October i, 1S83.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



263 



sodJen in wet weather and as hard as a brickbat in 

 dry? Has anyone considered why coffee was called 

 king coffee? May it not have been because it was 

 found he did best with a carpet of weeds ? Col. 

 Money tells us that to cultivate tea profitably, it 

 must have the humus of vegetable matter; bow is tuat 

 vegetable matter to be got without weeds ? Xhere 

 are some who still insist in calling leaf disease a con- 

 tagious disease. Mildew causes contagious diseases in 

 animals, but when mildew is the effect in animals, the 

 cause ia poor living (as in the case of the famine- 

 stricken of India) or from an iusufBoient proportion 

 of some component part iu the blood as in tbe case 

 of skiii-diseaaes. The mildew in the coffee is the efl'ect 

 and not the cause, the cauae is improper cultivation. 

 When boots get attacked with mildew, is it a con- 

 tagious disease among boots or is it a natural conse- 

 quence caused by the boots being damp and not 

 brushed ?t Some have grown the coffee mildew on 

 glass, have they tried to grow the boot-mildew ? They 

 will tind that they can, and glass often gets attacked 

 with mildew as in the case when glass becomes cloudy. 

 Weeds have been tried in cocoa and I have been 

 told that that cocoa was considered the finest of its 

 age iu the island. Weeds h>ive been tried i n Liberian 

 coffee, and I believe that coffee has got so thick that it 

 has killed the weeds, and weeds have been tried in 

 both tea and coffee Arabica ; and has been found so 

 satisfactory that all weeding contracts in that estate 

 have been stopped. J — Yours truly, 



G. F. HALLILEY. 



LABOUR FOR NORTHERN QUEENSLAND. 



TO THE EDITOB OF THE '' QUEENLANDER." 



Sir, — In reading tbe speech made by Mr. Griffith 

 at Mackay on the introduction of coolie labour into 

 Queensland, he states as follows : — " The result would 

 be the same as it had been everywhere elsewhere the 

 same experiment has been made; they would in the 

 course of years (say thirty) do all kL"d8 of labour for 

 themselves." 



The coffee industry has been established iu Ceylon 

 for a much longer period than above stated. On my 

 first charge part of the coffee was forty- live years old, 

 and although Ceylon is peopled with many races seek- 

 ing their living in a variety of Vifays, yet you never see 

 tlie Southern India coolie remaining there many years. 

 They usually stay one, two, or three years and then 

 return to their coast for a spell of about six months, 

 again returning to Ceylon. They are reciuited in 

 Southern India for our coffee estate?. To this work 

 they come, and at it, through good and bad seasons, 

 they remain, aud first-class workers (men and women) 

 they are. I am confident that if introduced into 

 Queensland the white man who trusts to a super- 

 fluity of work for good pay will never have cause to 

 regret such action. Although the rate of pay they 

 receive on the coffee estates may seem low to colonial 

 ears — namely, 9d per day per man, aud 6d per woman 

 yet when you come to consider how they labour iu 

 their own oounti'y for wealthy men tor the sum of 

 some 3s to 4$ per month in kind, the pay as received 

 in Ceylon is a fortune to them. They do not, as a rule, 

 save money, but live from hand to mouth. 



If black labour is essential to the opening up of 

 your valuable Northern lands, nrd if sugar, coffee, 

 cinchona, etc., are to be grown, such labour is absolutely 



t Just so : what mUdew is to unbrushed boots, weeds are 

 to neglected estates. — Ed. 



J Where is this wonderful estate where weeds have been 

 tried aud foimd so satisfactory that their removal has 

 been abandoned ? Let us have one such case and the re- 

 tults, rather than what the bank manager rightly called 

 sheory. — Ed. 



necessary, and it behoves one and all to see that 

 justice is done to the Northern lands, and by so 

 doing the South will undoubtedly gian. — I am, air, 

 &c., H. St. Geo. Oact-ueild. 



P. S. — I have worked coolies for over thirteen years. 



[Two corrections suggest themselves. Coolies who 

 live on 9d per diem in Ceylon ought to get is in 

 Queensland, in view of the higher price of rice, and 

 surely a considerable portion of the coolies employed 

 in Ceylon save monej', some scrimping themselves of 

 food in order to lay by. — Ed.] 



FRESH FIELDS AND PASTURES NEW : 

 THE SEYCHELLES. 



(By a/i ex-Ceylon planter. ) 

 Mah^, Seychelles, 20th August, 18S3. 



Dear Sir, — I forward the enclosed extracts from 

 the " Mauritius Mercantile Record" &c., thinking they 

 may be of interest to your readers. It is possible 

 that there may be some of Ceylon's practical planters 

 who would like to give the "Seychelles" a trial. 

 I would not recommend any to come here without a 

 little capital, but those possessing Ro.OOO, upwards 

 could in a few years retire with a handsome com- 

 petency. Let the young and unencumbered be the 

 pioneers in Borneo &c. , and endure the hardships such 

 as are met with in Manitoba, New Zealand ; while the 

 older hands and those with wives and children can 

 settle in a country where life is congenial to their 

 tastes and where soil and climate have been tried 

 and found satisfactory. The islands are easy of access : 

 two of the Mesfageries iMaritime steamers call here 

 monthly, one homeward and the other outward 

 bound. I shall be happy to give what information 

 I possess, to any of your readers who will place them- 

 selves in communication with me. — I am, dear sir, youra 

 faithfully, E. H. E. 



(Mercantile Record.) 

 Wahe Seychelles, 23rd July 1SS3. 



Sib, — After nearly twenty years spent in Ceylon in the 

 cultivation of tropical products, and two years in New 

 Zealand and the Australian colonies, I was attracted here 

 through reading .a report on the Seychelles Islands wTitten 

 by Mr. H. Cockbm-n Stewart during the time that he oc- 

 cupied the position of Chief Civil Commissioner. 



Since my arrival I have visited a large portion of the 

 Islands, aud I have no hesitation iu saying, that I have never 

 been iu any countiy where vegetation is so prolific, or 

 where agricultural productions respond more readily to the- 

 assistance of human ingenuity ; neither do I know any 

 coimtry where the inhabitants avail themselves so little of 

 the great advantages bestowed upon them. Throughout the 

 whole of the island (computed at 35,000 acres) there is 

 scarcely an acre which could not be made productive and to 

 yield a handsome return ou the capital invested. 



The climate is most salubrious ; the heat never oppres- 

 sive ; the islands are not only entirely free from hurricane, 

 but there are no winds of such a strong character as in 

 any way to impede the successful cultivation of any 

 tropical product that may be introduced ; the yield is large 

 compared with that of other countries, the quaUty superior 

 aud labor cheap aud abundant. As you are aware, 

 hitherto the principal industry has been the growing of 

 coconuts. For some years past a disease has affected the 

 trees to such an extent that the annual yield has been 

 materially diminished, and, although I am told that the 

 disease is disappearing, yet I think the " the wish is father 

 to the thought." 1 fear that unless proprietors turn their 

 attention to the cultivation of other products, the future 

 of the islands is to be viewed with considerable apprehen- 

 sion. 



Some of the more enlightened of the land-owners have 

 opened up a large area iu coffee, cocoa, vanilla, cloves, &:e. 

 While admiring the courage and enterprise sho\vn by those 

 who are sijendiug both time aud money in setting this com- 

 nirn lable example, I fear ui many instances they will nice 



