298 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



[October 1, 1883. 



phers ; but such arguments have in fact no vahie what- 

 ever. Mr. S. docs not grow two halms, where there is only 

 room for one ; but where there are four, he sees but one . 



Now a few observations, partly in refutation of Mr. S., 

 partly for further elucidation of the cyphers given by me. 

 The average produce from the 7th year was stated by rae 

 to be 1 kattie per tree, or 10 piculs per bouw, and Mr. 

 S. seems to think this e.'caggerated. 



It is little to the purpose what is made in Middle or 

 West Java or in Ceylon, still less what the average pro- 

 duce is of the government plantations, as it is notorious 

 that these latter cannot be set on a par with the private 

 enterprises. We have here only to do with the Oosthoek, 

 and where enterprises of p. m. S years standing, as : Soem- 

 boel, Boemie, Redjo, Madoe, Ardjo, Ampel Gadeng, etc., 

 can already show crops of 14 to 20 piculs per bouw, I 

 presume that an average produce of 10 piculs per bouw as 

 assumeil by me, is fully justified. As capital required for 

 setting an enterprise of .500 bouws on foot, I had assumed 

 in round numbers 200,000 guilders. This rested upon ex- 

 perience durmg the updertabiug of five such enterprises, 

 and I took about the average of these. To give a detailed 

 estimate of the charges of such an enterpri.se, would, as 

 Mr. S. rightly observes, take too much space eveu for a 

 supplement to a paper, and consequently I forebore doing 

 so. As, however, Mr. S. does not mention the figure he 

 arrives at by his calculations, I may assume it does not differ 

 much from mine. The cypher assumed by me of i,000 

 trees per bouw is perfectly correct. In the Oosthoek many 

 enterprises known to me are planted at intervals of 8x9 

 feet Rijnl. The bouw=500 sq. roods Kijnl or 72,000 -ft. 

 gives 1,000 trees per bouw. Apparently these intervals are 

 very large ; but considering the fertility of the soil, aud 

 considering the great and rapid growth of the trees, many 

 planters regard such space as necessary. The produce of an 

 enterprise of 500 bouws is assumed by rae, the 5th and 

 6th years taken together, to be 5,000 piculs. As was ob- 

 served above, Mr. S. speaks, instead of this, of 125 bouws, 

 and;^ bases thereupon his reasoniug. My estim.ate was based 

 upon the produce obtained from an enterprise in which I 

 myself am concenied. 



This enterprise, 600 bouws in extent, produced the fourth 

 year 1,120 piculs, the fifth year 2,300 piculs, and the sixth 

 year 4.200 piculs. So if I state as the yield of the 5th 

 and 6th year together 5,000 piculs from 500 bouws, no one 

 can rco.i.se me of exaggeration. 



It is difficult to state the exact average prices, which 

 enterprises of the Oosthoek made of their produce, for they 

 are mostly consigned to Holland for account of the planters, 

 anil not sold in Java. As far as I know, tlie coffees of 

 the enterprises 8oemboel, Molwardjo, Kandangan, Soeko- 

 redjo and Ayerdingin, together plus minus 26,000 piculs 

 were sold this year at J;iva at prices varying from 35 to 

 45 guilders per picul in fhe parchment. Say the average 

 price is 40 guilders, adding 25 per cent to bring it to ^be 

 price of peeled coffee, aud the produce would be / 50,00 

 per picul. In my calcxdatiou, however, I only assumed a 

 value of / 35,00 per picul. which everyone must thus allow 

 to be a very moderate computation. 



On a production of 10 piculs per bouw, the costs of pro- 

 duction were stated by me to be f 20,00 per jticul inclusive 

 of the chari^es of administration, maintenance, and lease, 

 and not as Mr. Smid would make it api)eHr, only for charges 

 of gathering, preparing and ilespatchiug. Mr. S. says fur- 

 ther that with a crop of 1 kattie per tree (so 10 piculs 

 per bouw) the profits fall to. 14,000 guilders, and that one 

 is " done for " with a production of 3"G kattie. 



To set this assertion, made wilbo\it any corroborating 

 cyphers, in its true lighf, I here add a calculation of how 

 the matter wouM really stand with a produce of 0"6 kattie. 



