634 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[Makch I, 1884. 



COST OF TEA MANUFACTmiED BY HAND, OX AN ESTATE 

 GIVING 50,0001b. OF TEA PEE ANNUM. 



E. c. K. c. 



1 cooly rolls 40 lb. green leaf (S 35 cents. 



Total cost of rolling 200,0001b. green leaf 1,750 00 



1 cooly fires 25 lb. of manufactured tea 



@ 35 cents. Total cost of 50,000 lb. 



nianufactiu-ed tea ... 700 00 



070 cwt. charcoal ... 670 00 



CAPITAL ACCOUNT. 



Cost of 45 brick furnaces or dholes 

 Cost of firing, trays, &c., for 5 years 



Interest at 8 ^ cent on E500 on furnaces... 

 Wear and tear on furnaces, trays, &c., 

 say 20 V cent 



500 00 

 500 00 



1,000 00 



40 00 



200 00 



Total... 3,360 00 



Average cost of manufactured tea by hand 672 c. Local 



" Times." 



RICE CULTIVATION IN SUMATEA AND JAVA. 

 (From a Tour in the Lamjmnys, S. Sumatra, hi/ H. O. Forbes.) 



In Java, in the cultivation of theu- rice fields, the natives 

 pursue, except in very mountainous parts, the system of 

 irrigation, by which, in a most wonderful manner, they 

 cover broad tracts of country, not only where it is level, 

 but even where the land lies in considerable slopes, as so 

 ■well described by Mr. 'Wallace in his "Malay Archipelago." 

 In the southern part of Sumatra, however, though rivers 

 abound, and there is much level land, the natives do not 

 seem, till very recently, to have been acquainted with this 

 maimer of cultivating rice, but have always taken their 

 crops from forest land, which produces a tar less return 

 of grain, and of a quality much inferior to sawah, or wet-field 

 grown paddy. Here, however, they had just begun to try 

 the plan ; and diuring our sojourn a West Java man, brought 

 ov.'r expressly tor the pvirpose, was engaged in laying out 

 for the villagers their first sawahs, and instructing them 

 in the art of irrigation. 



Sawah cultivation is a great saving of labour, as the same 

 1 ind can be used year after year mthout the application 

 of man;ire, the land renewing its strength from the decom- 

 position of the straw which is left on it after the crop 

 is cut — for the natives reap only the grain — and from the 

 rest of several months between the seasons, during which, 

 moreover, the buffaloes have the unrestricted privilege of 

 roving over it. On the other hand, the ladangs, or dry fields, 

 can be used for not longer than two or three seasons. To 

 make his ladang the native goes after the virgin forest, 

 leaving his old fields to produce new forest, second-growth 

 forest, if the "alang-alaug" grass does not get the upper 

 hand. The virgin woods contain the reallv interesting and 

 valuable vegetation of the country. The trees of the virgin 

 forest are, to a great extent, the lineal descendants of the 

 vegetation that has always existed on the island smce it 

 came into its present condition at least. Perhaps indeed 

 some of the aged giants may have actuallv witnessed the 

 young days of the present geological cycle, how many thous- 

 and years ago we may only coniectm-e. By vu-gin forest, 

 I mean such as has never been interfered with, while 

 second-growth forest is that which follows the clearing of 

 large tracts, either by natural means, such as fires or by 

 the woodcutter's axe. In the virgin forest, death and decay 

 are just as rapid as auy«-here else. Individual trees are 

 constantly falling out of the ranks, but their place is taken 

 by younger members either of the same or of neighbouring 

 species; but, just as happens at home on a smaller scale 

 when this ancient forest is devastated to any great extent! 

