472 
THE  TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
[]an,  r,  1897. 
INDIAN  MANGOES  FOR  THE  RKITISIl 
MARKET. 
Tlie  following  artic  e appears  in  the  Fruit 
Grower  of  the  18th  November  : — If  there  were  no 
other  psychological  reason  for  bringing  before 
our  reader's  the  importance  of  introducing  the 
famous  mangoes  grown  on  the  island  of  llonibay 
to  tlie  British  markets,  tlie  unquestioned  suc- 
cess of  the  recent  importation  into  tliis  country 
of  oranges  from  New  South  Wales  would  surely 
serve.  But  the  celebration  next  year  of  our 
Queen’s  long  reign  leads  us  to  seriously  urge 
upon  the  merchants  and  salesmen  of  this  country 
the  advisability  of  taking  advantage  of  the  special 
occasion,  and  considering  the  most  important 
question  of  popularising  the  fruits  grown  in  our 
colonies  and  dependencies.  We  think  an  ed'ort 
should  be  made  to  show  next  year  in  every 
possible  way  the  facilities  we  possess  of  supplying 
the  home  markets  with,  not  only  the  necessaries, 
but  the  luxuries  of  life  produced  within  the  red 
line  of  the  Empire. 
INDIAN  FRUIT  GFNF.RALLY. 
If  the  orange,  which  is  a fruit  to  be  handled 
with  considerable  care,  can  be  safely  and  satisfac- 
torily transported  from  the  Antipodes  to  this 
countrjq  and  meet  a ready  demand,  there  can  be 
no  reason  whatever  why  fruits  grown  in  Imlia 
should  not  be  more  than  equally  successful.  India, 
the  native  home  of  the  orange,  of  the  lemon,  ami 
other  citrous  fruits,  is  within  15  days’  steam  of 
the  markets  of  the  mother  country  ; and  the 
merest  tyro  can  estimate  lor  himself  what  this 
means  to  the  fruit  growers  of  India.  It  may  bo 
urged  by  the  thoughtless  that,  well  suited  as 
India  most  unquestionably  is  for  the  growing  of 
almost  every  kind  of  fruit,  it  is  a land  where  very 
little  fruit  is  actually  grown,  and  the  varieties  are 
singularly  few.  This,  however,  is  only  a matter 
of  time,  and  we  shall  without  doubt  succeed 
in  stimulating  the  native  landowner  and  produce 
grower  in  India  as  soon  as  we  show  him  clearly 
that  a safe  and  sure  market  exists  for  all  orchanl 
produce  that  he  can  place  in  sound  condition 
upon  the  markets  here.  It  is  not  only  in  this 
country  that  fruit  may  (irove  the  salvation  of  the 
owners  and  tillers  of  the  soil.  It  is  a far  larger 
question  with  regard  to  India,  but  none  the  less 
worthy  of  the  serious  consideration  of  all  concerned. 
SIR  GEORGE  lURDWHlOl). 
There  is  one  fruit,  however,  which  is  grown  in 
India  as  it  is  grown  nowhere  else— the  succu- 
lent, toothsome,  savoury  mango  ; and  it  was 
only  natural,  when  we  had  decided  to  introduce 
this  matter  to  our  readers,  that  we  should  en- 
deavour to  collect,  for  their  edification  and  in- 
struction, some  particulars  of  what  has  been 
done  in  respect  to  the  importation  of  this  fruit 
into  Great  Britain  ; and  this  ’irought  us  into 
immediate  communication  with  Sir  George  C.  M. 
Birdwood,  K.C  I.E.,  C.S.I  , who  may  be  said  to 
be  the  pioneer  importer  of  the  mango  into  this 
country. 
Sir  George  has,  however,  only  attempted  to 
deal  with  the  matter  on  purely  private  lines. 
