August i, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



121 



A GENEE.VL INSECT PKEVENTIVE. 



•Some would call it "Insecticide," but the truth "Preven- 

 tion is better than cure " never had a more direct applic- 

 ation than in relation to plants and their insect enemies. Each 

 season the latter re-appear, although deciduous trees diu"ing- 

 \\-inter have clean burnished stems which one would be tempt- 

 ed to think could never be tainted by aphides-scale, red 

 spider, mealy bug-, or any of the numerous pests to which 

 vegetation is subject. Insecticides, i.e., substances, whether 

 _ liquid or solid, that will kill insects, are happily numerous; 

 Gish\U"st compound, an infusion of tobacco or quassia, com- 

 mon soapsuds, soft soap in solution, lye of woodashes, kero- 

 sene, and compounds out of number which are sold by the 

 trade, will each and all kill insects which frequent vegetation, 

 t!ie difficulty is in applying them so that every portion of 

 the plant shall 1 e reached. Kerosene is a favomite insecti- 

 cide, because its effects are immediately apparent, and partly 

 a'so because it is always at hand. It is, however, as generally 

 used, a most ('angerous remedy; the application intended 

 only to compass the destruction of the enemies of the tree 

 involves also the life of the tree itself. Kerosene may, 

 however, bs used with complete .safety if diluted or incorp- 

 orat€d with vater in certain proportions. To mix oil and 

 water an alkali is, of course, required, and a little fatty 

 matter serves to keep the fluid in a homogeneous con- 

 dition. The method of proceeding i.s this: — In a common 

 washing copper boil 4 gallons of water, 1 lb. of soft soap, and 

 4 oz. washing soda imtil thoroughly mixed. Then add a pint 

 and a quarter of kerosene, and stir freely until the liquor is 

 of uniform consistency. To this should be added 12 gallons 

 of water, making 16 gallons altogether. jVuy smaller quantity 

 can, of com-se, be made by proportioning the ingredients 

 accordingly. The whole need not be used at once, indeed 

 a supply of this should always be kept on hand, so that a 

 dose may be applied through a fine syringe wherever the 

 presence of a single insect is observed ; to destroy the first 

 marauder is the most important matter of all. When no 

 remedy is ready prepared, insects ai-e frequently allowed 

 to mcrease until they have attained unmanageable numbers 

 and the plants have lost ^-igour. It is, therefore, expedi- 

 ent to have the preventive always at hand. — Ax'.^tvalasUtn. 



COITEE SENT TO EUROPE IN PATvCHiMENT 



SKIN. 



TO THE EDlTOtl OF THE " IXDIA JtERCUUV. " 



Sir.— 1 beg you will have the kindness to insert t^i^ 

 following in your next number of the In h'a Mcrcnri/, in 

 consequence of the paper communicated to you by Mr. 

 van Gorkom, in your January number, in which this gentle- 

 man endeavours to refute the article sent to j'ou by JNIr. 

 John Sniid, from a letter of one of the greatest coffee- 

 planters of Java, about the drawbacks of sending coffee 

 in the parchinent to Hollan<l. In the interest of many 

 planters here in Java, I am induced to discuss these lines, 

 nay to refute the arguments, of Mr. v. G. though I can- 

 not presume to enter into the lists with him as regards 

 argmueut, style and theoretical knowledge. 



Though I atn fidly persuaded that the esteemed writer 

 has been led to send in the lines quoted, in the interest 

 of the planters, yet I verily believe that if that gentle- 

 man were better acfiuaiuted with the practical part of the 

 coffee-business, which no one can attain to unless he has 

 been a considerable time employed, not as a government 

 official, but as a steward or administrator, he would have 

 given a different view of the matter. 



Every official is well aware that wherever he may travel 

 in Java, to examine the various cultures, whether rice, or 

 coffee (the cinchona culture excepted) every native chief 

 — from the Regent to the Loerah. ^viil seldom express Lis 

 opinion and mostly answers in tht; so characteiistic ex- 

 pression of the Souudance language: Koemaha Djoeragau 



.... waes which interpreted meau^: -'As Mr. likes.' It 



speaks, of itsdf that though a Em-opean Government official 

 be willing to give himself ever so much trouble to master 

 the details of laybig out, planting, jn-eparing etc. etc. he: 

 can seldom succeed under such circumstances. Many firms 

 here, and a still greater number in Hullaud, take for granted 

 whatever a government ofiicial writes or says, as they are 

 supposed to be acquainted with ths affair, which has 

 frequently been to the detriment both of the farmer and 



ai ilie jilajiteitf, Couli nisasnto^ bs devise^ by vzUitii tlie 

 15 



government need not be planters themselves, we should be 

 spared articles often productive of much mischief. 



i\Ir. John Smid, whose acquirements as a planter am 

 miiversally known, would not havr sent in such an:utick', 

 if it did not express his full conviction. 



