126 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



[AtTctTsr I, 1883. 



well and healthy ^^•llileall the trees that werenot heavily 

 mauled by the disease last year are oarryiug a satisfact- 

 ory crop. 



Had tlie whole of the land here being equally well 

 suited for cacao iu soil and exposure, we would now 

 have had 10,000 trees bearing at the average rate of 

 one pound per tree. As it is I have le-s Ihan 2,000 

 tolerably promising but the best are real beauties, 

 branching at three feet, and presenting a dense mass 

 of foliage eight feet iu height, and twelve feet in 

 width,in three years.and I have four months ago gatheree 



00 ripe pods from one tree. On the other hand I havd 

 jiot 200 plants leir.aining on '28 acres planted three times 

 and not one cf those remaining promise any good. 

 On another 20 acres, the gi eater part of Iho plants 

 live, but \>hat tlipy gain in six months of south-west- 

 monsoon, they lose iu six months of the uortli-east. 

 The new iiflds I am getting up, are well sheltered 

 and, thougli the soil iu some spots, is not quite 

 up to the mark, I expect better results from the 

 4 000 odd plants I have now iu hand, than an^ I have 

 hitherto achieved. They are very lucky people, who 

 get one plant up out of ten seeds. I used, from three 

 to four years ago 1,200 pods, averaging 30 seeds, =^36, 000, 

 and my liviug and dying plants are 2,-500. Ou the 

 preseut occasion, 1 think 1 will do better. I began 

 to plant at stake when the April rains came, but 



1 was cramped ia my operations, by the pods ou my 

 trees not ripening so fast as I wanted them. I had 

 nui series iu baskets, nearly equal to the requirements, 

 but cacao plants are so eminently precaiious that 

 I wanted two strings to my bow, and hence I planted 

 BC1116 3,000 at stake, one-half of which will probably 

 succeed, and as two seeds were put to each stake 

 I will have plants enough for the vacancies, unless 

 the white ants become very industrious, or an unusually 

 long spell of dry weather should occur. 



I put uOHU 0,000 of the highly recommended jat of 

 arekauuts, as soon as they came to hand, along 

 the lower side of the roadj. Some few of them are 

 putting in tlieir appearance above grouiid, but I have 

 ascertained that by f.ir the greater number are f.ailures. 

 It is the same tale that has to be told of all imported 

 seeds. It may be well for those who propose to 

 cultivate palms, to iearn that the seeds should be put 

 at once where the tree is to remain, and the seeds 

 should be as a rule covered to a depth of three or 

 four inches. The mouocotylcdon is slow of germination, 

 but can nuiUu way tbruiigh a depth of earth in which 

 a dicotyledon w«uhl perish ; it is, therefore, right to 

 put the seeds of the former at a dej^th that an ordinary 

 spell of dry weather v. i'l not reach. The waxpalm 

 seeds send dowu a tap root of three feet, while above 

 ground it makes no more show than a large blade of 

 gra^s. I made holes two feet deep, and drove an 

 alavanga a foot deeper, bo tliat the root niigiit have 

 full iustiee, but I have not succeeded in saving a 

 single transplant. The talipot palm lias the same 

 habit, bu' I havesucceedediu transplaniingit. The sago 

 palm seed siiould be put tlosvti under an inch of water, 

 and that will oever get; dry iu the longest drought. 

 The areka palm should he planted four inches ilcep. umicr 

 partial shade, and the coconut nursery should be 

 covered up under six inches of earth. This is a frightful 

 heresy in a country where coconut planting is tlie 

 royjil road to f<irtune and every go\'iya believ^es that 

 he knows all about po!. No doubt, with half the 

 imt above ground, the littest live.?, but fittest would 

 be more tit, and many would become pbints, if pro- 

 perly treated, that never grow in the usual style 

 ot forming nurseries. 



TROPICAL AGRICULTUKE. 

 Tlic Tropical Agriculturist ; a Mor.thly Record 

 of Iuformal;iou for Planters of dofiee. Tea, Cocoa, 

 Cinchona, Sugar, Rubber, Palms, Rice, and other pro- 



ducts suited for cultivation iu the Tropics. A. M. 

 and J. Ferguson, Observer office, Colombo, Ceylon : 

 sqre. Svo. London : J. Haddon and Co., 3, Bouverie- 

 Street, G. Street and Co., Triibui;r and Co., &c. 



