October i, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



297 



Brazil certainly produces three times as much coffee as 

 Java; Oeylon thc^ half, or a little more. 



I have here before mo a calculation of expenditure and 

 receipts of a coffee enterprise, commencing \vith clearing 

 of waste ground. Not very long ago it did service at an 

 Office that wanted to put money iu such an enterprise. 

 This estimation would take up too much place, even for a 

 supplement for insertion in a newspaper, 



So concise as the one furnished by Mr. Groskamp I 

 never beheld, nor ever shaU behold. In my time, between 

 1870 — 1880, we planters were very much pleased, if from 

 6 or 700 bouw of fruit-bearing trees, we gathered 5,000 

 piculs; and now Mr. G. comes with l:i.5 homes with a yield 

 of 2,.500 piculs, viz., 5,000 pic. in two years. This gentle- 

 man states 125 houws, the bouw 1,000 trees; makes exactly 

 125,000 trees: 2,500 pic. eacli year, two years running from 

 125,000 trees, makes exactly 2 katties per tree. That 

 ehnches. And then Mr. Groskamp twits Mr. de Rijk on 

 1*6 kattie being one with another rather too much. Mr. 

 Eijk too speaks of the fifth year. ExpeniUture, according 

 to Mr. G. 100,000 florins, 20 florins costs of production 

 per picul. Receipts 35 florins per picul = 175,000 florins. 

 That clinches too. Ah prime quality, no doubt. 



If the coffee prices go up, this profit increases. Of 

 course ! As true as a body is still alive an hour before 

 his death. JVie Mmiseiidreck uud Coriander Iditft uHes 

 durch einander. It is .qvute confounding. On 125 bouws 

 5,000 piculs are produced in t wo years, with cost of production 

 at 20 guilders per picul. Remains per year 37,500 guild- 

 ers. But if Mr. G. makes -later one kattie per tree, the 

 costs of production are only diminished with the costs 

 for gathering, preparing and delivery. The maintenance, the 

 administration and good-will remain the same for 2 katties, 

 or 1 kattie per tree. On a tree's producing I kattie the profit 

 falls from/37,500 to about / 14,000. So if Mr. G. comes to 

 an equal crop of 0"5 or 0'6 kattie per tree,he is done for. 



Mr. de Rijk says; — The expenses of production in pro- 

 portion to the obtainable product are very trifling. Above, 

 they are fully one-half of the produce of the coffee. 

 AVith such a produce much can be afforded. It is worse 

 when one pays only 10 or 15 guilders costs of production, 

 and get iw coffee or very little. 



I should now say with that Representative, when there 

 was a question of abolishing the exi>ort-duty of 2 guilders 

 per picul, "well, they can afford it." 



.But I might well say with Mr. 0. Bosscher: where 20 

 guilders are paid for "working-costs, fruitful enterprises will 

 be able to carry on a languishing existence; if younger 

 enterprises only lately begun, they must go to ruin, no 

 new ones will arise, and private coffee-culture in Java 

 will soon fall back into its former insignificance (namely 

 at the present state of prices). Mr. Joosten says in the 



Gida of June 1882 " and if the cypher of the pre- 



aent quotation have taken away all chance of profit in 

 the planting of coffee, on an average, the planting will 

 not cause a very great loss to the planter-pessimist." 



I could indeed quote many who are of this opinion, 

 I know that many a one wavers at the present state of 

 coffee prices, namely, existing and beginning enterprises, 

 even in the Oosthoek. I know not whether the above- 

 named two gentlemen are, or are to be coffee-planters, 

 bat I am thankful for their endeavours to inspire confidence 

 in the future. I shall be most happy to receive further 

 statements concerning then- coffee enterprises, if they have 

 them, or should ere long obtain them. I direct the at- 

 tention of Companies, officers and private waste-ground 

 buyers, to the favourable results to be obtained in the 

 Oosthoek, and hope that all this may tend to redress the 

 shaken credit, and put an end to all the palaver about 

 awful Coffee years. 



Do you, Mr. Editor, who are always ready to advocate 

 in the HawhlsUad the abolition of export "dues — do you 

 think that it is of so much consequence for coffee? Let 

 us not bo over-anxious. Presently another Rejiresentative 

 will come and say, "Indeed? On a coffee-enterprise of 

 125 bouws, iu two years, a profit of 75,000 guilders is 

 cleared, and then you prate about the necessity to abolish 

 an e.xport duty of 2 guilders per picul of coffee!" Allow 

 me, in the meantime, to thank you for the space you 

 have kindly allowed me in the service of a cause, which, 

 as a matter of course, could not be exhaustively treated. 



