Sept. 2, 1901.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
17S 
has fallen during the last fifteen years, that of cocoa 
has nearly doubled, and two-thirds of the amount 
.goes to Earope. This is an additional proof, if any 
were needed, that, under fair competition, the British 
West Indies are able to hold their own. Equal success 
might be anticipated with fruit if the facilities enjoyed 
by Jamaica for the transport of perishable produce 
could be extended to some of the other islands. The 
Royal Commission recommended, as a start in that 
direction, that Dominica arrd St. Vincent should be 
placed by a subsidised service in direct communication 
with New York. But the Secretary of State has pre- 
ferred to persuade the Imperial Parliament to pay 
fI3,500 annually for a connection between the Lesser 
Antilles, British Guiana, and Canada. The experi- 
ment has not been altogether i success ; one of the 
ships was wrecked on the coast of Grenada under 
circumstances which were the reverse of creditable. 
The only other subsidised service, with the exception 
of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, which has 
been in existence for nearly sixty years, is the direct 
line between Jamaica and Bristol, which has been 
inaugurated so recently that its value cannot ade- 
quately be determined. Its object is to encourage the 
growth of fruit in Jamaica, and especially of bananas 
and oranges. The extent to which the cultivation of 
bananas has already been carried is an exemplification 
of the results following from the judicious application 
of brains and capital. Two extracts will show the 
transformation undergone by a district in the north 
of the island. 
In 1861, after a personal visit, Trollope wrote that 
Port Antonio was once a goodly town, and the country 
round it, the parish of Portland, as fertile as any 
in the island. But now there is hardly a sugar estate 
in the whole parish It is given up to the growth of 
yams and plantains. It has become a provision 
ground for Negroes, and the palmy days of the town 
»re of course gone. 
Twenty-six years later Dr. Morris could write the 
following glowing report : — At first the fruit was 
purchased in small quantities from Negro peasants in 
the neighbourhood of Port Antonio. There was prac- 
tically no capital invested in the cultivation. The 
settlers were induced to grow bananas in small patches 
of an acre or two and to deliver the fruit at the port 
of shipment. In the aggregate these small patches 
produced bananas sufficient to fill all the first ships 
engaged in the trade. The fruit trade in Jamaica is 
now the means of circulating nearly £500,000 annually 
amongst all classes of the community, and this large 
■am is immediately available in establishing other and 
more permanent industries. Bananas come into bear- 
ing at the latest in about fifteen or eighteen months 
from the time of planting, and, as the return is usually 
from £10 to £20 per acre, the planter is able, with a 
eomnaratively small capital, to establish his land in 
cocoa, coffee, nutmegs, limes, oranges, and coconuts, 
which, when the bananas are exhausted, will remain a 
permanent source of revenue- It is on this account 
that the fruit trade has always been regarded as 
capable of building up, little by little, an improved 
condition for the people, not only of Jamaica, but of 
other West Indian Islands suitable for the indnstrj. 
Latterly, many sugar estates hare been converted into 
banana walks, and all sections of the community have 
taken part in the enterprise. 
This vast improvement is entirely due to the Boston 
(now United) b ruit Company, which, duringthe season, 
which lasts from March to August, despatches as many 
fti six or eight steamers weekly to Boston, Phila- 
delphia, and New York. And the progress has been 
well maintained, eight million bunches having been 
exported in 1899 as agiinst four and a quarter in 1895. 
When it is considered that each bunch contains more 
than 100 bananas, some idea may be formed of th« 
mtniitnde of the trade. 
For the present the Bristol to Jamaica line will 
operate on a much smaller scale than the United Fruit 
Company ; but it is understood that Messrs. Elder, 
Pempster & Co. aic prepared to extend their uscle);< 
taking as soon as success is assured. "We should 
welcome this scheme, not only because it fosters trade 
between the Mother Country and a British Colony, 
but because it affords to that Colony access to a secure 
market. It is an open secret that Jamaica desired a 
Beciprocal Treaty with the United States, not so 
much for the sake of the sugar industry as in order to 
obviate the danger of a duty upon its bananas. 
Citrus fruits are heavily taxed in the interests of the 
growers of California and Florida, and it is feared 
that a similar fate may befall bananas if Cuba and the 
Philippines are admitted, similarly with Puerto Ripo 
and Hawaii, into the American commercial union. 
It is almost superfluous to point out that the present 
policy of the United States is to impose heavy duties 
upon all articles which are, or might be, produced 
within its borders. And in Cuba and Puerto Rico, 
however it may be in the Philippines, are many 
districts thoroughly suited to the cultivation of 
bananas. The new line is, therefore, a most wise form 
of insurance : nor can Jamaicans grumble at the 
annual charge of ^£20,000 when the Imperial Parlia- 
ment pays an equal amount. 
Mr. Walker had much to say about " sugar " 
and the work of Dr. Morris, and here is a curious 
paragraph : — 
I wish to touch upon a somewhat delicate matter. 
There is not the cordiality of relationship between the 
Department and the planters which might be ex- 
pected in view of its principal aim and object. To 
this extent its utility is impaired ; but, while I sym- 
pathise with Dr. Morris and his subordinates, I cannot 
altogether blame the planters if I am right in seeing 
herein the cloven hoof of the bounties. They argue, 
I take it, that an increase in the productivity of the 
cane might be counterbalanced by higher bounties, 
■and that it could have no effect in improving the credit 
of the industry, the lack of which is its greatest 
misfortune, while it might be held to weaken the claim 
to countervailing duties. In any case, the protected 
cane-sugar growers of Louisiana are equally able to 
profit by the work of the Department, and they do not 
hesitate to do so. 
THE AFRICAJS ELEPHANT 
QUITE TAMABLE 
(To the Editor of the Times.) 
Sir, — In several journals I have lately read 
allusions to the supposed fact that the African 
elephant cannot be tamed, or, at all events, that 
all modern attempts to use it in the same way 
as its Indian relative have tailed. I venture to ask 
the authors of these paragraphs (which appear to 
hare been derived from IJelgian authority) to pay 
a visit to this society's gardens, where they may 
see every afternoon a full-grown elephant of the 
African species engaged in carrying women and 
children up aud down the principal parade. So 
far as the experience of this society goes, the 
African elephant, if proper measures are taken, 
is as easily-trained and reduced to obedience as 
the Indian elephant, although the males of both 
species, when they attain fully adult age, become, 
in some instances, liable to occasional fits of ill- 
temper. 
It is desirable that the fact of the African 
elephant being perfectly tamable should be more 
widely known, because the belief that the con- 
trary is the case may tend to interfere with the 
very laudable efforts now being made in several 
of our African protectorates for the preservation 
ot this noble beast. — Yours, &c., 
P, L SCLATER, F.R.S. 
Zoological Society of London, 3, Hanovef-square, 
July 3rd,— London Times, July 5, 
