228 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[October i, 1883. 



pubescent in leaf and only a moderate grower, the leaf 

 being rounder than 4, 9 anil li), and lighter iu colour. 

 No. 1 is exactly what we would imagine, from Mr. Cross 

 and Colonel Beddome'e description, to be a true Tata de 

 Gallinazo. Leaf glabrous shiny on upper surf ace, soft, flat, 

 and pointed at end; a fine grower considering the soil it 

 is in." It is evident, therefore, that no general descrip- 

 tion will suffice to guide a planter in selecting the best 

 sorts but that the subject requires a minute study of in- 

 dividual trees of which the bark has been analysed. 



Calisaya bark shows equal variations between different 

 trees. I have found individual trees growing together in 

 Ceylon to vary from 3'1 per cent, to 9'2 per cent quinine, 

 and individual trees similarly growing togeiher in the Wy- 

 naad to vary from TO per cent, to 07 percetof qumme. 



These variations can hardly be attributed to soil ; the 

 red barks were all growing in similar soil and under similar 

 circumstances, and the Ceylon cahsayas -syere also apparently 

 growing under similar condtiions. 



No doubt soil does influence the richness of the bark to 

 a very great extent ; samples of bark from trees grown 

 on poor soil, as far as my experience goes, always test 

 below similar barks on rich soils. Tlie richest bark, both 

 succirubra and talisaya, that I have tested from Ceylon 

 has been from land richly manured for coffee. 



I think I have given instances enough to show how 

 great are the possibilities of advantage iu selection of the 

 richest varieties of bark, while the study of .soils, and the 

 best mode of manuring and. of preserving the bark, offer 

 a wide field for profit to the intelligent planter. It is 

 evident that if an 8 per cent, bark can be obtained f loni 

 a tree giving an equal crop to those yielding 1 per cent, 

 bark the increased value of the crop must be out of alj 

 proportion to the extra care in selection. AVhether plant- 

 ers will have to adopt grafting or propagation by layers 

 or cuttings, or whether it will prove practicable to obtain 

 certain results from selection of seed or plants, is a mat- 

 ter of experience. Everything points to a great over- 

 production ol inferior bark, but there is little fear of the 

 better qualities bringing remunerative prices if wisely 

 cultivated. — Pliarmaceutical Jovriial. 



COFFEE PLANTING IN JAVA. 

 Even now while old King Coffee is, in Ceylon, 

 metaphorically, if not literally, in the shade, our 

 readers may be interested in the curious account of 

 coffee culture in Java wdiich we quote from the 

 Qmenslaiifkr. As the writer, Mr. A. J. Boyd, re- 

 ceived his information second hand, it is not sur- 

 prising to find him falling into mistakes. For in- 

 stance, it will be news to Ceylon planters that prun- 

 ing includes the process of " making a few nicks in 

 the stem, and wherever those nicks are made a new 

 Ijranch will appear." Instead of choosing ground for 

 a coffee estate " at least 500 feet above sea-level," 

 w-e in Ceylon with our experience would say " at 

 least 1,500 feet," but we certainly should not insist 

 on every stump being cleared away and the land 

 left like a garden in appearance before attempting 

 to put in a plant. As we choose rainy weather for 

 planting, too, it is only iu very exceptional cases 

 indeed that coffee plants are watered in Ceylon. 

