August i, iSgi.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
103 
PROMISING INDUSTEIES FOR JAMAICA. 
Valuable Lectuee by Mr. Morbxs. 
Not long ngo Mr. D. Morris, assistant 
Director at Kew Gardens, England, delivered a 
lecture under the auspices o£ the Kingston 
Horticultural Society, in the Exhibition Hall. 
There was a large attendance, and among those 
present were His Excellency the Governor, Lady 
Blake, the hon. Dr. Phillippo President of the society, 
the hon. S. C Burke, the Committee and Officers of 
the Kingston Horticultural Society and many ladies. 
The platform was decorated by the Botanical 
Department in a most tasteful manner with 
numerous plants and flowers, among Avhich were 
the Canna or Indian shot, (sent by Mr. Bowrey) 
some beautiful Euoharis lilies (sent by Mr. T. 
Oughton) and specimens of the cofi'ee, cocoa, nut- 
meg, and OQ ja plants, while on the table were a 
fine coUootionof tomatoes, sent by Mr. Bowrey and 
a basket of green peas sent by Col. White 
Oaklands. There were also samples of sisal 
hemp, bow string hemp, manila hemp and china 
grass. * * * « 
Mr. Morris, who was received with applause 
said : — The lime is a small aoid fruit which can be 
used in more ways than you, I am sure, are 
aware of. It can bo planted between the banana 
trees at 16 or 1^5 feet ap.i,rt and it springs into 
a small tree when it is 10 or 12 inches high. 
Where the bananas are exhausted then the limes 
are ready to be reaped for ihe first crop. The 
latter then can be used in many ways. They can 
be shipped raw, in barrels to Boston or other 
towna where they are used in lhat condition. 
The raw juicB can also be shipped to England or 
the States. The raw juice is concentrated; being 
holed diwn in large quantities until it is reduced 
to one twelfth of the original volume. It then 
turns of a black color and is called concentrated 
time juice. It is sent home for the preparation 
of citric aoid which is in much demand by the 
large factories of Yorkshire and Lanca»hire. In 
the centres of the lime industry, womtn sic in 
the plantations with brass basins in their hands 
in which by a simple process they bruise the 
rind of the lime from which a fine delicate acid 
exudes. At the end of the day the woman or 
girl gets paid 6d., ftd. or 9d. for the quantity she 
has obtained during the day. It is then filtered 
into a large bottle carefully stoppered, and sent 
home. This is the essence of oil of limes fer 
which there is a large demand. I can assure your 
that there is a wide and profitable field for any. 
one starting the cultivation of limes in this 
island. * * » * 
I now come to the oocoa or chocolate industry. 
Some years ago we thou^jut the chooolae industry 
had almost died out in Jamaica. It had been so 
neglected that except in soma few places no oocoa 
trees were left. Then the endeavour was made 
to revive the industry. There is not the slightest 
difficulty in establishing a coooa estate, you have 
already got your banana shading: all that is lefi 
to do is to raise the plants and put them under 
the , shade of the bAnanas. The oocoa trees only 
require to be carefully planted and pruned — young 
plants like the one here should ba very careiully 
pruned indeed— all the shoots should be removed 
and the trees encourage i to send out their female 
branches so that the pods borne on the stem of 
the plant may have plenty of light and air. The 
trouble here is in preparing the produce. I am 
sorry to say that out of 30 samples in the Ex- 
hibition there are not more than four or five that 
»rs good. Good cocoa properly cured sent from 
Jamaica would fetch 70/. it now fetches only 60 
to 60/— a loss of 10/ to 20/ solely due to th 
curing. 
When the pods are broken and the beans taken 
cut they should be fermented in such a way as 
to produce a change in the beans ; instead of 
being bitter and adhering to the beans the skins 
should readily come off, I appeal to those interested 
to try and do something to remedy these things. 
Jamaica coooa is at the bottom of the list of cocoa 
in the London market ; you lose 10a. per cwt. on 
account of bad cocoa. It is not reasonable that 
the people of Jamaica should throw away a sum 
equal to about £20,000 or £30,000 a year because 
they will not cure their cocoa properly. It is not 
because they do not know, for from the number 
of pamphlets that have j^been issued and infor 
mation given by myself and Mr. Fawcett it should 
be well known. There are two points with regard 
to the cocoa industry that may possibly assist to 
do good ; first it would be very desirable that 
some one acquainted with the black people should 
go among them and talk to them and explain to 
them exactly what should be done to cure the 
cocoa properly ; then the merchants of Kingston 
should not buy the half ripe, badly cured coooa 
which is being shipped in such a way as to 
bring diacredit on the island. The matter is in 
the hands of the merchants, they should refuse 
to buy the cocoa that is dried in the sun and 
allowed to become covered with dust and dirt. 
Those who ship it home and call it Jamaica 
cocoa are doing a bad turn to Jamaica. If they 
would offer a better price to the grower for good 
oocoa they would find the men willing to cure it 
as they ought. I do not think Jamaica deserves 
to be at ihe bottom of the list in anything. Blue 
Mountain coffee is at the head of the list ; pimento 
is unique, your sugar there is nothing to be said 
against and with regard to oocoa I think it is 
your duty to raise it above its present value and 
condition. I may say that the cocoa of Trinidad 
Grenada, Dominica and other parts of the world 
are f 11 taking rank above the cucoa of Jamaica. 
Gren ida cocoa is not of the beet kind, they have 
not got as good sorts as you have, but seem to 
take greater care in curing and they get better 
price ! than you, and near the prices in Trinidad. 
In Ceylon they took to preparing oocoa and although 
lately they have many enemies to contend against, 
their cocoa at the present time gets 110/ to 120/ 
per cwt. The other day a planter in Montserrat 
cured it in the Ceylon way and got 90/ per cwt. 
That shows in regard to oocoa that it is purely 
a matter of curing ii.— Jamaica Gleaner. 
PLANTING IN THE NORTH-CENTRAL 
PROVINCE : 
Cotton — Coconut — Palmyrah. 
Th3 tiifst Provincial Report for last year has 
reached us from Government this afternoon, being 
Mr. levers' for the North Central Province. We 
can lio no more today than say that Mr. levers is 
a firiQ believer in the future of his Province with 
its restored irrigation works and thousand village 
tanks. But that is in the Nuwarakalawiya division : 
Mr. levers is now anxious that something should 
be done for the Tammankaduwa district, and he 
sketches a road (already partly voted for), head- 
works on streams and sluices for tanks. Mr. 
levers considers Nuwarakalawiya " the best-, 
roaded district in the island," and yet Mr, 
