iba 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[September i, 1883. 



at first abstained from purchasing at the extreme 

 price he named. But afterwards, beiug forced to pur- 

 chase agaiusl contracts that they had already entered 

 into for manufactured goods, they accepted his terms, 

 and sparingly, it is true, bought to protect those 

 goods. Fortunuttly for the manufacturers, the early 

 part of the season of 1SS2 had produced about 40 

 per cent, more manufactured gooda than usual, and 

 as the end of the season drew near it w.as seen that 

 the supply of goods was far in excess of the demand. 

 The price of the raw material hud bee:i forced bj the 

 baron to a dangerous lieight, and f"r manufacturers 

 to continue business meant for them to accumulate 

 goods which lad an unprecedented cost and they could 

 see no market in which to dispose of them. Tliere- 

 fore, they felt obliged to protect themseU'cs, and many j 

 of them agreed at meetings held about the middle of j 

 October last to close their factories until tlie trade | 

 should warrant their paying the extreme prices which 

 the baron demanded. Batiled by this uuexpected Hank 

 movement, the baron attempted to unload hisenorm- 

 ous stock, but without success. Again finding him- 

 self blocked, .and that the rubber which his friends 

 had on hand was costing him by shrinkage in weight 

 and interest from SfiO.OOO to §70,000 per month to 

 carry, he could see no w.ay out of the snarl in which 

 he had involved himself and his friend, and it would 

 seem that he has ceased to pass sleepless nights over 

 the situation, and has concluded to let the other 

 fellows walk the Uoor. 



The American nianuf.acturers still preserve their 

 apathy and will cnntinue to close down, it is said, 

 until the middle of May. Their increased ca[incity 

 for manufacturing goods enables them to make their 

 full supply in less than one half the time that they 

 required a year ago, and the jobbers of this country 

 are .also wide awake to the situation, and can see that 

 in the next few months there must be a shrinkage 

 in the value of crude rubber on hand of possibly 

 $2 ,000,000. They therefore refuse to buy any goods, 

 .as they do not need them before next .July or August 

 to distribute to their trade. — Boston Globe. 



CONSULAR REPORTS.— JAVA. 

 (From the Z. 4' (-'■ Express.) 

 The following paragraphs are from the report by Con- 

 s\U Cameron on the Trade, Convmerce, and General Matters 

 relating to the Island of Java for the year 18S2 :— 



EXPOETS. 



Siiffitr.—The total production of this year is slightly in 

 excess of that of 1881, the crop at the eastward of the 

 island beiug estimated at about 10 per cent larger, whilst 

 those of western and central Java are about equal to the 

 harvests of the proceeding season. Trausaetions in the 

 1882 crop commenced considerably earlier in the season 

 thau h*s bei n the case for some years past, the first busi- 

 ness l)eiug put through in December, 18S1, at 11.15 per 

 picul for Xo. li, which quotation was maiutainod through- 

 out the year, little or no variation in prices Ijeing ex- 

 perienced. Cousi lerable interest has been taken in the in- 

 veution of a Jlr. Bui, consisting of a patent stove for the 

 dying of the "ampas" or cane refuse, by which treatment 

 the substance is imuiediatlely rendered useful as fuel : a 

 matter of great importance in most mills, where formerly 

 the " ampas " took two or three days to dry in the sun. The 

 cost of the stove is moderate, aud it is reported that a 

 onsiderable u'^mber have been ordered for use during next 

 season. The total production for the year is estimated 

 at about J,500,000 piculs, as compared with 4,100,00t) piculs 

 in 1881, and 3,294,5u0 piculs in ISSO. 