He  has  for  twenty-live  years  past  received  from 
frieiui.s  in  India  small  consignments  of  mangoes  ; 
and  his  success  up  to  within  the  past  few  years 
was  only,  to  say  tlie  most,  moderate.  The  fruits 
arrived  in  this  country  in  a badly  unsound  con- 
dition, until  that  system  of  packing  which  we 
have  for  so  hnig  advocated  in  connection  with 
nearly  all  fruits  was  adopted  ; and  the  moment 
this  simple  and  elfective  method  was  tried  it  was 
successful.  The  beautiful  mango  fruits  now  arrive 
in  .splendiil  condition,  and  they  are  a luxury 
rvith  which  only  very  few  in  tliis  country  are 
acquainted.  Grown  on  the  island  of  Bombay, 
where  by  far  the  best  mangoes  are  cultivated, 
gathered  at  the  right  time,  carefully  wrapped 
in  paper  and  packed  in  shallow  boxes  partitioned 
olF  in  pigeon-holes,  as  it  were,  each  to  hold  one 
fruit,  with  holes  drilled  to  admit  of  perfect 
ventilation,  the  fruits  now  come  over  in  abso- 
lutely ]ieifect  condition  ; and  are  received  by 
.Sir  George  Birdwood  and  those  friends  who  are 
fortunate  enough  to  share  his  con.signments  with 
the  real  pleasure  which  their  merits  a.s  a fruit 
umpiestionably  deserve. 
Sir  George  was  led  to  inqiort  these  fruits  from 
the  fact  that  being  an  old  Anglo-Indian,  and 
having  eaten  the  fruit  regularly  for  years,  as 
soon  as  he  came  back  to  this  country  the  crav- 
ing for  the  mango  developed  to  a (legree  that 
was  only  to  be  satisfied  by  the  actual  article 
being  brought  within  his  reach  ; and  the  disap- 
pointment and  vexation  attendant  upon  the  un- 
succe.ssful  nature  of  the  early  importations  can 
be  best  conceived  by  those  who,  under  similar 
circumstances,  have  patiently  awaited  the  ar- 
rival of  a much  cherished  luxury. 
The  best  consignments  of  mangoes  received  by 
Sir  George  Birdwood  have  invariably  been  from 
Mr.  Jamsetjee  N Tata,  Justice  of  the  Peace, 
Esiilanade  House,  Bombay;  and  no  one  could 
better  advise  than  this  princely  Parsee  merchant 
in  organising  the  coming  great  fruit  trade  be- 
tween British  India  and  this  country. 
TRANSPORT  ARRANGEMENTS. 
The  acceleracion  in  recent  years  of  the  service 
between  Bombay  and  England  has  overcome 
the  ditliculty  of  transport.  The  judicious  gathering 
and  packing  of  the  fruit  has  followed,  and  thus 
all  hindrance  to  its  introduction  on  commercial 
lines  here  are  abolished.  The  P.  and  0.  boats 
usually  arrive  at  Bombay  on  the  homeward 
journey  with  a fair  amount  of  room  for  cargo, 
and  there  is,  therefore,  no  iloubt  that  special 
arrangements  could  be  made  between  merchants 
on  this  side  and  consignors  on  the  other  to 
develop  this  very  jiromising  branch  of  the  fruit 
trade.  The  credit  of  establishing  this  [irofitable 
Anglo-Indian  business  will,  we  believe,  be  eagerly 
sought  by  merchants  and  growers  alike. 
AROUT  THE  MANGO. 
A good  mango  is  one  of  the  most  luscious  fruits 
grown,  and  a mango  grove  is  a sight  to  be  remem- 
bereil.  Full  of  juice,  fleshy,  with  a soft  puli>  like 
flesh  of  the  consistency  of  iiardened  butter,  about 
the  size  of  a very  large  orange  with  a peculiar 
point  at  the  end  of  the  fruit,  the  mango  grows 
three  or  four  on  a stalk  at  the  end  of  a branch. 
It  is  in  shape  very  like  a large  kidney  potato. 
In  the  centre  of  the  fruit  is  a large  stone.  Hat  like 
a bean,  the  kernel  being  of  a most  peculiar  and 
delicate  llavoiir,  and  considered  a great  luxury 
when  roasted. 
There  are  many  peculiar  virtues  attributed 
by  the  native  Indian  to  the  mango  to  which  we 
shall  refer  when  dealing  with  the  matter  in  a 
second  article ; but  we  feel  that  we  have  suHi- 
ciently  urged  the  permanent  title  of  the  mango 
to  be  pl.aced  on  the  list  of  fruits  for  the  home 
markets  from  over-sea  dependencies.  We  trust 
that  no  time  will  be  lost  by  those  of  our  readers 
who  are  in  a position  to  move  in  the  matter  of 
introducing  this  fruit  on  a sulliciently  large  scale 
to  make  it  jiupular  in  this  country. 
We  shall  bo  pleased  to  i>lace  those  willing  to 
ncgoti.ate  for  consignments  of  mangoes  in  com- 
inunication  with  growers  iu  India. 
