Jan.  t,  1897.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
485 
With  anything  like  so  great  an  advance — or  even 
if  we  have  to  face  llo  to  120  inillioii  lb. — it  is 
quite  clear  tliere  sliould  be  no  relaxation  in  the 
efforts  to  win  new  marke  s.  And  most  certainly 
we  are  not  in  favour  of  restricting  tlie  expen- 
diture on  advertising  in  eitlier  America  or  Russia’ 
Quite  the  reverse.  If  it  be  true,  too,  that  any 
dealer  who  can  shew  he  holds  and  sells  Ceylon 
tea  in  either  country  on  making  apidication  to 
Commissioner  or  Committee,  is  almost  certain  to 
receive  help  towards  advertising,  the  objection 
raised  against  partial  subsidising  should  in  a 
great  measure  fall  to  the  ground.  It  is  quite 
evident  that  no  one  can  be  more  interested  in 
the  success  of  the  mission  he  has  taken  up 
than  the  Planters’  Agent  for  America,  Mr. 
Win.  Mackenzie,  and  no  doubt  he  will  feel  as 
all  out  here  do,  that  a special  ellbrt  is  required 
to  push  our  teas  during  the  coming  year  in 
view  of  the  expected  large  increase  in  c'n.p.  If 
we  could  only  move  the  Indian  tea  planters  to 
an  adequate  sense  of  their  duty  and  responsibi- 
lities ill  America  as  also  on  the  Continent  of 
Europe,  in  Australasia  and  South  Africa, 
success  would  be  far  greater.  The  want  of  stocks 
of  Ceylon  tea  seem  to  be  a draw- 
back in  America  and  to  give  Indian  tea  a pull 
over  us.  A common  complaint  seems  to  be  : — 
“ V'eiy  good  teas,  but  they  cannot  be  matched 
to  standards”  -consequentiy  when  Ceylon’s  are 
asked  for  and  cannot  be  got,  Indian’.s  have  to 
be  supplied. 

TllOPlCAb  FRUITS  IN  MADEIRA. 
Once  upon  a time  there  was  an  agreeable  connection 
between  India  and  Madeira,  for  it  was  to  that  little 
island  in  the  North  Atlantic  that  Anglo-Indians,  in 
the  latter  part  of  the  last,  and  the  early  part  of  the  pre- 
sent century,  were  indebted  for  the  strong-bodied  wine, 
with  the  fine  bouquet,  that  their  souls  loved.  The  in- 
sidious attractions  of  the  bleml  that  was  called 
*■  urandy-pawnee  ” had  been  ci.^covered,  but  this  was 
not  the  beverage  of  what  then  passed  as  good  society. 
Indian  pale  ale  had  not  yet  commenced  to  point  the 
beery  w.iy  to  a peer.i.ge;  and  whisky  was  only  found  in 
the  bungalow’s  of  the  mo.st  Caledonian  of  Scoto-In- 
dians..  Abstemious  officisls,  like  Warren  Hastings, 
prided  themselves  on  their  Madoria,  and  gave  stand- 
ing oi’ders  to  their  wine-merchants  in  London  to  make 
to  them  periodic.rl  consignments  of  that  wine.  But 
times  and  tastes  have  changed,  and  hardly  anybody 
in  India  nowadays  drinks  Maderia,  or  indeed,  fancies 
it.  For  all  that  the  tight  little  island  remains  where  it 
stood  in  the  dim  and  distant  past,  and  it  continues  to 
atiract  to  its  rocky  shores  a number  of  people  who  are 
afflicted  with  weak  lungs,  and  who  have  to  flee  from  t ie 
severities  of  winter  in  Northern  Europe.  It  is  one  of 
the  oldest  possessiou.s,  and  it  is  u av  a province  of 
Portug.al,  so  that  it  has  the  right  to  send  deputie.s  to 
the  Coites  at  Lisbon.  It  is  350  miles  from  the  north- 
west coast  of  Africa,  525  mites  from  Lisbon,  an  t 43fl 
mites  from  the  Azores.  It  is  linked  w'ith  Europe  at 
Lisbon,  to  the  north-east,  and  with  Brazil  to  the  far 
West  by  submarine  telegraph  cables.  It  is  about 
thirty  miles  long,  and  it  has  at  the  rvid- 
est  poiut  a breadth  of  only  thirteen  miles,  and 
its  coast-line  extends  to  about  ninety  miles.  It 
is  of  volcanic  origin,  and  it  is  remarkable  for  its 
ridges  of  lofty  mountains,  which  attain  an  altitude 
of  (5,100  feet  abeve  sea-level.  The  sea  all  around  it 
is  very  deep,  and  the  island  is  no  more  than  the 
crowm  of  a gigantic  mountainous  formation,  that  has 
its  wide  base  in  the  depths  of  the  ocean.  At  one 
period  the  islands  was  covered  with  primeval 
forest,  in  which  no  other  reptile  than  a liz.ard  could 
be  found  and  it  was  owing  to  the  weaUhof  materia, 
or  *•  wood,”  ihat  the  early  I’ortuguese  travellers  con- 
ferred upon  it,  in  their  picturesque  way,  the  eupho- 
nious name  that  it  bears.  The  forests  were  not 
conserved,  hut  were  ruthlesdy  destroyed  by  the 
strange  mixture  of  Negro,  Moor,  and  European  that 
constitutes  the  local  population.  The  Portuguese 
Government  was  far  more  skilful  in  making  con- 