This gives 6 i>iculs per bouw, or for 500 bouws a total 

 of 3,000 piculs at/ 35 ... ... ... / 105,000 



Costs for g.atheriug, preparing, etc., per contra 

 would amount to ... ... ... / 33,000 



Administration, maintenance aiul goodwill ... „ 4.5,000 



/■ 78,000 



Together 

 I.e.aving thus a balance of about / 26,000. 

 Yet this Mr. S. calls " being done for " '. 

 I have not wished to follow the style of argument of 

 Mr. Smid, hut to give cjiihers and proofs, where these were 



necessary, to corroborate my assertions. I fancy then to 

 have sufficiently made out, that, whatever may be the less 

 favorable conditions under which private coffee-culture 

 may labour in other parts, this is not the case in the 

 OostJwekj aud that those who are interested in it may con- 

 fidently meet the future. C. W. Grosk.\mp. 

 — India Mircury. 



MASKELrlVA AS A TEA DISTRICT. 



At thclate meeting, (see page 273) after sever.al ques- 

 tions had been put to Mr. Owen aud answered (after his 

 paper had bjeuread), the Ohairmaa said, *' Do you consi- 

 der that the Maskeliya hills are suitable for remuner- 

 ative tea cultivatioc." Mr. Owen answered: — "From 

 what 1 have seen of the Darjiling disirot (und it is to 

 that country that I would comp,are the Ceylon hills), 

 I am docide<lly of opinion that the greater part of 

 these districts is exceedingly well suited, and that 

 where there is depth of soil, p.irmancucy should attend 

 proper cultivation : iu some places the soil is shallow 

 aud poor, and these are not likely to prove re- 

 munerative under t;a, bnt this remark applies to 

 certain Inelds of limited extent only." This is im- 

 portant enough to deserve being repeated with Mr. 

 Owen's ipiissima verba. 



RUBBER CULTIVATION IN CEYLON. 



{Fro7H the Procecdimjs of the Planters^ A>:>iOCiaiio>i at 



Kandy. ) 



Friday, 2Ist Sept., IS83. 



Mr. GiLLi-iT .-aid a great deal had been said about 

 the pussioility of producing oerearubber in such a 

 form as to send it; home to make it best pay. He 

 would now venture to lay before the As-^ociation sam- 

 ples he had succeoded ia getting during e.xoeriments 

 be had be?u makin^^ lately on the Peradeuiya estate 

 by tLe courtesy of Mr. Huxley who was manager 

 there. He had inveuto 1 a kuitf, which he was not 

 in a pnsitir)n tosho^v publiciy yet, bub it would S'lOu 

 be ready and he hoped it would meet with th? ap- 

 proval of ru'joer planters. By this knife there is no 

 necessity to remove the outer bark, and the cut 

 can he made straight down as high a* the oper- 

 ator could reach. A cooly simply got up the tree, 

 and, placing the knife as high up as pissidle, 

 took one straight cut down the tree witliia 3 

 or 4 ir.clies of the ground. Dr. Triinen was presciuat 

 the first trial and he expressed his satisfaction with 

 it. lie had partly imenied a tin to be placed under- 

 neath. Dr. Triinen is of opinion that there is little 

 or no injury done to the cambium which, bethought, 

 thfy ought to avoid. The milk (lowed very freely 

 and it was then coll 'Cted by a cooly and by a certain 

 process he took out all tiiat crude rubber oil which was a 

 constant source of trouble to pbinters. By the elimin- 

 ation of this crude oil the ru'ibir, be believed, could 

 be landed iu England pcrfec'ly white. In his (irst 

 experiment he succeeded iu getting | i.f an ounce to 

 one traj', from a tree 24 years old, —Mr. Huxley was 

 present and he would correct him if that was not 

 right. The operation might be repeated in 30 days. 

 On his return from Colombo the other day, it struck 

 him that he would try another experiment on his 

 trees that be had experimented on 9 diys before, aud 

 the result was most satisfactory. H" h.id IJ ounces 

 on tlie second tapping, in 9 days. Tin argument 

 against it would be that the punishment to the 

 trees would be too great to go ou at that for any 

 length of time, but he considered that if the trees 

 were of fair age, say 3 years, and of vigorous 

 growth, it might be possible to tap them every 

 30 days. But this as all in its infancy aud he could not 