But let us examine the arguments of Mr. v. G. This; 

 gentleman is much opposed to the shipping of coff'ee tci 

 foreign parts, and adduces as an instance that tea formerly 

 sold to England, is now, since the giievances have been 

 partially removed, slupjaed to Holland, and so recommends 

 the same fcr coffee. 



Now a few days ago, tlu-ee of the greatest tea-proilucers 

 here in PJe^uger fissured me that the former grievances 

 do exist still, and that all their tea is shipped to England. 



The Engli.sh Brokers send every year samples to the; 

 planters, give instructions respecting selection, flavour, etc. 

 A cargo or invoice of tea, prepared agreeably to those 

 samples, is often no sooner in the Thames than all is 

 sold off and th^ cash pid 1 down. None of these gentle- 

 men ever knew of such a thing being attempted in Holland, 

 but they did know that there they had to wait long for 

 a settlement of accounts. AVith the coffee it is much the 

 same; sometimes there is no knowing what to keep to; 

 frequently stale white coffee fetches a higher market than 

 better qualities, and what encumbers the .•^ale in HoUaml 

 t> a great degree, is the re-sorting. Formerly most of the 

 private coff'ee was brought to market and dispo.^ed of 

 immediately after unshipping; at present this is of raro 

 concurrence, which greatly impedes the sale in Holland. 

 There is no reason to suppose that a better control was 

 kept on the sorting formeily than now, when tie great 

 competition which induces every one to render the com- 

 modity prime as possible. The charges of a repeated 

 sorting in Holland are in most cases much higher than 

 the whole cost of sorting in an undertaking here. That 

 coffee, invoiced from here to Marseilles, has sometimes 

 fetched better 2)rices in Holland, may be attributable to 

 their ignorance of the mark, as Marseilles and Trieste are 

 eager to buy Java-coffee, provided they know the marks; 

 when once known a telegram is sent hence, the coffee is 

 readil3* disposed of without further sorting, and the money 

 is at hand — a vtry pleasant way of doing business. America 

 takes chiefly Pailang coffee from here, and will have none 

 of West India curing. The I'adang coffee is coarse of bean, 

 of a yellow colour soon turning brown, a consequi*nce of 

 the curing which we shall not go into now; this coffee 

 sells there off-hand not- requires any re-sorting. If we can 

 make such coffee at Java — the trials arc already being 

 made — then this is also preferable to Holland. 



As to sending coffee in the parchment, which Mr. v. G. 

 recommends so strongly, this has many drawbacks. As I 

 said before, in Holland coffee is always sold on colour; most 

 in demand is the W. I. cured, dark-green, coarse bean; 

 if this is sent out well-dried, in the parchment, it di^:- 

 colours and becomes mottled within a few daj's after peeling 

 in Holland, and has much less market-value. Tlien one's 

 article, on the ready sale of which often the very existence 

 of a dear-bought and carefully administered undertaking 

 depends, is entrusted to strangers for curing. The greater 

 charges from here to Holland, from the landing-place to the 

 mill, the storing, sonntimes long lying, by which the cotfec 

 in your damp climate deteriorates rapidly, thi> discolour- 

 ing, the ])a-ssiug through the mill, the sorting, the insurance 

 anew, the bags, etc. etc. make together an awful amount, 

 compared with the cxiienses of the processes here and sell- 

 ing elsewhere, while the quality must needs be very inferior. 

 As a proof that coffee sent in the shell is not everywhere 

 approved of, last year a Swiss and a German Firm wired to 

 Ajnsterdam: " Never send any more samples of coffee peeled 

 in Holland, as the colour of the lot differs entirely from the 

 sample." 



It is no wonder that this novel industry is smiled upon in 

 Holland, as it affords subsistence to thousands, as Mr. v. (i. 

 justly ob>ervfs, but will it in the long rtui prove profitable 

 to the ijliinters in Java, who, on account of taxes, chargeable 

 export duties, poundage, etc. arc already under many vex- 

 ations for the coffee they ship to Europe. 



The e.-- teemed writer, I presume, meant to writ^^ in the 

 interest of the planters and not of the peelers in Holland? 



That the trials made by the Government have failed, is 

 not to be wondered at, considering how their coffee is 

 maltreated; coffee, to b3 peeled in Holland, ijiust be of very 



fij:jt%-at^ <ju4ity otlic;wi£fc it i^ uU UvU, 



