864 



tHE TKOPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



[JuirfE 3, 1 88, 



information of Government, and bo communicated to the 

 Agricultm-al Eei)orter to Government, the Commissioner 

 of Salt Revenue, the Forest Department and all Collectors. 

 The reclamation of the saline tracts on the coast, in the 

 manner indicated by Mr. Steavenson might, it is thought, 

 be imdertaken by the Forest Department, to which has 

 been already entrusted the planting on the coast line of 

 sand-binding creepers (G. 0., No. 446, dated 16th April 

 1S83. It is .suggested that the attention of the Forest 

 Department be specially du-ected to Mr. iHteavenson's 

 remarks, in paragraph 6 regardhig the disappearance of 

 scrub-jungle m the neighbourhood of Madras, and his 

 sugge.stlons as to the strict couservaucy of such jungle on 

 all Government waste " as a nucleus tor the formation of 

 vegetable soil, a protection to seedlmgs, and a source of 

 much valuable hot-weather fodder. 



The Government have ordered that the attention of the 

 Conservators should be drawn to Mr. .Steavenson's letter, 

 and especially to his remarks about the denudation of 

 Government waste lands about Madrns.— Madras Times 



COCONUT GROWING IN FIJI. 

 Your correspondent " G. E. R." (p. 810.— Ed.) evidently 

 knows something of coconut growing in Fiji, but " a little 

 knowledge is a dangerous thing." He is correct in stating 

 that the employment of imported labourers from the New 

 Hebrides and the Solomon Islands is yearly becommg more 

 and more costly and vexatious to the planter ; but ho (juite 

 overlooks the fact that the labourers employed on coconut 

 plantations are of quite a different chaiacter. These men 

 and women come from the Gilbert group of islands, lymg 

 along the equator between longitude 172 = E. and 177 <= E 

 and are known m Fiji as Luie Islanders or Kai Tokalau! 

 literally " people from windward." They are much better 

 fitted for the work of a coconut plantation, or " copra " 

 station, as some are designated, than are the men of Papuan 

 race, and are themselves very distinctly of Malay type. It 

 is not for coconut planters in Fiji a difficult matter to 

 obtain their services, and their wages range from £3 to £5 

 per annum for a term of three years' indenture, the amount 

 bemg regulated by the duration of their previous experi- 

 ence, if any, in Fiji. These people live largely on coconuts 

 and fish (of their own catching), and are not dependent 

 upon yams or taro for the maintenance of health, like the 

 dark-skinned_ Melanesian further west. " G. E. K.'s " ob- 

 servations on fruit-growing in Fiji are just and to tlie point, 

 and the rest of his letter presents a very fair view of 

 the question raised by your former correspondent. I must 

 disagree, however, with the statement that the fish are 

 scarcely worth eating, and attribute his opinion either to 

 too limited tasting on his part, or to want of skill on that 

 of his cook. Tnere is excellent sport to be had, either 

 fly-flshiiig or spinning, lioth in sea and river, but the climate 

 IS very hard on a fellow's tackle. After a continuous resid- 

 ence of eight years in the colony, I can assure yoiu- readers 

 that either of the fish enumerated below can be served up 

 very simply as a most tasty dish ; and though we have 

 neither whitebait, salmon, nor trout, as "Coconuts" cun- 

 ningly remarks, yet the Uttle daniva is at certain times 

 of year by no means to be despised as a substitute for 

 the Blaekwall dainty. Ika loa— a black mullet ; mountain 

 streams, trapped. Ika droka— a trout-like fish ; mountain 

 streams ; fly. Ika-dnmu— a large, broad, red fish ; river and 

 sea ; minnow. Saga— the king of Fijian fish ; sea and river ■ 

 fly or minnow. Kanace— sea mullet, netted. Salala— sea 

 and estuaries ; taken in fences and in nets. " Coconuts " 

