130 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
[Aug. 1, 1902. 
A Record Banana Export.— The Jamaica 
Gleaner reports that the exportation of bananas 
for the year ending March last is likely to 
amount to a total of over ten millions of bunches, 
a record for Jamaica. The returns are compiled 
according to the computation of the companies, 
so that two small bunches are counted as one 
bunch. The total number of actual bunches 
therefore greatly exceeds ten million^. — W, I. 
Agricultural News, June 7 
Budding Oranges.— The practice of budding 
oranges is becoming a part of the regular routine 
at all the Botanic establishments in the West 
Indies. In the interesting ^mWc^mi of the Botanic 
Gardens at Trinidad, January 1902, Mr. Hart 
writes : — Some advance has been made in the 
propagation of the imporced kinds of oranges 
during the present year, and a fairly good stock 
of strong budded plants is now on hand. This, it 
is trusted, will do away with the complaint, so 
frequently heard, of oranges proving sour when 
raised from seed, a ease of which occurred during 
the present week. The stock used is thr\t of 
the Seville orange which does not suffer in our 
climate from stem-rot or mal di-gonima, as do the 
best of our St. Michael's and Tangerine kinds. 
The ' Wasliington Navel' is among the varieties 
successfully budded. I learn that in some instances 
the pupils who attended the recent Agricultural 
Lectures are meeting with fair success in budding 
and grafting. — W. I. Agricultural News, June 7. 
Coconut Buttbr, — The Journal of the Koya 
Horticultural Society for April contains this 
note on an article by Mr. J R .Jackson, which 
appearedin the Gardeners^ Chronicle for December 
1901 : — This substance has lately attracted a good 
deal of attention ; its m.mufactnre in this 
country [England] and on the ^Continent is now 
very considerable. It is manufactured from the 
kernels of coconuts, and is used as a substitute 
for butter or lard in cooking. It is sold in 
Germany at about 8d. per lb. It is claimed that 
it contains more than 90 per cent of vegetable fat, 
and that it is more wholesome and easier digested 
than the ordinary fat used for baking and cooking. 
It is said to be much in demand amongst vege- 
tarians, Jews and Mahommedans. In English trade 
it is known as ' Nucoline.' — We might add that 
coconut suet also figures in the English market 
nnder the name of ' Vejsu.' — W. I. Agricultural 
News, June 7. 
Preserving Egos. — Tho following methods of pre- 
serving eggs are given in the July Part of " Work": — 
Add 1 pt. of unslaked lime to 1 nal. of water, boil, 
stirring it well, then pour it into a backet and allow to 
cool, and the lime to settle at the bottom. Now fill 
some glazed earthenware jars with new-laid eggs, then 
pour on the clear lime water to cover the eggs, tie a 
piece of bladder or some non-porous material over the 
oop of the jars, and store away in a cool place. This is 
an old-fashioned method and it has the objection of 
making the shells brittle, and to some extent gives the 
eggs an unpleasant taste. Anything that will seal up 
the pores of the shell will preserve the eggs, and coat- 
ing with white of egg, or painting with gum-water, or 
greasing, wdl keep them fresh for a time. At a recent 
show in Birmingham, some eggs were preserved by 
rubbing with vasidine and packing in bran, and some 
were rubbed with lard and packed in peat mould. 
Water glass is now often used for preserving eggs. 
Water is boiled and allowed to oool, then one-tenth of 
its bulk of water glass is added, and this is used in a 
manner similar to that employed with the lime-water 
dosoribecl above. 
FLOWKRI?}a OF THE VICTORIA RtGIA AT 
Kew. — Notwithstanding the late season and the 
absence of bright sunlight, writes the head gar- 
dener, Mr Hawes, the Victoria Regia growing 
here opened its first flower on the 14th instant, 
Saturday last, and nearly a month ahead of last 
year. The leaves are already 5 feet 6 inches in 
diameter, and another flower will open in a tew 
days. — Gardeners' Chronicle, June 21. 
Lagos Silk Rubber.— The tree yielding this 
rubber is being gradually established in the West 
Indies. The name Kickccia has now been re- 
placed by Funtumia, derived from the West 
African name of the tree. It is noticed that 
tlie young plants, if left to themselves, are 
liable to form a bushv habit and thus rendered 
less valuable for rubber-yielding qualities. To 
correct this it is recommended that the trees be 
pruned by gradually taking off all the lower 
branches and that one central, clean stem be 
encouraged. Evtn when the trees are tolerably 
large this is still required to be done if they are 
to be tested, as they should be, for yield of 
rubber. The Central American rubber tree 
(CasHlloa) and the Lagos silk rubber tree {Fun- 
tumia) evidently are the most promising rubber 
trees for cultivation in the West Indies. — W.I, 
Agricultural Neios, June 7, 
The Navrl Orange in California.— Re- 
ferring to Mr Tidmarsh's note on p. 225 ot your 
issue of April 5, I write to say that the Bahia, or 
as it is here called the Washington Navel, is the 
principal shipping Orange of California, furnishing 
over three-fourths of, 20,000 train-car loads of 
Oranges exported from California in the season of 
1899-1900. With us it is a good bearer, but in 
Florida it is said to produce but shyly. It is by 
no means an infrequent occurrence to firwl a second 
Orange at the apex of the first, and all stages of 
development between the ordinary "Navel" and 
the well-developed second Orange are often found. 
Writing in Meehan's Montlily some time ago 
(the reference is not accessible to me). Prof. W 
W Bailey, of Brown University, says : — " We 
take it that in the Navel Orange the branch or 
shoot continues to grow, producing another tier of 
carpels above or within the first set. The lower 
set is more vigorous, presses upon and crowds the 
inner, forming, at last, the characteristic dimple 
or navel which gives the fruib its name. Such pro- 
lification of a flower-branch is seen any day in the 
two or more storeyed inflorescence of Chinese 
Primroses ; or in the still more striking cases 
where a Cherry, Rose, or Apple-blossom continues 
a leafy shoot through its middle." The figures 
refered to by Mr Tidmarsh are to be found on p. 
56 of a publication of the California State Board of 
Horticulture, entitled Culture of the Citrus in 
Calfornia, by the late B M Belong, Secretary, 
"assisted by experienced horticulturists "; it was 
published in 1900. Another illustration will he found 
in Dr H .J Webber's article on " Citrus " in Bailey's 
Cyclopaedia of American Horticulture, p. 322. 
Another account of the Bahia occurs in the same 
woi k under " Orange," pp. 1152 to 1160, togeoher 
with other information of interest and value 
to Orange-growers. A more extended and 
thoroughly reliable account of the Orange indu-itry 
in California is contained in Wickson's Cidifornian 
fruits and Hoiv to Grow them, ed. 3, San Francisco, 
Pacific Rural Press, Joseph Burtt Davii, AsHstani 
Botanist, Agricultural Experiment Station, Ber- 
keley, Oalijornia. — Gardeners' Chronicle, <!! am 21 ■ 
