6dd 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[FEERrARy I, 1SS4, 



particulars of their cost in Ceylon as against the cost 

 of Chinese labour here at the present time, the cost 

 of Malabar labour in Ceylon being for the month £19 

 153. lltl., as against £99 IBs. 4d. for an equivalent 

 of Chinese labour in the Territory. No doubt, until 

 cheaper labour in introduced, such a great ditl'erence 

 in the price of labour will be a bar to some of these 

 industries. I am happy to sav tliat there are large 

 areas of land equal, if not superior, 10 that which 

 Mr. Poett is operating upon, but being much farther 

 inland are not sought after at present. They will, 

 however, when a radvvay is made to Pine Creek, 

 come within easy reach, Then these lands would, 

 with good management, give a handsome return for 

 capital, and afford occupation to a large number of 

 labourers. It is a fact well known in agricultural 

 history that moderate success in cofi'ee-plautiug re- 

 turns a good percentage upon the outlay, and that 

 those who are thoroughly successful reap profits calcu- 

 lated to satisfy the expectations of the most san- 

 guine. On the block of land on the Adelaide River, 

 5,000 acres, originally granted to Mr. Sergison, and 

 Eubsequently transferred to Messrs. Fisher & Lyons, 

 cultivation has been commenced. In September last 

 year cane-cuttings were planted, and during the wet 

 season twenty-three acres of maize were grown. Both 

 cane and maize grew well until towards the end of 

 January, when, unfortunately, the crop was eaten off 

 by large numbers of rats, and within a fortnight of 

 the time the maize was fit to gather they took every- 

 thing before them, and the labour of thirteen men 

 employed during the previous six mouths was lost. 

 Ploughing is now being proceeded with on this plant- 

 ation, and efforts will be made to get 200 acres under 

 cultivation by the end of the year ; and I sincerely 

 hope tliey will be crowned with greater success tlian 

 they were rewarded with last year. There is one 

 other obstacle to successful cultivation here, and un- 

 til the fact is boldly looked in the face and combated 

 with, 1 do not think the best results will be arrived 

 at. I refer to the long dry season. As a rule, very 

 little rain falls for seven months in the year, but I 

 believe that this drawback can be successfully over- 

 come by artificial irrigation, and in many places at no 

 very great cost. At the time I commenced occupy- 

 ing my present position the previous quarter was draw- 

 ing to a close, and I am not aware whether Mr. Price 

 furnished any of the following information ; I there- 

 fore give the following list of exports and imports 

 for the last six months; — p]xports, — Gold, 12,398 oz., 

 £43,448 ; tin, 7 tons 8 cwt., £370 ; sugar, 4 cvvt., £2; 

 sundries, i;259 ; total, £44,079. Imports. — Total value 

 for lasl ."ix months to dutc, £.54,739. Customs. — 

 Revenue for last six months, £9,248 193. 4d. Passen- 

 gers. — Inwards, 539 ; outwards, 208. Leaving a balance 

 of 331 in favour of immigration. — Q. R. MoMinn, 

 Acting Government Resident. — Adelaide Observer. 



The Creosote Plant and American Lac. — In 

 certain portions of the south-west in the United 

 States is a thrub which grows abundantly, and partic- 

 ularly on the borders of the Colorado Deeert, where 

 it is so luxuriant that it acts as a barrier to the drift- 

 ing sand. This is the Creosote plant (Larnea Made- 

 ana), and is a sure sign of a barren soil, for it 

 flourishes where nothing else will, and although it 

 gives the scenery a beautiful verdaut appearance, it 

 has such a strong repulsive odour of creosote, that 

 no animal will touch it. Even for fuel it is alniost 

 uselees, as it can scarcely be made to burn. The 

 odour is due to a resinous matter, of the value of 

 which the Pimos Indians have long been aware, as 

 they collect and form it into balls, which they kick 

 before them as they journey from one point to the 

 other of the trail. This exudation lias been shown 

 by Mr. iStiUmaD, of (^aLforuia, to be identical with 



the gum-lac of India, and he believes that the lac is 

 secreted by the insect found in it, and that it is not, 

 as usually supposed, the result qt an exudation of the 

 plant caused by the punctures of the insect. The 

 Enlomoiogist of the Bureau of Agriculture does not 

 consider that the insect itself is the same as the 

 Ca?teria lacca, the incrustations of lac on the creosote 

 plant not being so thick as that produced by C. lacca ; 

