New Crops for Samoa

SOUNDING a note of encouragement for Samoan planters, Mr. Welhelm Hage dorn, in an address delivered recently on “Tropical Culture in Samoa” said he be lieved that cocoa, bananas and pineapples would be the salvation of Samoan growers now that copra had slumped. Mr. Hage dorn was for many years a prominent planter in Western Samoa in pre-war days, and is now engaged in tobacco cultivation at Cairns, North Queensland, where he gave his interesting lecture to members of the Queensland Naturalists Club.

Samoa is producing a first-class cocoa, he said, and persistent effort should be made to make it better known to cocoa buying countries. Though the cocoa mar ket is depressed, he expressed the view that the fall in price is only temporary and that values will recover.

Samoan bananas are exceptionally fine, he continued, but at present the export trade is handicapped by lack of adequate shipping facilities. He commented also on banana flour and urged that its manu facture should be concentrated on more seriously. Europe and America consume large quantities of this product and he believed Samoa could supply a large pro portion of their requirements if the Samoan product was widely advertised.