Aug. 1, 1902.] 
Supplement to the " Tropical Ac/riculiumt," 
145 
It may possibly aid the Institute's department 
in its enquiries if I mention that 1 was once shown, 
and ate, at an isolated American Mission, a very 
light cake made of rapoko, and advantageously 
used by a person whose indigestion had been im- 
paired by illness. The rapoko was "sprung," then 
well ground, and then " bolted " through some fine 
stuff so as only to leave a fine flour of which the 
cake was made. I do not mean to suggest that 
native labourers are to be fed on cakes. 
Natives complain, perhaps with some little 
truth, that all their grain is rendered disagreeable 
or injurious to them by European methods of 
grinding. It must be remembered, however, that 
Basuto and others grind Kaffir corn without husk- 
ing it, and even eat it boiled whole. At home, as 
I have said, the Mashoua women always stamp 
"rukweza," etc, in stamp blocks to g,et rid of the 
hard husk before they grind it into a fine meal. 
They mix it with sufficient water, and boil it 
about half-au hour, continually stirring it with a 
stick, to make their porridge. AVith it they use 
salt, which they now obtain from Europeans. 
They used to obtain it by burning a certain grass 
growing besides the rivers, putting the ashes in 
water, filtering it through sand, and boiling the 
water till a sediment of salt was produced. Each 
village used to have its salt manufacturer. (Native 
labourers will require to be well provided with 
salt.) 
"Munga," or " nyautzi," as the Zulus call it, 
is penisetum typhoideum. It is a small whitish 
millet-like grain growing on a head or cob some- 
thing like a large bulrush, at the head of a 
stalk something like that of Kaffir corn. Natives 
particularly dislike the meal made from this grain 
by grinding it in European mills ; they say the 
porridge from it gives them internal pains and 
dysentery, from the presence in it of particles of 
the flinty husk. They only eat it at home after 
this husk is got rid of by stamping, and it has 
been finely ground and n ade into porridge. 
THE PACKING OF FEUITS AND SEEDS 
BY J. H, HART, P.L.S., 
Superintendent, Royal Botanic Gardens, Trinidad- 
(1.) FRUIT. 
My first experience of packing fruit for ocean 
transit was in October, 1873. In that year I 
sent a box of Nova Scotia apples from that country 
to England. I ventured to mention at the time 
to Dr. Masters " I think Nova Scotia bids fair 
to become the apple-producing couufry of the 
future." How far this has been realised is within 
the knowledge of many who have seen these 
apples in the English market. My consignment 
was a ,-uccessful one ; Dr. Masters reported : 
" They were packed in coarse sawdust and came 
to hand almcit without a bruise." These apples 
were among the first, if not the first, sent to 
England from Nova Scotia. To-day the trade 
is of considerable dimensions. I mention this 
to show that by good packing much may be 
done in the way of exciting -interest iu new 
productions in suitable markets. 
Some people hold that only valuable goods are 
worthy of good packing, and that cheap things 
will not pay to pack well. Such arguments are 
fallacious. So far as my own experience goes, 
whatever is worth packing at all is worth packing 
well, for even if the packing costs more than 
the article itself it should nevertheless be pat 
upon the market iu the best possible condition. 
Cheap and ineffective packing is d«ar at any 
price. It is clear that it is better to expend 
20 per cent, on packing, rather than lose 40 
per cent. or'SO per cent- of the returns owing to 
defective packing. West Indian orange growers 
have been heard to say; "We cannot afford to 
pack the same as the Mediterranean people." 
The reply is clear. " Then do not expect to get 
a market for your goods." There can be little 
doubt that in the fruit trade the profit comes 
chiefly in the economy with which the packing 
is carried out. By economy, I do not mean 
cheapness. It is certainly false economy to 
pack fully ripe oranges in barrels for cheapness. 
With i'ruit, as with plants the material must 
be iu good order. It will never pay to shake 
down the oranges from the tree to the ground' 
carry them for miles in a cart and then shunt 
them into a barrel. Success can never attend 
such handling, for all fruit must be handled as 
carefully as eggs. A blow that would crack an 
egg, will certainly destroy a fruit ; and if such 
fruit is packed, no matter how carefully, it will 
assuredly arrive at its destination in bad order. 
To secure arrival in good condition all fruit must 
have been carefully gathered, and, without 
exception, treated in the most careful manner 
to prevent bruising. 
Fruit also requires certain treatment previous to 
packing, to assist in securing safe transit. This 
treatment is what I would call "hardening,'' No 
fruit should ever be packed when freshly gathered, 
but how long it should remain must be learnt by 
experience, as a great deals depends upon the 
state of the weather. Oranges should be picked 
at least three or four days before packing, and 
laid out in single layers until all the moisture 
or what is kuowuas the "sweat" of the fruit ha 
disappeared. To pack fruit when wet or damp is 
to court certain failure. Thef uU details of packing 
are too long to include in a paper of thiskiud. 
There is one point in connection with tem- 
perature which must be taken into account. 
If fruit, such as bananas are kept at too low 
a temperature they become "chilled" and will 
rot before they will ripen. It has been frequently 
stated that to carry fruit successfully,' it is 
necessary to use ice chambers. I believe this 
idea to be a mischievous one, and it has hindered 
in no little degree the problem of the safe transit 
of fruit. The Jamaica No. 11 mango was safely 
sent to England from Jamaica in 187.3, whea 
the transit took 21 days from port to port. In 
187o, and again iu 1891 the mangosteen reached 
home from Trinidad in good couditior-. In uo 
case was cold storage used. Apples which reach 
the West Indies iu ice vessels, if packed near 
the ice are valueless for flavour, while those 
brought over in well ventilated packages, stowed 
properly iu a cool part of the ship arrive iu 