 but as it presents a similar system of large and com- 

 plicated excreting organs, he has na,med it V. lame, 



Public Opinion. 



A New Tea Pest. — A correspondent of an Indian 

 contemporary, writing from Lower Assam at the end 

 of July, thus describes a new peat and his method 

 of dealing with it:— "About the end of May numer, 

 OUB caterpillars, about an inch long and of a dullish 

 brown color, were noticed,; but they did not at first 

 attack the tea plants. However, they shortly began 

 to do so, eating the bark of the one and two-year 

 old shoots and causing the plants to die back ; iu 

 some cases nearly to the ground level. Small low 

 jal plants suffered most. . At first only a patch separ- 

 ated from the rest of the garden by a load was at- 

 tacked, but later they spread over the rest of the 

 garden, I have only just finally got rid of the cater- 

 pillars. I had millions gathered and destroyed, and 

 iu this operation I found that lying down pieces of 

 mango, which attracted large numbers of caterpillars, 

 was of some assistance. In gathering. the insects it 

 was necessary to use a small piece of bamboo as a 

 pair of tongs, as the caterpillars induced an itching 

 sensation if touched with the skin. This pest has 

 hitherto been Unknown in Lower Assam, as far a I 

 can ascertain." — Planltrs' Gazelle. 



Tea CoLTUBE IN the United States.— Many ex-' 

 periinents have recently been made in the cultivation 

 of the tea plant in the United States, and generally 

 with excellent results. In California the plant has^ 

 been cultivated with considerable success. The dilEc.'' 

 ulties which the tea-planter has to overcome are not 

 insurmountable, and the United 8ia,tea Economist caa- 

 siders that it is an industry which might very profit- 

 ably be carried on in the South. It requires but 

 a small outlay of capital and a small quantity of land. 

 In the tea districts of Japan there are but few agri- 

 culturists who devote themselves exclusively to tea 

 culture ; the growth is generally confined to nooks 

 and corners which cannot be very easily used in any 

 other branch of agriculture. The indications botli in 

 the older systems of culture in Oriental lands and 

 in the experiments in America, go to prove that the 

 business may be profitably pursued as a supplement , 

 to other agricultural enterprises. Each farmer m,iy 

 raise enough for his domestic consumption, for 10 or 

 12 trees will furnish enough tea to meet the wants 

 of a family of eight persons. As to the question of 

 the United States competmg with China and Japiu 

 in the markets of the world that is problematic. 

 There has not yet been witnessed enough of the tea 

 production to judge of its ultimate results .ns au in- 

 dustry. Besides this, the price of labour, the high 

 tarifi' duties, and the cost of transportation are all 

 to be taken into cons deration in estimating the effici- 

 ency of a tea industry as a separate branch of agric- 

 ulture ; but the labour to cultivate a few tea plants 

 would only absorb the odds and ends of a farmer's time, 

 which might otherwise go waste, and the feasibility 

 of this has been proved. In difiercnt portions of the 

 United States the healthy and promising growth of 

 plants h.i8 been secured, so that more may be heard 

 of the culture iu the future. — Loudon Times. [We 

 do not doubt that tea can be groivn in the United 

 States, but the high price of labour will prevent any 

 large attention to the product. It will be belter for 

 the farmers of the Union to grow wheat, maize and 

 cotton, aud buy tea grown m Asisj — Ed.] 