 With an average of 1,200 plants to the acre, the 

 operation would be fearfully expensive. As in Java 

 they plant S :•: 7 feet, the number of trees to an acre 

 is only about 7S0. Taking the average yield per acre, 

 then at 6 picnls (.3 to 9 specified) of 13C lb. .each, we 

 get 816 lb. or ratber more than 7 cwt. per acre, and 

 over 1 lb. per tree. Before leaf-disease, grub and u'l- 

 favourable seasons attacked our coffee so disastrously, 

 the average yield per aero in Ceylon was little, if 

 at all, below" tiiat of Java. ^Vith the fewer trees in 

 Java, ' the rate per tree was of course higher in the 

 Dutch colony. Docs it accord with experience in 



Cevlon that "red berry" as gathered from the trees 

 inthe " iiluks,"— " voor," "main," or '■ full," and 

 " after," loses in the process to clean coffee 01-75 per 

 cent of bulk and SI'S per cent of weight— that is that 

 100 lb. of "cherry coffee" yields not quite 19 lb. of mark- 

 etable beans ? We know that the average result of a 

 ton of parchment coffee as it comes down by our railway 

 is 12 cwt., so that the reduction at this stage is 40 per 

 cent. AVe can easily believe, considering the amount 

 of moisture in cherry coffee, that, at least, 40 per 

 cent is lost in pulping. The Java cultivation is a 

 reduction equal to 55 per cent of bulk and 41 per 

 cent of weight in the pulping process. It is a curious 

 result, if correct, that the weight of the parchment 

 skin should be TS per cent more than that of the 

 pulp : the loss by pulping being 40 per cent, and 

 again by clearing away the parchment 41 '8. "Wages 

 of 6d to lOd per diem, jiiu.^ the produce of a r ice 

 field, are not bad. The number of labourers per acre 

 agrees pretty closely with what was common in Ceylon, 

 but the Ceylon planters do not believe in " tal- 

 grass " growing amongst young plants, any more 

 than in shade trees for the mature, unless indeed 

 the influence of shade trees on Hemikui vastatrix is 

 found to be as good iu other places as a recent 

 visitor to the Kelebokka valley found' was the case 

 on an estate there. Our readers are, of course, aware 

 that the dadaiJ of Java is an erylhrina, and it is 

 an erylhrina which is the " mother tree " of cacao 

 in South America and the West Indies. As the 

 erythrinas cast their leaves once a year, they let in 

 plenty of light and air periodically, besides the snpl 

 ply of manure from their leaves. The Albizz,ia Mul- 

 luccana is a grand shade tree (the leavesturning down 

 vt night), but tlie objection to it is its exceeding bitter- 

 ness. We are surprised to find the life of a Java coffee 

 tree valued at only 20 years, but careless treatment 

 aud rouoh handlhig may shorten the life of the plants, 

 although we scai'cely see why they should be lield 

 responsible for the introduction of leaf-disease as well 

 as the aggi-avatiou of its efl'ects. The rich, volcanic 

 soil is much in favom- of the coffee in Java, but we 

 suspect we have not yet heard the last or the worst 

 of coffee ilisease in that region. The calculations as to 

 cost of production, preparation, etc., will be interest- 

 ing to Ceylon planters ; but when everything is taken 

 into consideration we confess we doubt a profit of 

 50 per cent. Actual results are generally much lower 

 than those shown on paper. At this time of day the 

 pulper figm-ed is primitive enough, being worked by 

 hand labour; but they have now some of Messrs. John 

 Walker & Co. 's best pulpers in Java. 



COFFEE PLANTING IN JAVA. 

 By a. J. BoTD. 



[written foe the " QUEENSI.ANDEE."] 



The foUowiug information respecting the cultivation of 

 the coffee plant, and the after treatment of the berry, 

 was obtained by the writer at Batavla from a planter of 

 many years' e.\i)erience at Soin-abaya. That gentleman 

 very kindly giive me the fullest particulars when I told 

 him that I wished to pubhsh au article on the subject for 

 the benefit of Queen.sland. It may be reUed upon that 

 the information is correct, as I verified it on another 

 occasion by questioning other experienced settlers iu Java. 



Having selected a suitable locality, at least 500ft. above 

 the sea level, the first thing to be done is to prepare 

 the ground by clearing and Ijurning. Every agriculturist 

 in Queensland kncnvs what clearing scrub land means, so 

 there is no need to describe the process, which is pre- 

 cisely similar in Java, with this exception, that whilst the 

 Queensland farmer merely burns off the scrub timber, aud 

 plants corn for the first three years amongst the stumps, 

 tlie Dutch planter clears his land of trees and .stumps, 

 and undergrowth, and leaves his land like a garden in -ap- 

 pearance before he attempts to put in a plant. 



The ground bemg prepared, he procm-es 