 such as a few acres, the trees that arise belong to a different 

 lineage, the new wood is in a great bulk of different species 

 which also, strange to say, were but rarely to be found' 

 in the old forest. 'Whence they come it is not verv easy 

 to say. The original forest is rapidly disappearing" each 

 year sees immense tracts felled for nee fields, more than 

 IS actually necessary, and also much wanton destruction by 



wilful fires. Trees of the rarest and finest timber are hewed, 

 half burned, and then left to rot; amid their prostrate 

 trunks a couple of harvests ai-e reaped, then the ground 

 is deserted, and soon fills up with the fast-growing and 

 worthless woods, or falls a prey to the ineradicable alang- 

 alang grass already mentioned. Our children's children will 

 search in vain in their travels for these old forests of 

 which they have read in the books of their grandfathers; 

 and to make the acquaintance of the trees themselves, 

 they will have to content themselves with what they can 

 glean from the treasured specimens in various herbaria, 

 which will then be the only remains of the extinct vegetable 

 races. In every clearing, here and there, trees, from their 

 gigantic size, have escaped the axe, and been allowed to 

 stand unmolested. One cannot resist a feeling of pity for 

 the solitude of these towering monarchs, whose grandeur 

 concealed as they stood amid the multitude of then- peers| 

 can now be seen in all its stateliness. They look the' 

 very picture of strength and immobility; yet, though they 

 have withstood, iu the company of then-" fellows, the storm 

 and sun of centm-ies,they survive then- .soKtude but a very 

 few seasons, getting feebler and feebler year Ijy year, one 

 great limb after another dying and di-opping off, till all 

 life ceases, when some lightning flesh or sudden blast 

 measures the noble tree's length on the ground. To obtain 

 specimens of the ancient arboreal race was one of the 

 principal objects of my joui-ney, a task slow and difficult 

 of accomplishment, for but few trees can be feUed in one 

 day, and good eyes are requh-ed to tell at a height of 150 ft. 

 or 200 ft. it there be fruit or flower to be got in return for the 

 labour and time spent in feUing the trees.— Field. 



GE^VPTING IN A NEW ASPECT. 



A gradual revolution of opinion is in progress on the 

 subject of graftmg fruit trees, and it almost looks as if 

 we should shortly have to unlearn a good deal on the sub- 

 ject. The theory of grafting has hitherto been very simple. 

 Physiologists say that the object, of grafting is to'promote 

 vigour and fertility ; hence weak-growing apples are grafted 

 on the hardier and more vigorous wild crab, peaches on 

 the plum, and so on. Another reason for grafting apples 

 and pears is that neither are readily propagated by cut- 

 tings; otherwise probably trees propagated in that way 

 would succeed as well as grafted ones, if not better. Nm-s- 

 erymen and raisers of fruit trees graft as a matter of 

 course, and because it is the readiest way, without con- 

 cerning themselves about the advantages or disadvantages 

 of the .system, and the crab stock is invariably used for 

 apples of large sizi', and the wild pear and other hardy 

 kinds as a stock for the pear. There can be no doubt 

 about the hardy natui-e of these stocks, if that be of much 

 advantage to a fruit so hardy in itself as the apple or 

 pear ; but in other resj)ects neither of these stocks can 

 improve the quality of tlie fruit of the graft, as they only 

 produce inferior fruit themselves. Lately, the subject of 

 raising apple or pear trees from cuttings or layers has 

 received more attention, but there is a want of experience 

 on that point. It is worth while to mention these matter.s, 

 in order to disabuse peo;:>le's minds of the idea that the 

 crab stock possesses some mysterious virtue and is indis- 

 pensable, which is not the case. The use of the quince 

 stock for the pear, and the paradise for the apple, is far 

 more intelligible ; and the influence of these stocks on the 

 scion and its fruit is cleaiiy discernible. In fact, the object 

 of usmg these stocks is quite the opposite of that for 

 which the natural crab or pear stock is employed; and 

 the use of the one really implies the condemnation of 

 the other, for we graft the same varieties on the two 

 stocks side by side, in the one case to make the tree 

 grow strongly, and in the other in order to restrain its 

 vigour— and the object in both cases is to induce fertility. 

 This fact is not sufficiently realised amongst us, but its 

 significance is evident. The French are more consistent 

 than we are in this matter, for they prefer the quince and 

 paKwlise for trees of mgderate size where grown in gardens. 



Tfiese remarks are, however, only by the way, and lead 

 us on to what we have called tlie " new aspect " of graft- 

 ing. Hitherto it has been taken for granted, and without 

 any reason, that the stock, whether used liecause of its 

 hardiness or \igour or permanently inflnenced the subject 

 grafted upon it, even when not allowed to produce auv 



