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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[March i, 1884. 



quite another sphere ; the ryot and the planter are no 

 longer on the same plane, and whatever progress the former 

 may make along his present line, he will never get any 

 nearer to the latter. If India is to produce refined sugar 

 in quantities at all corresponding to the area under sugar- 

 cane, European capital will have to be attracted once more 

 to an industry in which it has hitherto achieved but a 

 doubtful success. In the meantime, however, much can be 

 done by introducing a superior plant, by encouraging 

 the selection of cane, and by teaching the native sugar- 

 maker to avail himself of a few simple lessons of practical 

 chemistry, and to adopt a few simple modifications of the 

 machinery he is accustomed to work with. Could the cut- 

 turn of gur be raised to even a ton-aud-a-half per acre, 

 the value of the sugar crop of the Punjab would be increased 

 by two millions sterling. 



ME. EGBERT THOMSON ON CINCHONA OULTUEE 



IN COLOMBIA. 



The many friends of Mr. Robert Thomson, the late island 

 Botanist, will we are sure, be glad to hear that we have re- 

 ceived the most pleasing accounts of his progress, and suc- 

 cess in the cultivation of the cinchona and the India Eubber 

 plants in Bogota U. S. of Colombia. Mr. Thomson writes 

 US: — "Many thanks for the cinchona seeds you sent me, 

 they have grown nicely. The plantations here are at a 

 height of 7,500 to 8,000 feet. (Higher than the Blue 

 Mountain Peak.) This great central Cordilleras as you are 

 BO doubt aware is the native home of the cinchona. Great 

 quantities uf 0. Laucifolia one of the best species have 

 been largely exported, and a few degrees further north 

 another very important species exists, viz : — C. Pitayensis. 

 Another species, much inferior to these, but with one and 

 a half per cent of quinine abounds in this district. I have 

 seen some trees with trunks over three feet in diameter, 

 equal to a yield of .500 lb. of dry bark. But a far more 

 interesting fact to me, is the way in which my plants on 

 the plantation grow. Officinalis, the favorite kind in 

 Jamaica, grows here with great rapidity, that is on the' 

 average four feet a year, indeed, many of them attain- 

 ing over five and six feet a year. In Jamaica the aver- 

 age with oiUciualis is not more than one and a half foot a 

 year. The residt of this, is, that bark can be produced at 

 half the price needed in Jamaica. Another example; we 

 have a plant of ofKciualis .at a height of 7,700 feet above 

 the sea, at present growing ehven inches a month ! The 

 cau.se is easily explained. In Jamaica the strong i^revail- 

 ing winds seriously retard the growth of the plants, indeed, 

 these winds not only retard growth, but the young trees are 

 badly injured thereby. Here we seldom have even a light 

 breeze." — Jamaica Standard, Jan. 8th. [If Mr. Thom- 

 son's representations are to be fully depended on, and no 

 canker or other disease .sets in, all that will be wanted will 

 be a good labour supply, to beat India and Ceylon out of 

 the field.— Eu.] 



^ 



THE BRAZIL COFFEE CROPS 



are thus discussed in the Rio IVeics : — 



In another column we give an important comniimication 

 to the Jornal do Cowniercin from Dr. ( lesario Aivini regaril- 

 ing the conditicm and prospects of the cotFoe crop, to which 

 we would invite the attention of our readers. Were it not 

 that these reports of the unfavorable prospect for the next 

 crop are only repetitions of what we have heard before 

 with each recurring year, we should be inclined to believe 

 that there is really a bad outlook for tho next crop. 

 Knowing, however, that this season has had no more nor 

 worse accidents than any year before, except liere and 

 there in limited localities, we cannot understand just 

 what basis there is for this universal cry of short crops. 

 Those who have watched the course of events cannot have 

 failed to notice how worthless the majority of these re- 

 ports are. If there is a week's sun during the bt ssoming 

 season, every jilanter gr.avely announces that the blossoms 

 have been parched, or have witliered for lack of raoLsture. 

