Sept, i, THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
FRUIT CULTURE IN CEYLON— 
ORANGES. 
One direction in which we are rather 
anxious tliat the eiithusiasni of the new Director 
of our Botanic Gardens should benefit the agii- 
culturist, is in connection with Fruit Culture. 
We have seen, and heard of, many interesting 
experiments with the cultivation of fruit, not 
alone in private gardens, but also on estate.s 
supervised by planters of horticultural tastes, 
whose leisure liours are not too exclusively de- 
voted to “sports and pastimes.” Few puisuits 
can give greater pleasure than horticulture ; 
while scarcely anything can contribute so largely 
to the pleasures of the table and the maintenance 
of health in a tropical climate, as the produce 
of the garden— dowers, fruits and vegetables. 
The Udapussellawa, Maturata, New' Galway 
and Nuw'ara Eliya planters have always been 
foremost in their interest in the cultivation 
of fruit ; and of recent years Mr. Nock’s oper- 
ations at Hakgala have contributed materially 
to maintain and stimulate that interest, and to 
add to the list of table delicacies. But there is no 
reason why Fruit Culture should be confined to 
the upland districts, and we know some lowcountry 
planters— prominent among them the veteran 
Mr. W. H. Wright of Mirigama— who have in 
the Western Province, taken an intelligent and 
successful interest in the growth and propa- 
gation of indigenous and exotic fruits. Generally, 
almost exclusively, the efforts of the growers 
have been directed towards supplying their own 
personal needs, and, perhaps, those of their own 
friends ; and seldom have attempts in the past, 
been made to supply the Colombo market or 
shipping. We are bound to say that such as 
have grown fruit beyond their personal require- 
ments, and made the attempts to find a market, 
have not a very encouraging story to tell. “ Fruit 
Culture looks very well, indeed, on paper,” they 
say ; “ and if one could only derive from 50, or 
even 20 acres, the profits estimated per acre 
from limes, or oranges or pineapples, one 
would not need to trouble oneself at all about tea, 
or coconuts, or other big products. It is when the 
fruits have to go to market that one realizes 
the hopelessness of the venture, with railway 
freight exorbitant and the market rates infini- 
tesimal.” We cannot dispute the facts which our 
friends submit for consideration ; but we refuse 
to accept the conclusions as inevitable, or per- 
manent. There are difficulties in the way of 
every new venture; and until supply and de- 
mand are fairly regulated by experience, the 
"■rower must be prepared for some disappoint- 
ment. We have known a Kentish fruit grower 
send 50 bushels of plums to Covent Garden and 
get back a debit note for Is 6d 1 A lush of 
plums s])oilt the market for the time, and rail- 
way rates — since amended—w'ere too high. Ho 
in Ceylon we want special “fruit” rate.s by 
railway and market experiments, before giving 
UD hope in this new indu.stry. For how many 
years, for instance, was not tea, now the first 
among our great exports, looked upon as an in- 
teresting shrub, but without any commercial 
value in the special circumstances of the island ? 
We have heard a story of the Messrs. Worms 
who exhibited some specimens of made tea, manu- 
factured on one of their Ramboda or Pussellawa 
properties by an imported Chinaman, at a Colombo 
Agri-Horticultural Show. Mr. George Wall, him- 
self the largest local importer of China tea — cofiee 
being then King here— was one of the Judges 
20 
at the Show an I pronounced the samples ex- 
cellent, and worth a guinea a lb. “It cost ns 
about five guineas a lb. to make,’’ said the 
shrewd and enterprising elder Jewish I’lanter- 
Merchant Mr. Gabriel Worms 1 And yet, the 
colla])se of coffee was the o]qiortniiity for tea, 
which is now manufactured and placed in the 
market at a ridiculously h)w cost from cer- 
tain favoured places. The laws of supply and 
demand have solved problems which once seemed 
insoluble; while im|)rovements in machinery, 
co-operation, and the handling of increasing 
quantities, have helpea to reduce the cost 
of production to a minimum. So it must be — 
and we trust soon will be — with Fruit Culture 
in Ceylon. There is money even in the commoner 
fruits of the country, such as those we have 
named; but the grower will, for sometime, have 
to be his own purveyor until a regular trade is 
established. One obstacle to success, which has 
been brought to our notice b}' a lowcountry 
planter who grew Mauritius ]jines in abundance 
a few years since, i.s the contract system which 
finds favour with Hotel Managers, and speci- 
ally with Steaiher Agents. Applications to such 
quarters, too often result .Jn references to the 
Dubashes and Purveyors from whom alone they 
draw all supplies ; and these are, of course, only 
prejiared to jray bazaar wholesale prices of the 
lowest standard ! Quality, size and llavour were 
denied a jilace, in the calculation. The dozen 
was their standard ! And being paid by the 
dozen, they supplied by the dozen without troub- 
ling themselves in the least about quality ! 
What wonder that, under such circumstances, 
Ceylon fruit .«erved up on board-shi]) are gener- 
ally a di.sgrace to the island, and that passengers 
who drop in for a day or two into our hotels, carry 
away a very poor notion of local fruit of all kinds. 
Surely, it ought to be worth some one's while to 
start a really good fruit-stall in the Fort, or 
within easy reach of it, where the best specimens 
of local fruit could be made available to house- 
holders and passengers. The drawback of the 
climate can now be guarded against through the 
cheapness of ice, while a steady demand might 
result even in the growing of some at least 
of our fruits out of season. Perhaps the enter- 
prising promoters of the Cold Storage Company 
will see in our suggestion a means of increasing 
the usefulness of their charge and supplying a 
farther want of the community. We are aware 
that Mr. Wright, already mentioned, has had 
an interesting and successful experience in one 
direction this very season. For the present we 
do not go into particulars; but erelong wc may 
have some account of his fruit-growing experi- 
ments from this veteran planter. 
So much for the commercial aspects of the 
question, which we have thought it necessary 
to disemss fully, quite as much in the hope of 
eliciting useful sugge.stioiis, as of making the 
public fairly acquainted with the ditliculties in 
the way of fruit-growing as an investment and 
a source of income. We now turn to the 
cultural aspect of one of our commonest and 
most wholesome fruits, which has been sug- 
gested by an article in the Trinidad Bulletin 
published by the Botanical Deiiartment of that 
island. The article is a most suggestive one, 
from the pen of Mr. Hart, the Huperintend- 
ent of the Royal Botanic Garden.'^, ami enqihasizes 
the need of grafting in dealing with the citrus 
species. To the question, do oranges come true 
from seed ? the writer, after a careful consider- 
ation of the pros and cons, returns an answer 
