86 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



[August i, 1883. 



terested in Jamaica planting and also some of the minor 

 industries, I venture to say how much I .appreciate Mr. 

 Morris's paper. I think it will do Jamaica a great deal of 

 good when we get statements put forward to the English 

 public such as he has put before you. There are varied 

 opinions as to the labour question in Jamaica as to our 

 prosperity generally, but as regards sugar plinting I have 

 only come forward because I feel interested in the pros- 

 perity of Jamaica. I am a large landowner, .and I siy in 

 the most uuqualihed way, that a small amount of capital, 

 a matter of between £5,000 and £6,000, wisely and intelli- 

 gently applied in .Jamaica will, lam sure, reap better re- 

 sults 'than the same amount of mouey laid out in those 

 eastern portions of the world to which Mr. Morris referred. 

 The agricultural resources of Jamaica possess very great 

 advantages, and are worthy the attention of any man who 

 has money and intelligence and is willing to do his best. 

 Personally I shall be only too glad to afford any facilities 

 to any gentleman who think it desirable to go out to 

 Jamaica. 



Sir A. MusGEArE : ^Ve must now thank Mr. Morris for his 

 e.^itremely well-written paper, and I hope what he has read 

 tonight will be of prominent advantage to us. 



Jlr. MoRitis : I am much obliged for the remarks made 

 upon my paper, and I am most mlling and happy to give 

 any advice or information I can concerning our We.^t Indian 

 possessions. I have no interest to serve with regard to 

 them except to do the duty laid before me, and to place 

 all the cii'cumstances before the people and improve the 

 industry of the country. lu drawing up my paper I tried 

 to be impartial on every question. I visited the sugar 

 plantations and did all I could to help them, and their indus- 

 try Ihope willalw.^ys be the staple trade of the West Indies. 

 As to the remark made about the negroes cutting 

 down the forests and then squatting on them, I think 

 it is much e.'iaggerated. Eespectiug labour and cinchona 

 cultivation in Jamaica. I don't think there is much diffi- 

 culty. They pay 4s a day for negroes to fell the forest. 

 Mr. Marshall weut into the backwoods, but as he de- 

 pended upon agents, I think he did not get the labourers 

 he wanted. He found it a much better plan to pay 

 them IS a chain. I say by all means let sugar plant- 

 ations flourish; if planters apply for coolie labor they 

 can get them. For two years no coolies were applied 

 for in Jamaica, but there is an ii stitiition in Jamaica 

 that will supply more coolies than British Guiaua can 

 supply. I am e.xtiemely obliged for the kind way you 

 have all received my paper, and I thank you heartily for 

 vour kind reception. 



The quantity of tea per acre in PARjiLrso is 

 probably fairly represented in the latest report of 

 the Darjiling Tea i ompany (Limited) The figures 

 for five years ranged from 318 lb per acre to 869. 

 so that the average is about 350 lb. Now. if estates 

 between 3,00'' and 5,000 feet altitude give 3501b. 

 per acre in 27' oith there will be nothing wonder- 

 ful in an an average of oOO lb. per acre at similar 

 altitudes in Ceylon but 20° nearer to the equator 

 and with the always more genial climate of an 

 island. 



Tea. — Recent teleerams announce that theMelbnurne 

 ag>-uts of the Ti-a Syndicate sold 3 500 packages at, 

 a penny of «n advance. The New York agents report 

 the sale "f 1,25b packages of Syndicate teas at the 

 equivalent of 7d to 2s Id, : average. Is. The first fales 

 of new season's tea were held on 31st May, when 

 4 t73 pack'iges were sold. The niajoiity were Darje>-1- 

 ing teas, but a few arrivals from A8<am and Cachar 

 were also included. The prices oompared with th 'se, 

 at the commencement of last season, were decidedly 

 higher, showing an advance in the common grades, 

 say teas ranging up to 10 annas, of from 1 to IJ anna 

 per lb, while on finer teas the rise may be given as 

 quite 2 annas. The quality generally was superior to 

 that of the first arrivals of last year. Competition was 

 well maintained throughout, but more especially for 

 the bstter class iena.— Indigo Plant'-m' Gazette. 



FoH Fence Posts. — A writer in an exchange says : " I dis- 

 covered many years ago that wood could be made to last 

 longer than u'on in the ground, but thought the process 

 so simple that it was not well to make a stir about it. 