quests than  in  turning  its  territorial  acquisitions  to 
good  account,  and  as  at  Goa,  so  also  at  Madeira, 
Die  material  and  moral  progress  of  the  country  was 
and  is  systematically  neglected.  The  disafforestment 
of  the  highlands  in  the  island  has  robbed  it  of  the 
Best  means  of  storing  the  torrential  rains  that  fail 
during  the  summer  mouths,  and  the  plains  suffer 
acutely  from  the  consequent  wants  of  moisture  in 
the  winter.  The  Government  has  expended  money 
grudgingly  upon  the  construction  and  maintenance 
of  irrigation  works  and  tanks,  but  this  e.xpeuditure 
has  been  far  below  the  needs  of  the  island,  and  the 
cultivation  of  all  crops  is  seriously  checked  by  the 
chronic  dryness  of  the  ground  in  the  best  season.  So 
scanty  is  tlie  water  supply  that  in  some  localities  water 
commands  a higher  price  than  land.  Bat  in  the  few 
favoured  places  where  water  is  to  be  had  without 
much  difficulty,  it  is  no  unusual  thing  to  see  vines, 
sugar-cane,  sweet-potatoes,  and  cabages  growing  thick, 
ly  on  the  same  ground,  regardless  of  the  objections 
to  over-cropping.  And  as  the  temperature  never  falls 
below  44  degrees  in  the  winter,  and  stands  at  about 
85  degrees  in  ihe  summer,  several  tropical  fruits,  that 
have  been  introduced  from  time  to  time,  have  taken 
kindly  to  the  soil.  Some  information  about  these 
fruits  is  embodied  in  a report  that  was  submitted  to 
the  Marquis  of  Salisbury,  as  Foreign  Secretary,  by 
Mr.  Vice-Consul  Bell,  at  Funchal,  last  October,  and 
we  have  gleaned  some  information  from  this  record 
that  may  possibl}’  interest  those  of  our  readers  who 
cherish  a regard  for  natural  history. 
The  “ lilligator  pear”  is  the  principal  tropical  fruit 
grown  in  the  island.  This  fruit  is  not  indigenous,  for 
it  was  imported  from  Mexico  or  Certral  America, 
and  acclimatised.  It  is  called  ‘‘ Aguacate”  by  the 
Indiana  in  Mexico ; ‘‘  Abacate’’  by  the  Portuguese  j 
“Avocado”  by  the  Spaniards;  and  “ Avocado  pear,” 
or  “Alligator  pear”  by  the  English.  Botanically  it 
is  known  J'orsta  The  tree  is  tail  and 
slender.  It  grows  to  a height  of  about  70  feet,  and  has 
dome-shaped  branches  and  smooth  green  leaves, 
resembling  those  of  the  laurel.  The  fruit  grows  in 
clusters  of  three  to  flve,  and  is  shaped  like  a pear, 
with  a dark  purple  brown  tint.  It  contains  one  large 
globular  seed,  around  which — mango  fashion — is  the 
pulp  or  edible  portion,  which  in  some  French  colo- 
nies is  exiled  “vegetable  butter,’  as  it  has  the  con- 
sistency of  butter.  This  pulp  is  stated  to  possess  a 
delicate  nutty  flavour,  which  is  greatly  appreciated 
by  those  who  have  acquired  a taste  for  it.  The 
fruit  is  eaten  either  as  a salad,  being  seasoned 
with  pepper  and  salt,  and  a suspicion  of  vinegar  to 
bring  out  the  flavour,  or  as  a dessert  fruit,  with  a little 
su  ar,  like  a melon.  Next  in  importance  to  the 
alligator  pear  comes  the  banana,  of  which  there  are 
two  vaiieties  in  the  isiiuid,  namely,  the  dwarf,  and 
the  filver  bananas.  The  dwarf  or  Chinese  banana, 
is  known  botauically  as  the  J/usa  CarenJishii,  and  it 
is  grown  largely  for  bo  h local  consumption  and  for 
exportation.  The  wholesale  price  is  about  3s  6d  per 
bunch,  and  a gcod  sized  bunch  contains,  as  we  all 
know  in  India,  a very  large  number  of  individual 
bananas.  In  London  the  retail  price  of  bananas,  as 
sold  by  costermongers  from  barrows  in  the  streets, 
is  a half  penny  each,  at  which  there  is  an  active 
demand.  There  would  seem,  therefore,  to  be  a 
handsome  margin  of  profit  for  the  wholesale  im- 
porter. The  silver  banana  is  much  mors  delicate  in 
flavour,  and  only  about  half  the  size  of  the  dwarf 
banana,  which  is  sold  and  largely  consumed  in  the 
London  stree’s,  a coarse  fruit  that  offers  no  attraction 
to  an  old  tropical  resident  who  remembers  what 
well-bred  and  well  grown  plantains  in  Aladras  are 
like.  The  hanami  in  Madeira  is  found  to  grow  best 
on  fresli  lami  shf  llered  from  the  wind,  which  is  apt 
to  uproot  the  trees,  and  seriously  damage  the  fruit. 
Artificial  manure  is  advantageously  employed  in  the 
fertilisation  of  the  trees,  and  the  application  of  large 
quantities  of  offal  from  the  slaughter-houses  and  the 
fish  markets  is  found  to  be  beuelicial  in  increasing 
the  weight  of  the  branches  and  the  size  of  the  fruit. 
