676 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[March 1, 18S4. 



and dividing (individual and dividing ?) movement " 

 is secured by tlie adoption of tlie conical form. The 

 cones "suck the leaf under" and "vomit it up, the 

 leaf passing irregularly from cone ta cone, toorking 

 and movimj like boilinij-wdler " I If we saw the 

 roller, we might be in the position of the old woman 

 who understood the Pilgrim's Progress and hoped in 

 time to understand the notes. But, if our readers 

 can clearly comprehend what follows, mcluding the 

 " revolving on one axis (as in a baj)" they have 

 the advantage of us. Here is wliat Mr. Thompson 

 says about his machine : — 



The singular efficiency of the "Challenge" is obtained 

 by the employment of the Conical form as a twisting, 

 rolliug, and compressing surface. Owing to their form, 

 no elasticity or spring play is needful. The cones suck 

 the leaf under (apply the pressure themselves when the 

 macliine is properly loaded up) and vomit it up, the leaf 

 passing iri'egularly from Core to Cone, working and mov- 

 ing like boiling water. The irregularities of movement, 

 pressure, exposure to the air and the way in which the 

 leaf is separated from one lot and dragged or sucked into 

 another are pecuhar in the extreme and at once prove the 

 lines hitherto worked on (which have all been to keep the 

 leaf in one mass or roll and move it bodily) to be at 

 least unessential: revolving on one axis (os in a bag), 

 or on more or on continuously shifting axes, entailing in 

 some cases complex mechanism or pecuhar disposition of 

 parts ; whereas, by the use of the Conical form, a more 

 or less individual and dividing movement is secm'cd, in 

 conjunction with the utmost srmphcity of construction 

 and detail. 



CULTIVATION AND LABOUU IN FIJI. 

 On page 677 we print one of those few and 

 far between, but always welcome, because able and 

 intelligent, letters, in which a former Ceylon planter 

 gives full and reliable information on planting and 

 labour couditioris in Fiji, for which readers of the 

 Fijian journals, may look in vain. It seems quite 

 certain tliat, as yet, coffee has not been an assured 

 success in Fiji. TIcmileia vaatatrix may not be so 

 virulent as it has proved to be in Ceylon, but tlie 

 wet climate has developed another bad blight in the 

 shape of "black leaf." Such coffee as is grown, too, 

 is not well cured, although the single curing mill 

 erected is but poorly patronized. Last season in Fiji 

 seems to have been worse for excessive rainfall than 

 even that of 1SS2 in Ceylon. From a rainfall of 

 110 inches, the quantity went up to 18.S inches, an 

 increase of 73 in one year, and it will be observed 

 from the monthly retum5 thai as nearly as possible. 

 100 inches fell in the fonr months, December to 

 March. No wonder, although the coffee blossoms 

 were destroyed. Of course, it wonUl not be logical 

 to judge the coffee enterjirize by the results of one 

 year, but we have now the experience of a good 

 many years before us, and we have a right to say 

 that the prospects of coffee in Fiji are not hopeful, 

 any more than are Mr. Storck's prospects of destroy- 

 ing the leaf-fungus by means of the vapours of 

 carbolic- acid. The prospects of the sugar enterprize, 

 and we may add of tea culture, are very different 

 indeed, provided the Labour supply does not fail, and 

 it certainly is by no moans in a satisfactory condition. 

 Polynesians are hard to get, and so are Pijians, even 

 under the new law. Coolies seem to have developed 

 a talent for malingering, so th»t the sngar planters 



are resting their hopes on Chinese at 15s jjer week, 

 that is £S per mensem ! It is added that the Chinese 

 are to find themselves, but "lines" or "barracks' 

 and medical aid must, we suppose, be provided for 

 them. Such Chinese labour, therefore, if it can be 

 depended on for field work, will cost three times the 

 monthly average in Ceylon. The profits of sugar to 

 the manufacturers may pay, but our correspondent 

 shows that planters who are merely growers of sugar 

 complain that already, in consequence of scarcity and 

 dearness of labour, the contract price of 10s per ton 

 does not pay. This price is the same as prevails 

 in the Mackay District in Queensland, but in Fiji, 

 it seems, the planter has to cut the cane and de- 

 liver it into the punts of the Manufacturing Company. 

 The difference' against the Fiji sugar fanner is con- 

 siderable, and of course scarcity and dearness of 

 labour will aggravate the disproportion. Putting 

 aside exceptional yields, the average in Fiji seems 

 to be the same as in the Mackay district in Queens- 

 land, about oO tons of cane per acre, and the yielp 

 of sugar is probably the same, from 1-1 to 2 tons 

 per acre. What is significant in its bearing on the 

 discussion now going on in Ceylon, is that the ex- 

 cessive rainfall which in Fiji x>roved disastrous to 

 coifee does not .. seem to have had any bad effect 

 on sugarcane any more than on tea. All the evid- 

 ence which reaches us, therefore, points to the one 

 conclusion that successful sugar cultivation is not a 

 question of climate but one essentially of soil The 

 soil of Fiji is. like that of Queensland, volcanic in 

 its origin, and the canes grown on it yield a pro- 

 fitable proportion of saccharine. Had the occurrence 

 of the abnormal rainfall led to any deterioration of 

 the cane in this respect, we believe our keenly 

 observant correspondent would not have failed to 

 notice that fact. We may take it for granted, there- 

 fore, that sugar, equally with tea, will flourish in 

 a climate too wet to be favorable for cuffee.and 

 we may add cacao, but that an essentia! condition 

 to successful sugar-growing is a soil fertile in its mineral 

 as well as its organic constituencs. But even the 

 presence of suitable soil and of liberal supplies of cap- 

 ital from adjaceut Australia will not enable Fiji suc- 

 cessfully to compete with Java, Mauritius, Demerara, 

 Cuba and other great sugar unless countries there is a 

 satisfactory solution of the labour difficulty. From what 

 our correspondent says about white labourers, we sup- 

 pose they plough the sugar-fields, the oliiuate of Fiji 

 apparently permitting outdoor exposure which would 

 be fatal in Ceylon. But white lab.ur, at probably £60 

 to £100 per annum, supplemented by Chinese (who are 

 generally impatient of working for others), at i3G to 

 £40, would scarcely seem the cf nditious for continued 

 success. The curious part of the matter is that Indian 

 coolies, who do well in Ceylon, in Mauritius, in the 

 West ladies and Demfrara, should have given so little 

 satisfaction in Fiji. It may be, as our correspondent 

 seems to indicate, that the fault is in the courts of 

 justice which under (he legislation of Fiji do not ad- 

 equately ininish coolies for misconduct. If so, there 

 ought to be a change of policy, for, while we contend for 

 justico to the labourer, especially as regards the wages 

 for which he bas worked, we equally contend for justice 

 to the employer, who is entitled to a proper return of 

 labour for,tlie wages he pays. In Ceylon, the castom of 

 the country sets bouuda to malingering and shuUmg 

 work : for the days he does not work a cooly get»>io pay. 

 In Fiji, where the coolies are "indentured "for long 

 periods, the ease is different, and the difference is 

 evidently by no means iu favour of the Fiji planter. 

 On the whole, even if it is finally proved that sugar for 

 export cannot be profitably grown in Ceylon, our con- 

 dition and prospects compared with those of Fiji and 

 other places are not unfavourable. 