 I would as soon have poplar, basswood or ash as any 

 other kind of timber for fence posts. I have taken out 

 basswootl posts after having been set seven years that were 

 as should when taken out as when first put in the ground. 

 Time and weather seemed to have no effect on them. The 

 posts can be prepared for less than two cents apiece. This 

 is the recipe: Take boiled Unseed oil and stir in pidverised 

 coal to the consistency of paint. Put a coat of this over 

 the timber, and there is not a man that will live to see 

 it rot." — Scwntijie Ameincan. 



Suu-Thopical Austei^ua. — The JUnister for Education, 

 South Australia, recently visited the sugar district of Mackay, 

 and after %^siting several of the best plantations, he was 

 highly pleased mth the mode of working sugar estates. He 

 will no doubt carry away ^vith him practical ideas for the 

 benefit of planters in the Northern Territory, where the 

 sugar industry is rapidly extending. Mr. Parsons received a 

 loyal civic welcome, supported by a banquet iu the Prince of 

 Wales' Hotel, the spread being in Mr. Macphersou's be.st 

 and pleasing style. Both Mr. Parsons and Mr. Hume Black, 

 M. L. A., delivered able speeches condemning Cinghalese 

 labour, but advocating cheap labour, and indulged iu com- 

 plimentary sentiments respecting the prosperity of the 

 industry in South Australia and Queensland. The Mayor, 

 Mr. T. Pe.arce, presided on the occasion. — lite Sugar 

 Planter. 



The M.vuritics Hemp Estates Company is thus 

 repoited on in the Commercial Gazftte : — 



The Presid ut lai-1 on the table th,- balance she^t 

 f r the year ended December 1883, which was taken 

 as read. He then read the Director's report and from 

 these two pai-eis, it a[)pears that the exp-^nses amo mted 

 to i;3,i,S0S.17 H.d the receipts to R36 3-'f'.90, leaving 

 a balance of R3,478 27 to ihe debit of the Company, 

 a re>ult which is not unfavourable when the ditiScult- 

 ies which the Company had to deal with are con- 

 S'deitd. Tlie.'e diiiiculties are: the cost of the form- 

 ation of the society, the payment of a new boiler and 

 the unusual o.ni'pe it on for seeming fields "f aloes, 

 and sold to othtrs a' prii-. s which it was not wise 

 to pay. Be idts t' e fibifs unsold are accounted a' the 

 low price of £-8 per ton, v\ hil-t the London market 

 price was im roving. For the present y^ar, the aloes 

 fields bought by others last year, have be' n secured 

 at suitable pric s ; and there are liesides about 701) 

 acres of aloe to be cut and a plot of ground of 100 

 acres cover d with aloes and fire-wood adjoining the 

 estate, h^is b;' n purch;»..-ed. 



LlJIE-JUlCE IN TREAT3IENT OF DIPHTHERIA. M. CzartO 



ryski, M. D., of Stockton, California, pyrites as follows to 

 the Loudon Loiictt: — "During a prolonged residence iu the 

 interior of China, I became acquainted with the fact that 

 the Chinese jilace great reliance during epidemics of diph- 

 theria on the internal use of the fresh juice of limes, 

 and of the fruit itself, which they consume in enormous 

 tpiantities, i i every conceivable from — as lemonade, with 

 native spirits cut in slices, etc. — dm'ing attacks of this 

 dreadful disease, with a])pavently most successful results, 

 it hardly eve:" failing to etfect a cure. The Chinese con- 

 sider it a speciiic, and will, in case of need, do anything 

 to obtain a supply. Since I have come back to California, 

 as also in Lonisana. I have used limes and their juices in 

 my practice as a physician with most sucees.sfiil results in 

 cases of diphtheria, even in the most desperate cases. As 

 soon as I take charge of a case of diphtheria. I order 

 limes to be adnunistered as freely as possible, in any manner 

 the patient can be prevailed upon to take them, especially 

 in the form of hot lemonade, sweetened with white sugar or 

 honey, or cut in slices with powdered white .sugar. Besides 

 lime-juice (which I suppose acts by imparting an excess 

 of oxygen to the circulation, and thereby prevents form- 

 ation of \ibrioues, etc, and so has almost a specific 

 effect on disease), I pri'scribe whatever drug may be in- 

 dicated to relieve symptoms as they develop, and impart 

 strength by appropriate stimulants and noui-i,shment, — 

 Southern Planter. 



