212 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



[September i, 1883. 



the receiver of deposits failing to deliver tlie teas ; and 

 so long as this is the case, it is not worth, the while of 

 the larger buyers to question tlie odd arrangement by 

 which they give credit to the sellers. 'Without weight- 

 notes, tlie form of security given would, so the lawyers 

 say, probably have to be some sort of receipt for the 

 disposition from the seller, in which the liitter also in- 

 structed the dock coiup.iuy that the buyer had a lien or 

 mortgage on the parcel. — Produce Markets' Review. 



CoFTKE Growing in Colombo. — It j'ou want to see 

 a fairly good coflee tree doing its level best under 

 very exceptional circumstances wall; down the road 

 to Polwatta, pass the entrance to the office door, .and 

 at the very corner of a road near by and nearly 

 opposite to the door referred to you will see the 

 tree with a good crop in it, berries in clusters ■well- 

 formed. It is a cheering siglit. — Cor. 



Queensland: its Peogress A^^) Eesoitrces, ey Mh. 

 AnTHUK J. Stanesdy.— Perhaps the best idea of the cap- 

 abilities of Queensland soil and climate can be formed from 

 an inspection of the fine Eotonical Gardens in Brisbiiue, 

 whei'e, under the able direction of Mr. "Walter Hill, the 

 cm-ator, are cultivated, m a small space, a host of plants, 

 representative of nearly every part of the world. Ootton, 

 flax, coffee, spices of various kinds, and even tea may there 

 be seen in a flourishing condition in a collection to enumerate 

 which would take me more than the whole evening. Con- 

 siderable progress has already been made in the cidtivation 

 of cotton and tobacco in Queensland, and both of these in- 

 dustries are likely to become important. In the year 1882 

 the yield of gunied cotton in the colony was lR3,4'881b., the 

 produce of 973 acres under cultivation. This retm'n shows 

 an increase of yield as compared with the previous year of 

 57,7521b., 354 acres of laud having been applied to this use 

 more than in 1881. — British Mercantile Ga:ette. 



Wynaad. — I have just been inspecting the work 

 of a very serious foe to cinchona. The stump of 

 a young succirubra tree has been bored clean 

 through the centre to the distance of about a 

 foot. The tunnel thus made is about as large, round 

 as an ordinary wooden penholder, and the "beast that 

 did if is a horrible yellowish white grub, evidently 

 a very near relation to our old enemy the coffee borer. 

 This, if it increases much, will bo a very serious ad- 

 dition to our troubles. The wild pigs here are still 

 doing a greit deal of damage to the young cinchonas 

 gnawing the bnik, and even breaking down many of 

 the trees. The fall in the price of bark is also alarm- 

 ing u9 ; in fact with that, and short crops, and 

 the dullnesB of the coffee market, our spirits are by 

 no means what they used to be, and we nnturally 

 feel much depressed — decidedly blue, in fact. Years 

 ago, perhaps six or seven, before the eras of gold 

 or cinchona, wo were iiU wild on the subject of 

 "shade." Of course there were factions; those who 

 believed, and tho.se who disbelieved in the new craze. 

 I noticed, especially the other d.ay, a crowning triumph 

 to be recorded, for shade-promoters, I happened to 

 pass through a field on an old esLate, which I had 

 not seen for several years. The last time I did so it 

 was a slight to make a planter weep — abandonment 

 and desolation, borer and leaf rust, being written 

 on every bush. We were rather incliued to scoff, 

 perhajw at the proprietor who enthusiastically declared 

 there was salvation for the place yet in the shape of 

 shade. Countless jacks and figs were planted, and 

 time, paticncB and good cultivation did the rest. Now 

 the shade having been judiciously thinned, but still 

 rem.iining pretty thick, picturesqueness is combined 

 with utility, and a prettier field could not be found 

 in the disiriot. The coffee quite covers the ground 

 and has a nice crop on it, the foliage looking dark 

 and glossy, ,nnd wholly free from leaf-disease. The two 

 and three yc.nrs old cinchona planted amongst it, is as 

 fine as any I have eeen for the age. Altogether, it is 

 a flourishing fx.imple iu favour of shade, aud gener- 

 ous cultivation,— jl/aifr«« Timea, 



Coltivatiox of the Sugae-cane in Auckland, New 

 ^ai.and. — From experiments that have been made by 

 Mr. Justice Gillies, the following results were obtained : — 

 From 12 to IS tons of topped aud stripped cane per acre 

 can be ijroduced on average soils with ordinary cultm'e. 