 So, too, when there is a two or three ilays' rain he is just 

 as ready to assert that the blossoms have either been 

 knocked off, or that thi y are moulding on tho trees. Every 

 year we have all these plaints dove-tailed one into the other, 

 ^o that the nominal probabilities uf a crop are always at u 



minimum, while the final result has been away at the other 

 extreme. The bjire truth is that tho coffee planter never 

 admits that the prospects of a crop are good. He is in- 

 variably a pessimist, either from some inherent quality of 

 his nature, or from policy. If he were to consider that no 

 year ever passes without a loss of blossoms from either 

 heat, or rain, or both, he would see that this regular com- 

 plaint of a normal occurrence is enturely without found- 

 ation. The wonderful fecundity of the coffee plant which 

 exhibits three distinct blossomings, sometimes four in a 

 season, generally makes good all these losses and produces 

 a good crop even when the season lias been almost uniformly 

 unfavorable, ^yhat is lost in the first blossoming is quite 

 certain to be made good in the second or third, arid even 

 the supplementary blossoming— for the cafe das aquas— 

 often comes in at the last hour and saves the situation. 

 ■\V"e do not forget that there are many old orchards whose 

 exhaustion will render them unable to recover from even 

 slight injuries during the early blossoming, but at the 

 same time it must be remembered that a very large area 

 of the existing coffee orchards is filled with young trees 

 just in their prime, and that there are new orchards yearly 

 coming into bearing. AVe had thought that the falling 

 prices of late years had checked the expansion of this in- 

 dustry, hut on picking up a Sao Paulo newspaper the other 

 day we found an advertisement of the sale of a plantation 

 at S. Jos6 dos Oampos containing 71,000 coffee trees, of 

 which 31,t00 were young trees varying from one to eight 

 years of age. This, of course, can not be an isolated case, 

 especially so as the inducements held out for coffee grow- 

 ing in that place are less attractive tlian in many other 

 localities of Sao Paulo, Minns Geraes and Rio de .Janeiro. 

 These new orchards must be accepted as determinative 

 factors in Brazilian coffee production for many years to 

 come. In Sao Paulo, where they are most plentiful, they 

 are sending more coffee to Santos this year than in any year 

 before, and they are now rushing coffee into this market at 

 a rate little below that of last year. In view of these con- 

 siderations, we arc not yet prepared to accept the sombre 

 outlook to which our attention is called from all sides. There 

 may be a slight decrease in the next crop, but certainly not 

 in the proportion claimed. 



Ensilage. — Yestesday the first of four capacious 

 silos constructed on the Horsley-lace Home Farm of 

 the Peckforton Estate, Cheshire, by Lord Tollemache, 

 was opened in the presence of a large number of 

 agriculturists and dairy farmers. In order to make 

 the experiment thoroughly exhaustive. Lord Tolle- 

 mache filled two of his silos with grass cut in very 

 wet weather, the third with dry grass, and the fourth 

 with a mixture of vetches and grass. The grafs was 

 chopped by chafl'-cutters into pieces about an inch 

 in length. The fodder was then pitched into the 

 silo and trodden down, and finally a pressure of 561b. 

 to the square foot was placed upon it. A mouth 

 afterwards each silo had sunk about 2 ft. 1 in., and 

 they were then refilled, about saven tons more grass 

 buiug placed in them, making in all 24 tons iu each. 

 No. 3 silo was opened yesterday. For convenience a 

 pathway had been cut about 3 ft. wide right through 

 the silo. The appearance of the ensilage was that of 

 dark brown, compact moss, with a sweet and pleasant 

 aroma. Just at the top the ensilage was found to 

 be mouldy and spoiled, as was the case when Lord 

 Walsingham's silos were opened at Merfon. In answer 

 to a question whether the stock on the home farm 

 were fond of ensilage. Lord Tollimachc afforded tho.^e 

 present a practical demonstration by offering soire to 

 a young mare that had been driven over from Pick- 

 forton Castle. The animal ate the ensilage jircedily, 

 as also did some cattle in the yard. Lord Tollemache 

 said his experience of ensilage was that at first the 

 animals did not care for it, but afterwards ate it 

 with evident relis-h. It was stated that the 24 tons 

 of gross placed in the silo wonld yield about 21 tons 

 of nutritious cattle food. The experiment was regarded 

 by praclical men as completely successful.- Loudon 

 Timei, 



