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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



[July 2, 1883. 



COFFEE AND ITS ALLEGED ENEMIES : 

 AGENTS— CLEAN WEEDING— AND ABNORMAL 



SEASONS. 

 We call attention to letters (page G6-7) in our cor- 

 respondence columns, discussing the troubles of poor 

 "king coifee " from different standpoints. 



Has Mr. Halliley ever heard of monomania of 

 weeds OQ the biain ? Of the preacher who, give him 

 what text you liked, was 6ure to go off into questions 

 of cosmogony ? When by way of a text a blank slip 

 of paper was handed to him, he seized ihe occasion 

 to show that the world was created out of nothing. 

 So, if our oorreepoudeut were presented with some of 

 the finest tobacco that ever grew, and told to put 

 that in his pipe and smoke it, instead of lauding 

 dirtiuess on coffee estates, he would regard the cir- 

 cuQistauce as a providential call to pass from the 

 praise of the particular weed to that of weeds in 

 general. We fondly hoped to hear of some mode of 

 manuring which would produce coffee without en- 

 couraging the leaf fungus, aud here is the old story ; 

 weeds ! w. ids ! weeds ! We feel now that the best 

 wish we can wish our good neighbour i.s a plentiful 

 crop of weeds to manure the soil, and result in 10 

 cwt. an acre of coffee all round. Only we must beg 

 him to bvry his weds he/we they run to seed. That 

 wuuld be scientific culture. 



Mr. Walker, it will be seen, does not under-rate 

 (neither lie nor anyone else can over-rate) tlie malign 

 influeuoe of leaf-disease, aud we doubt not lie gives 

 due weight to the ravages of grub, though more 

 partial in efieet. But he holds that, notwitlistanding 

 tlie continued existence of the virulent leaf-destroyer, 

 we should get much better crops than have rewarded 

 the enterprise aud industry of our planters for some 

 years back, but for the absence of normal sun heat, 

 conveyed <lirect to the bushes by the rays of the 

 gi-eat vitalizing orb. Coffee has been literally as well 

 as metaphorically under a cloud. That is Mr. Walker's 

 theory, aud he has a right to maintain it, because it 

 is founded on vei-y careful observation by the ordin- 

 ary use of his senses aud by the aid of scientilic in- 

 struments. There is a large element of encourage- 

 ment in the theory, seeing that m the common course 

 of nature we may speedily expect what our poor 

 friend Tytler used to call " the swing of the pend- 

 ulum " : a reaction to a cj'cle of sunniness. Such a 

 reaction might not only result in giving us good crops 

 in spite of htmileia, liut might by its genial influ- 

 ences gradually rid us of the fungus, or reduce it 

 to harmless proportions. May all good omens be 

 fulfilled ! Let us cherish hope of the good time 

 coming. 



THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FI.JI. 



According to the Fiji Times of April 25th the Gov- 

 ernor has addressed a minute full of denunciations 

 and invective to the Planters' Association in reply 

 to a letter from them denying that they were re- 

 sponsible for all the high mortality amongst labours, 

 a good deal being attributable to the Government 

 establishments. The planters had also denounced niglit 

 visits to estates and examination of labourers in the 

 absence of their employers. The following seems a 

 hard case : — 



The Chief Medical Officer reports upon the diet of 

 tlie laborers and indicati'S the advisability of diversi- 



fying a purely vegetable regimen with an occasional 

 ration of beef, flour, rice, &c. -This His Excellency 

 so thoroughly approves that he forwards that por- 

 tion of the report to the Association for the guid- 

 ance of its members. During a time of such scarcity 

 with respect to yams that not even the Government 

 could obtain them for the men in depot and in gaol, 

 but had to substitute rice and biscuit, a planter 

 adopted the suggestion of the Civil Medical Officer, 

 which His Excellency had approved, and fed his men 

 on beef and flour. For doing this an inspector charges 

 him with a breach of the regulation, prescribing the 

 daily issue of yams, and as he has failed to com- 

 ply with the letter of the law, although he has im- 

 proved upon its spirit, he is convicted and punished. 

 Was, or was not this prosecution frivolous and vex- 

 atious 1 Does it. or does it not, indicate tlie very 

 state of things to which the letter of the Association 

 has reference ? 



The payment of Polynesians in Fiji is effected after 

 a fashiot which is stated to be anything but satifact- 

 ory to the labourers. Tliey get goods to the value of 

 their savipas from a store supplied be contract with 

 Government and under guidance of a Government 

 officer: — 



The labor vessels sail on the 1st of April, and some 

 short time prior to this date the men are marched 

 down to the contractors' store in gangs, to receive their 

 trade in the presence of a Government inspector. 

 Now it can easily be understood that this is a novel 

 experience for the Polynesian who for the first time in 

 his life, perhapj, Huds himself in the position of a 

 man of capital. He has nine pouuds to credit, and he 

 is required to spend it all ai once. He finds himself 

 in a store full of miscellaneous article, aud, as would 

 be the case with any one white or black under the 

 circumstances, he wants a little leisure to look round 

 and make his selection This would, however, entail 

 a loss of time whicli the other parties lo the trans- 

 action cannot afiVud. The vesstls must sail on a fixed 

 date, aud in the interim so many men have to be piid 

 off. Expedition is therefore the order of the day, so 

 ilie storeman and insfjector relieve the capitalist of all 

 bother by virtually taking the mutter of selection 

 into their own hands. 'The one has contracted to 

 supply certain goods at a fixed rate. The oilier holds 

 the list in his hand or knows where to turn his eye 

 to it. The man is called up aud the business of 

 selection begins, while he stands by utterly dazed by 

 the bustle aud activity, so foreign to his nature, 

 which is in progrets around him. He may from time 

 to time express assent, but it is not his practice 

 strongly to dissent from the proposition of white men, 

 and he is not lil^ly to do it when he kuows one of 

 them to be in authority. The business accordingly 

 proceeds- "Want a box, musket, powder, ball, shot, 

 caps?" "Oh, 5 es, they want those things." "Knives, 

 axes, tomahawks, fish-hooks, eh?" 'Ves, put them 

 in." "Prints, braid, beads, etc. ?" "All right, go 

 on, how much is that?" "ISeven pounds. What will 

 you have for the other two?" Articles are suggested 

 to that amount, the man makes no objection, the box 

 is locked up, the key given to him, aud in less t.me 

 thau it would have taken him to select perhaps a 

 single article he finds himself "paid off." 



Following his purchase of the goods conies his ac- 

 tual inspection of them, and his loudly expressed 

 dissatisfaction amongst his comrades. They are 

 not the things he would have stlected, if left 

 to himself. Possibly the articles he particularly 

 desired were not on the contract list or in the store, 

 and though if he were loudly to assert his wish for 

 them they might, perhaps, be obtained for him, in 

 the absence ot this demand he must do without iheni. 

 The second matter of complaint respecting the quality 

 of the goods supplied has its origin in the erroneous 