 Fifty per cent of the weight of stripped cane can be ex- 

 pressed, and the juice averages over 11 lb. per gaUou 

 weight. To produce a crystallisable syrup the juice must be 

 evjiporated to one-fifth of its bulk, but the main ditiiculties 

 are the evaporation aud crj'stalhsation. — Gardenei's' Chronicle. 



Mr. A. Scott Blacklaw, — The Jornal do Coinmercio 

 of Rio de Janeiro in its issue of 27th -lune announces 

 the return to tliat city of Mr. Bhaoklaw, who, as re. 

 ■presentative of the Kio de Janeiro Central Sugar 

 Factories and directing engineer o' the works in 

 course of construction at Mangaratiba and Araruama, 

 had been visiting those places for infection. It seems 

 that in the former place the acreage under cultiv- 

 ation of sugJircane is very small — scarcely enough to 

 supply half the quantity of sugar wliich the factory 

 has contracted to produce yearly ; but there are large 

 tracts which can be brought under this cultivation. 

 At Araruama, on the other hand, the plantations can 

 easily supply all the cane that will be needed by the 

 factory there. Mr. BUcklaw has advised the extension 

 of the railw.ay to Mangaratiba and the running of a 

 steiiui launch to thevaious plantations, 'ihe Jornal 

 recommends the Government to lease the waste lands 

 in Mangaratiba to small holders, native or foreign, 



BiBD.-i' WiNCi.5 ExpOKTED FKoM Ceylon. — An ex- 

 Ceylon ressideut now stationed iu the Straits Set- 

 tlements sends us the following interesting note : — 

 " In your report of a meeting of the Royal Asiatic 

 Society, Colombo, some doubt is expressed as to what 

 purpose the kingfishers' and blue jays' wings exported 

 from Ceylon to China are put to, I think I can tell 

 you. I was dining a few nights ago with the head 

 of tire Chinese here (a very remarkable man), and 

 after dinner, before going over to his theatre, whercwe 

 were to witness a performance of the 'Wayung,' a 

 Chinese play, I saw a picture under glass in a 

 carved ebony frame like a dressing glass standing on 

 a carved ebony table. The picture represented a 

 conflict outside a Chinese castle ; there were knights 

 on horseback heated and furious, raining blows upon 

 each otlier, fair ladies loafing about doorways and 

 windows to pick up the tip as to who was the, best 

 jouster, aud the whole thing except the horses and 

 the faces was done in jays' or kingfishers' wings. 

 Every shade was used, and the effect was not only 

 curious but very pretty," 



The Coffee Industkt in Teavancoue has not proved 

 very successful and in view to reduce the taxes payable 

 on coffee lauds, the Travancore Planters' Association his 

 resolved upon .appeafing to the Travancore Government to 

 grant them certain concessions. The planters wish the 

 Government to levy a duty ou coffee exported instead of 

 the hand tax now levied. "We rend in the- Tf-avancore Tiiiies 

 th.it the coffee planting industry on the hills of that pro- 

 vince has not turned out so well as was at one time ex- 

 pected — many planters have been ruined, otiiers are on the 

 verge of ruin, and imless the Trav.ancore Government helps 

 them so that the land tax may not fall too heavily on 

 the plauters, the coffee enterprise must steadily de- 

 cline aud in a short time, the planters will have to desert 

 the hills of Travancore. Iu respect to coffee cultivation, 

 wo learn from the last published administration report of 

 Travancore that no sales of coffee land took place in the 

 year — there was no demand. The demand on account of 

 land assessment wa.s 1125,630, the collections amounted to 

 I-!8,329 and the balance K17,187. " The uncollected balance 

 is owing to the very depressed condition of this industry.'* 

 The quotation we. have made ought to be suthcieut to in- 

 duce the Travancore Government to ni.ake some conces- 

 sions and induce the planters to carry out an industry 

 which, though now in a " depressed condition," may revive 

 and help toward an industry which, if successful, would 

 be alike luIvaut.Tges to the t^overmncnt iis well as those 

 intimulely cuimccted with it— Madyai i^tuiiduroi, 



