 
and overcome the drawbacks inseparable from the 
initial stages of such an experiment, and the tide is 
steadily flowing, never again, let us hope, to ebb. 
Not content with exploiting the fruit trade, Sir 
Alfred Jones has insisted on the advantages of 
Jamaica as a health and a winter resort— with 
which I shall deal later on— and has leased from 
the Government the two principal hotels of the 
island, placing them under such management that 
the tourists and invalids whom he conveys thither 
in his steamars may enjoy to as great a degree as 
possible the comforts to which they are accustomed 
at home. 
The first-class return fare is only £32, and the 
voyage— in itself a pleasure and a substantial Lene- 
fit to°3hose in weak health — lasts but from twelve 
to thirteen days each way. 
The principal disadvantage attending the culti- 
vation of the banana is the danger of destruction by 
gales of »rind that would not aifect any other des- 
cription of cultivation. Added to this is the careful 
handUng which the fruit requires to prevent its 
being rejected by the buyers on account of braises. 
On the other hand the profits are enormous and may 
be calculated at not less than from £9 to £10 per 
acre per annum. Thus damages by storm or flood 
can always be amply recouped within twelve 
months, the period which elapses between the 
pltnting of the sucker and the reaping of the 
mature fruit. 
An excellent, nutritious, and easily digestible 
flower is made from the green fruit ; and the deve- 
lopment of this branch of the industry only awaits 
the discovery of some pi ocess by which it will be 
possible to produce the flour so cheaply as to en- 
able it to compete with wheaten flour. When that 
shall have become an accomplished fact, millions 
of bunchei which are nov^ unmarketable and are 
thrown away, or given as food for pigs and other 
stock, \Till be turned to use and profit. 
Pineapples are now receiving great attention in 
Jamaica. Certain kinds of them bear transport 
better than any other description of fruit with 
which I am acquainted. Some fellow-passengers 
of mine brought over several in May last, simply 
stowed underneath the berths in the cabin, and on 
our arrival at Bristol, they looked as if they had 
been gathered the previous day. 
The Jamaica orange is second (o none in flavour 
and juiciness, especially the khid which grows — 
practically quite wild - in the parish of Manchester. 
Headers of Mr. Fronde's " Bow of Ulysses," will 
remember his almost rapturous description of the 
kandeville orange. The great bulk of this fruit is 
.^ow shipped to the United States ; wid as already 
AGRICULTURIST. ^ 
stated, it is being systematically cultivated. Ex- 
perts who have been driven out of the state of 
E''Iorida— Jamaica's chief rival in the American 
orange market— by repeated frosts, have migrated 
to Jamaica and turned their attention to the culti- 
vation and packing of the fruit there. This pro- 
duct is also receiving its due share of attention at 
the hands of Sir Alfred Jones; audi have been 
greatly gratified by seeing in the fruiterers' shops 
in Bedford, Jamaica oranges which in appearance 
and flavour leave nothing whatever to be desired. 
The cultivation of cocoa, has very largely increased 
of late years. It is now planted, almost as a matter 
of course, in all the banana fields, where the ban- 
anas afford the young plants the shade which is 
indispensable to them for the first year of their ex- 
istence. The same soil suits both, and the one 
cultivation does not interfere with the other in the 
slightest degree. At the same time the art of cur- 
ing the cocoa is mach better understood than was 
previously the case, and the Jamaica product is 
now steadily bridging the great gulf in price that 
not long since lay between it and the celebrated 
Trinidad cocoa. 
i. offcc has shared the fate of most other products, 
and suffered disastrously in competition with other 
producing centres of vast extent which are being 
opened up year by year; but the delicate Blue 
Mountain coffee, which is grown at high altitudts 
among the mountains, still maintains its reputa- 
tion for unrivalled flavour, and has not been affected 
by competition in the same manner as the lower 
grades. 
I am unable to assign any reason for the fact that 
the excellence of the Jamaica tobacco is not more 
widely known in the United Kingdom. It is a fact 
that as good a cigar, of local manufacture, can be 
purchased in Jamaica for twopence, as would cost 
at least sixpence in London. The manufactures of 
the island supply it entirely with cigars, and to a 
great extent, with cigarettes, manufactured almosc 
exclusively from native-grown tobacco, only the 
outer leaf or "wrapper " being imported; but it 
does not appear that any attempt has been made to 
establish export trade on a large scale. The to- 
bacco trade has hitherto been exclusively in the 
hands of Cubans, who, driven from their own coun- 
try by constant rebellions and Spanish oppression, 
have settled in Jamaica, in considerable numbers, 
most of them becoming naturalised as British 
suljjects. But this industry is now receiving the 
attention it deserves at the hands of a gentleman 
who brings to bear upon it not only wealth, but 
position ai.d influence. He is the Hon. Evelyn 
Ellis, uncle of the present Lord Howard de Waldeii, 
and a large land owner in the western part of the 
island. He has there established a tobacco plant- 
ation which is already the largest, under the con- 
trol of any one man, in the world. Factories have 
been erected on the spot, and cigars and cigarettes 
are been turned out in large quantities. There is 
also a chemical laboratory in which highly skilled 
experts experiment with numerous other products 
that now run to waste, There is not the least 
doubt that Mr Ellis's exertions will be of incalcul- 
able benefit to the island, especially if he takes up 
the mater of an export trade in cigars to the mother 
country. He it was who entirely revolutionscd the 
breeding of cattle for draft purposes in the island by 
importing stock from India to his magnificent pro- 
perties of Jamaica, which, crossed with the native 
breed, make the most ideal draft oxen that can be 
desired, His herds now practically supply th^ 