Two numbers of Vol. II of this most useful oVa pod- 

 rida are before us. Its subject m.atter is very ex- 

 tended, and the long list of its agents all over the 

 world shows that au equally exteuiiive area ot circul- 

 ation is aimed at. In Ceylon, tlie yearly subscrip- 

 tion is twelve rupees, and in Europe and India £1. 

 Prof. Ila'ckel, in his book on Ceylon, reviewed in 

 No. 158!1, permits himself (p. 107) the folic wing ob- 

 servations with regard to the publisher of the well- 

 known Cet/lon Observer : "This paper is conducted 

 by him in the spirit of stern and gloomy orthodoxy 

 and conservative rigidity which unfortunately char- 

 acterises so many professedly libera! English jonr- 

 nals." S eing, as one cannot well help doing, the 

 evident desire to extend practical knowledge, the 

 freedom of discussion, and the attention to minute 

 points of detail as well as to larger interests shown 

 by ilessrs. Ferguson, it is difficult to understas in 

 what way they can have raised the ire of this wise 

 man cf Gotlia. They can probably, however, aft'rd 

 to ignore the harsh criticism, having raised Ceylon to 

 the highest rank in the scale of publishing colunie-. 

 The Ceylon Directory and Handbook, the daily and 

 Weekly is£ue of tlie Observer, the monthly pcioHcal 

 now being noticed, the Manualsd on oott'es, Rubber 

 . Cinchon.a, Cocoa Nut, &c., issuetioby this firm, exhibit 

 anything but the congested act on implied by Prof. 

 H.Tckel's remarke, and will coMvey instruction to 

 many beyond the island in which they are printed. 



The explanatory words in the title tuUioieutly show 

 th'i scope of this monthly issue ; but, so tar from 

 being exclusively locil, we see notes, extracts, and 

 observations on the like subjects of industry iu Brnzil, 

 Java, France, St. Helena, Fiji, Texas, North Borneo, 

 Madras, Coorg, Colombia, Madagascar, .lamaica and 

 elsewhere. These are, of course, primaiily inserted as 

 bearing on Ceylonese interests ; but the results thas 

 with a good index a year's issue of this "Tropical 

 Agriculture" mns t become a valuable work of reference, 

 'the different papers and communications bear upon 

 the botanical, iigricultural, chemical, or cjmmercial 

 aspects of known plants, with occasional sug'eitions, 

 f v new industries or novel applicjtious of old ones ; 

 whilst such papers as those by Mr. Von Donop ou 

 his jourroys in the North Borneo Company's Territ- 

 ory and Mr. Cottam's notes on the Straits Settlements 

 partake of a geographical interest. — Field, June 23rd, 



NOTES ON THE STRAITS SETTLEMENTS 

 BY H. COTTAM, 



THE TIX MIXES OF LiP.CT— MACHIXEEY — TIN' WASHrXG — 

 DEAIXIXG THE MIXES— COST 01' CUDJESE LAIOUE — 

 CntXESE HABITS OE EXCLCSIVEXESS— SUPEESTITIOX— 

 DISEASES — SMELTIXG THE TIN AJJD SMELTING HOUSES — 

 EUKOPEAKS rXTKODUCINO AND FIXING UP STEAM EX'- 

 GINES FOE CHINESE MIX"EES— VISITS TO ASSAM — KUM- 

 EEXG, TFPAI. AND KAMUNTING MINING DISTKICTS 

 — LABUT — PEEjVIl — NEW AKKIVALS FOP. THE KINTA MIN- 

 ing disieict and disco'veky of tin on captain 

 schutze's PEOPEKTY. 

 Perak being chiefly supported iu its revenue by the 

 tiu mines of Larut aud not as yet an agricultural 

 country, those employed here are therefere directlj^ or in- 

 directly interested in tin. The salaries of officials depend 

 on tin, public buildings rise up from tiu, hospitals filled 

 ■with tin niuiers (TOO patients said to be there at present). 

 Troops and police, jails, offices, public works all kept up 

 by tin. As coil'ee was to Ceylon, so is tui to Perak, and 

 take away your colfoe, you become a miserable people, 

 so take away Perak tiu. and the result would be equival- 

 ent to letting the au out of a balloon or the collapse 

 of a blad<ler: I'eral; tvoiild he tiotJihiij nt all. Europeans 

 could not liud rice aud curry iu any other euterprize 



