Feb. 1, 1904.1 THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST^ Sll 
and about equal to the poorer grades o£ hay. The 
grounds hulls are used to a considerable extent as 
a coarse fodder in European countiies. "• 
SUGGESTIONS FOB THE FUTURE. 
Enough has been said to demonstrate the value 
of the ground nut as an article of food, as a 
source of oil and oil-meal, and, incidentally, as 
fodder. It now remains to discuss how the plant 
might profitably be employed in the West Indies. 
As a source of i<ooii.— Ground nuts being appre- 
ciated is the West Indies for this puipose, and 
selling at a remunerative price, it might be sup- 
posed that enough nuts would be erown to meet 
the comparatively limited local demand. Such is 
not the case. In Trinidad, as already mentioned, 
the market is principally supplied with American 
produce. In Jamaica also ground nuts are largely 
imported. The St. Lacia Blue Book for 1899 records 
the importation of 916 bushels of American ground 
nuts, valued at £165, and in 1900 of 960 bushels from 
the same source, valued at £172. These instance are 
sufficient to show that sufficient nuts for the local trade 
are not at present produced locally, and that there is a 
distinct opening for trade in this direction. 
As a source of Oil and Oil meal. —We have shown 
that oil from the ground nut is an excellent 
substitute for olive oil, and, in fact, is often un- 
knowingly used instead of olive oil. Ground nut 
oil for many purposes is superior to cotton seed 
oil. The cake remaining after the expression of 
the oil is " one of the moat concentrated feeding 
stufis with which we are familiar, ranking with 
cotton seed meal, linseed meal, etc., and in some 
oases ahead of them. " 
AS AN ARTICLE OF EXPORT, 
In order to ascertain their value in the British 
market, the Department forwarded in 1902 two small 
consignments of ground nuts for valuation and report. 
The samples sent consisted of nnts selected for size 
and general appearance. 
Messrs, Leete, Son & Co. of Liverpool, on April 
21, 1902, reported as follows : — " Having examined 
the sample of ground nuts we are of opinion that 
same are very tine in size, and would be saleable 
in considerable quantities for eating purposes at a 
value of about £16 10s to £17 per ton, if the 
outside shell could be kept clean and bright, {(his 
is important, as people buying for dessert purposes require 
a nice appearance), also the nuts should be dry when 
shipped, as we find that inside the shell the kernels 
are inclined to be mouldy in the sample. 
Should it be impossible to obtain the nuts in any 
better condition than the sample shows, they would 
only be fit for crushing purposes, and the value would 
only be from £10 to £11 per ton, but no doubt large 
quantities could be sold for this purpose. 
" This year there is a partial failure in the Senegal 
ground nut crop, while India (East) has produced a 
considerably larger crop than usual. " 
Messrs. James Philip & Co., to whom the second 
sample was sent, replied : — 
" With reference to the ground nuts we shall be 
happy to try and sell any you may send over, 
but the brokers say they ought to be cleaner 
looking : much better specimens come from the 
States and elsewhere, and they will fetch about 
£3 to £1 a ton more without the shells. At present 
they are worth about £9 to £12 a ton here, perhaps 
more, but like everything else, it is all a question 
of supply and demand." 
In both the reports it is to be observed that stress 
is laid on the importance of the nuts being clean 
and of good colour. One method of improving the 
appearance of the nuts which suggested itself was 
by bleaching, as is carried out witn other kinds of 
nuts, on a commercial scale, in some parts of the 
world. 
In the experiment made the method adopted was 
* Pea Nuts, Culture and Uies, p. 6, 
that described by Prof. E. W. Hilgard* aa havin/;; 
given satisfactory results in California. The nuts 
were immersed in a solution made up in the 
proportion of 6 lb. of bleaching powder and 12 lb. 
of washing soda to 50 gallons water. After re- 
maining in this bath for five minutes the nuts 
were washed under a tap, and placed in a second 
bath containing about 6 oz- of sulphurous acid to 
2 gallons of water. 
The weak solution of sulphurous acid was em- 
ployed in place of bisulphite of lime recommended 
by Prof. Hilgard, this chemical not being obtain- 
able at Barbados. After five minutes in this bath 
they were again washed and then spread out in 
the sun to dry. The whole bleaching process 
(exclusive of drying) took about fifteen minutes. 
The results were very satisfactory. The nuts so 
treated had a nice, bright, clean appearance. They 
were free from any objectionable smell, and their 
flavour was not injured in any way. 
One ready method of ascertaining whether the 
treatment had had any injurious effect on the nuts 
was to test the germinating power of ' bleached ' 
and ' unbleached ' nuts from the same original 
sample. This was done. The peroentiges in the 
two cases were ' bleached ' 74 per cent., unbleached 
72 per cent. 
The bleaching may safely be regarded as without 
harmful effect on the nuts.— IFfsi India Bulletin. 
♦ 
AGRICULTUEE IN THE EAST AFRICA PRO- 
TECTORATE. 
For agricultural purposes the East Africa Protectorate 
may be divided into two sections — the lowlands and 
highlands. By the former are meant the districts oo 
the coast, along the Tana and Juba rivers, and aroand 
Lake Victoria; by the latter, the central plateaux 
situated in the provinces of Ukamba, Maivasha, Kenya 
and Kisumu. 
PRODUCTS IN THE LOWLANDS. 
The lowlands may described as being everywhere 
a moderately rich tropical country, and in parts ex- 
ceedingly rich. Coconuts are abundant, and copra 
is exported. The best trees are found in the Lama 
Archipelago and the districts to the south of Mombasa. 
It is said that the coast from the Lamu Archipelago 
to Vanga offers as good a field for the cultivation of 
the coconut palms as Ceylon, 
India rubber is also already a considerable export, 
which it is hoped will greatly increase with time. 
The East African rubber is a creeper of the genua 
Landolphia, the best quality being L. Kirkii. it is 
found growing up trees in the Arabuko and Maeli 
forests, on the 'I'ana river, near Witu, in Gosha, 
and generally wherever forest or sub-forest is met 
with. Gum copal is also found in many forests, and 
the timber has been well reported on. There is a 
large export of boiitis or mangrove poles, known in 
the trade as Zanzibar rafters. Bice, maize, and 
various grains are, according to H. M. Commissioner 
at MomDasa, very abundant, and he is of opinion 
that there are two important branches of tropical agri- 
culture which will flourish in the lowlands — parti< 
cularly if they are undertaken by firms who are 
unable to prosecute them on a large scale — uamely, 
tobacco and cotton. 
Tobacco is being grown at present near Gasi, to 
the south of Mombasa, and it is said that the results 
obtained are satisfactory. A leaf of superior quality 
is also reported to have been grown near Lama 
by a German firm some years ago. 
* E. W. Hilgard: 'The Bleaching of Nuta by Dip 
ping. ' Partial Report of work of the Agricultural 
iLxperiment Stations of the University of Cdliforuia, 
1895-6 tt 1896-7 , p. 109. 