Coffee. — On the whole the out-turn of year's crop has 

 been satisfactory, the production of private gardens being 

 soomewhat in excess of that of last year, whilst from the 

 Government plantations 17,255 piculs more have beeu obtaiu- 

 -■ed than in 18SI, viz., 1,024,8G8 picvds, as agaiust 1,007,013 

 piculs in that ye.ar. Numerous fresh concessions of land 

 »t eth eastward of the ; islands have been grautcJ, aud 



their cultivation with coffee has been immediately under- 

 taken hoth by^ private individuals and companies. Owing 

 to the oijeuiug of the Preauger and Kedu-i railways trans- 

 port has been much facilitated, aud the complaints as to 

 accumilation of Government stocks in the interior, wliich 

 were so rife during last year, have not beeu heard. Little 

 or nothing has been heard of the leaf-disease this year, 

 and it is now considered probable tliat the exceptional pre- 

 valence of the disease during 1880 was 91one due to the 

 unusual wetucss of the east monsoon of that year. .St)ecial 

 attention is now being paid in Java to all new machinery 

 tending to decrease the hand labour required iu preparing 

 and sorting coffee, and cousiderable supplies of the latest 

 patents have been imported here, Ijoth from Ceylon and 

 Europe. 



liicc.—The crop of this staple has beeu satisfactory 

 throughout the island ; at the eastward the floods above 

 referred to effected considerable damage iu certain districts 

 but the yield iu those residencies that did not suffer seems 

 to h<ave been ample to supply all wants, and imports of 

 foreign rice were not above the average of past years. 

 The Bantam crop exceeded expectations and in all parts • 

 of west and central Java the production was fair. 



Tohacco. — Iu many parts of the island, especially to the 

 eastward, the culture of this article, which in former years 

 was a fruitful source of wealth both to Europeans andna'tives 

 has become almost a thing of the past, and even in central 

 and southern Java, where several planters have presevered 

 in the cultiv.ation, the results ai-e such as to warrant but 

 little hope of of industry being coutinued. 



Tea. — Planters have paid unceasing attention to the im- 

 provement of their gardens, aud with few exceptions have 

 quickly adopted all improvements in machinery proved to 

 be successful in British India and elsewhere. The yield 

 of ■ Java gardeus (nearly entirely confined to the westward 

 portion of the island) is rapidly increasing, and every care 

 is being taken to introduce the best description of plants 

 the preference beirg still given to the Assem Hybrid. ' 



Cinchona — Private exports, althoughly considerably larger 

 during 1882 than in the preceding year, only amouut to 

 181,354 Amsterdam pounds, but as munerous cinchona gard- 

 ens commenced some five or six years ago must shortly 

 begin to yield, this article may shortly be expected to take 

 a prominent position in the list of exports from Java. 



Black I'ejjpc,: — The " Lampong " corp of 1882, wliich 

 constitutes the bidk if not the whole of so-called Batavia 

 pepper, has been imusualJy large, beiug estimated at .about 

 53,000 piculs, as agaiust an average of 23,000 to 25,000 

 piculs for the last two years. The crop commenccsnto 

 an-ivc at Batavia during August, aud the fiual scndigs 

 will not be received uutil well iuto March, 1SS3. It is 

 anticipated that after so large a crop the yielil of 1S83 

 will be cousideriihly less and probably not above the average 

 already noted. 



Kapock.—Ihe exports of this article have increased hoth 

 to Australia aud Europe. The chief consumers are mat- 

 tress and furniture makers, and from all reports kapok 

 seems to form an excellent substitute for horsehau- in 

 most departments of the above iudurstries. 



Government Cinchona Plantatjon. 



The Government cinchona croj) is steadily increasing year 

 by year, as the plantations .are enlarged. This year's crop 

 to Dec. 31 amounted to 230,000 .i\jiisterdam lb., as against 

 165,000 Amsterdam lb. in 1881, and 100,000 Amsterdam 

 lb. in 1880 ; but tliis figm-e docs not represent the whole 

 crop, the remainder of which will be gathered during tlie 

 commencement of 1883. Experiments were made during tl.e 

 ye.ar with a view to ascertaining what percentage of alkal. 

 old was coutaiued in the bark of young Lecl,)eriana tree', 

 grown from the seed of the parents tree, from which it 

 would appear that bark of four years old, when beariug the 

 erne type of the mother stem, contains from to U'TSper 

 tent, quinine, or fully more thau tl}e older parent trees. 



CoFi-EE IN Natal.— The Natal agents of the 



Tropical Aijricidturist report under date 11th July; 



" Splendid season for coffee with us. Pity not a 

 larger cultivation, A good deal to be learnt here 

 yet. Some few who h.ave stuck to 'theii' last' make 

 it pay ; but others lost heavily, " 