H, Joii. Smid. 



"THE COFFEE-CULTURE AGAIN: No. rv. 



In the Hand/esUad of 25th July, I gave a few com- 

 parisons between the coffee-culture at Brazil and in East- 

 Java. These comparisons induced Mr. 0. M'. Groskamp and 

 Mr. H. Joh. .Smid, to publish their observations on the same 

 subject in the same paper respectively of the 27th July 

 and the 30th July. Though much obliged to these gentle- 

 men for their observations, for altercations on so important 

 a subject as the coffee-culture must lead to useful results 

 yet I must enter upon further discussions to prevent any 

 eventual misapprehension. 



In the first place, as regards Mr. Groskamp's observ- 

 ations, I became aware, in reading over my article, that 

 there stood "a bad crop" in.stead of "no bad crop," I meant 

 therewith to say, that it is a crop with which one may 

 rest satisfied, ^^'hether this was a mistake in the cojjy- 

 ing, or an erratum, I cannot now ascertain; but this is 

 not of much consequence. Mr. G. at any rate concludes 

 with acknowledging a profit of about 37^ per cent per 

 aunum, and therefore will not deny my conclusion viz. 

 that those interested in the coffee-culture m East-Java' 

 can look forward with confidence to the future. ' 



In the second place, looking over the article by Mr. 

 H. Joh. Smid, it struck me immediately that his name 

 is unknown to me among tlie coffee-planters of East.Java. 

 I am indeed aware, that Mr. H. Joh. Smid is a very 

 meritorious person, and that he has done a great deal to 

 improve the coffee-culture in Middle Java (or AVest Java?) 

 but that notwithstanding, as I am unable to give an opinion 

 about, say, the vintage m France, so is Mr. Smid as 

 little able to be acquainted with the condition of the coffee- 

 culture iu East-Java. 



To be able to form an idea of certain conditions in a 

 country, it is necessary to have been there. Mr. H. Joh 

 Smid must excuse my saying so. It does in the least 

 detract from his merit, and above all, he must not think 

 that the profitable results obtained in East-Java, can mak. 

 him, who has laboured in Mi.ldle Java, fall short in anv 

 way, and, as he says, sets him down a peg or two 

 Fortunately, I see that he, too, has sometunes eather,-d 9 

 and even 7 katties (= 43 K. G.) from one tree. A nitv 

 that It seems to occur but very rarely in Middle .Java 



But to return to the matter itself, I must inform Mr' 

 H. Joh. Smid, that I am not accustomed to write anv' 

 thmg that I cannot prove by facts, and therefore I -ini 

 ready to submit to his examination, and to all who take 

 an interest m the matter, the proofs of the facts which 

 are too voluminous to publish here. ' 



To conclude, I have one observation more on Mr .Smid'a 

 statement; he says:— " Brazil certainly produces three times 

 more coffee than Java; Ceylon the half or mure than 

 the half." 



The true cj-phersare: for 1881-82: 



Brazil Rio 3,800,00(3 ijiculs 



„ Santos 1.500,000 „ 



„ Bahia 135,000 „ 



Java 1.221,000 „ 



Ceylon 478,000 „ 



Hilversum, 20th July 1883. T df Ritk 



THE COFFEE-CULTURE IN EAST JAVA: No. V. 

 Mr. H. Joh. Smid gives in the HandehUad of 31st Jolv 

 some ample animadversions on my observations concemin'I 

 the private coffee-culture in East Java. Those animad 

 versions bear the mark of Mr. Smid's being ignorant nf 

 or very imperfectly acquainted with, the present condition' 

 of the private coffee-culture in those parts, and eridentlv 

 show that he te.sts my data by the conditions and resu ts 

 obtauiing m Middle Java. I, liowever, presume that the 

 territories in the so-called Oosthoek, so eminently fertile 

 "•"i '^?'-Vn ""' w "-ff/e-culture, cannot be set on a par 

 with Middle or West Java, and thus that it wiU not d,. 

 to measure them by the same standard. It would also 

 appear that Mr. Smid has read my observations but very 

 superficialy. _A\ here I, for instance, base my calculations 

 on an en erprize vvith a planting of 125 bouws per annum 

 (thus .500 bouws in the course of 4 years), Mr. S chanws 

 this simply into an enterprize with a total planting of l->5 

 bouws, and then deduces his inferences. In this manner 

 it is of com-se very easy to arrive at very improbable cy- 