 IS, I thmk, much too sanguine. He would certainly be 

 unwise to make his headquarters anywhere but on his estate 

 And the estate would be seven years coming into bearuig 

 and might even then or later on be entirely destroyed by 

 blight. Sucli things have happened before on islands in 

 the feouth Pacific ; why not again i- He would not do well 

 to pow fruit, because the parts of the groui, which are 

 be.st suited for that industry, on account of their proximity 

 to the ports of entry, are the least adapted for coconuts 

 tor geographical reasons. The enterprise which has proved 

 the best and most proper one to combine with coconut 

 growing is cattle rearing. -When the young palms are hish 

 enough to withhold their leaves from the cattle, the latter 

 by feeding upon the gi-ass and bushes in the grove pre- 

 vent these from choking the growth of the pahiis, .and at 



the same time manure the gromid. And the same labourers 

 who best suit the coconut work make the best drovers and 

 butchers. As to Queeusland bananas, they bear about the 

 same relation to those grown in Fiji as a Barcelona nut 

 does to a filbert, or a theatrical orange to a Chatsworth 

 pmc; and the Sydney, Melbourne, and Auckland people 

 won't _look at them. There are four large steamers monthly, 

 whose principal return .cargo is fresh bananas, sometimes 

 carry as much as 10,000 bunches at a time; and I think 

 the markets may some day get overstocked. Coffee has 

 not proved a failure, as " Coconuts " asserts ; for the ex. 

 periment is even yet being carried on, and the prospect 

 of this season's crop in Vitu Levu are, by the March maif 

 most encouraging. But, of course, sugar is the mainsta'' 

 of the planting industry in Fiji, and a million and a quartey 

 of money is aheady invested in it.— VuxnwAi, (Londonr 

 March 24). ^ 



- — Sm-ely your correspondent cannot have been lately in 

 Fiji, or he would know that the export of bananas to the 

 Australian and New Zealand colonies is anything but a 

 case of " sending coals to Newcastle." The fact of Levuka 

 shippers paying the high freight of Is a bunch is, I think, 

 sufficient proof of the estimation in which the Fiji fruit is 

 helcl in the colonies. No one in Sydney would dream of 

 I'nyiug Queensland bananas when Fijian, or even those from 

 New tialedonia (which are decidedly inferior to the Fiji 

 fruit), are procurable ; in fact, I think comparatively very 

 little Queensland fruit is imported. In Sydney, Fiji bananas 

 average from Is 6d to 2s 6d per dozen. All this is, how- 

 ever, wandermg from the original subject, and taking up 

 om- editor's space. In the case of coconuts as well as in 

 most others, " the proof of the pudding is ui the eating," 

 and, however favourable it may appear in theory, I have 

 never heard of the man who has made even a moderate 

 fortune at nut planting in Fiji even in the earlier days, 

 when copra was worth a good deal more than it is at 

 present, and the question of labour was not such a difiicult 

 one. I am quite aware of the extensive operations being 

 carried out by the Colonial Sugar Company on the Kuva 

 river. I think at present it has three large mills at work 

 crushing cano, principally grown by planters in the vicin- 

 ity ; hence the punts and steam launches, which were of 

 course used extensively in the first place tor transporting 

 the heavy machinery from the vessels at the mouth of the 

 Kuva to the company's land. It must be remembered that 

 this company has almost unlimited capital at its command, 

 and could consequently tide over temporary reverses; it 

 is close to Suva, at which port the imported labour is 

 hired, and could, if neces.sary, import its own coolies from 

 India, or oven China, which would of course be impossible 

 for a small capitalist. Coffee, I believe, has not hitherto 

 fouuu favour in the London markets. The same was at 

 first the case with Indian te.-.s ; nevertheless, I believe the 

 Fiji production will eventually prove a success: at all 

 even:s, it is still being largely cultivated in Taviuni, and 

 parts of Viti Lc\'u and Vauua I.evu. In conclusion, 1 ha\'o 

 no doubt " Coconuts " would have no difficulty iu buying 

 land for his planting operations, the sellers of that coni- 

 modity having hitherto been the most successful men iu 

 Fiji.— G. E. &.— Field. 



PLANT CELLS. 



From HU early period iu the history of Vegetable Ana- 

 toray— fjcm the time that CJrew and Malpighi demonstrated 

 the varicl iutcriial cellular construction of plants— e^^leri- 

 ments tu demonstrate the u.se of these varied structures 

 have been made. And now, when this department of botany 

 has taken a sudden bound onwards, and chemical reagents 

 have come to the liclp of the microscope, it may be hoped 

 that substantial jirogress may be made in this du-ection. 

 The structure of plants, like their outward conformation, 

 IS partly an hei-editary endowment from generation to 

 generation, partly the result of progressive adajitation to 

 certain conditions. So long as the jiower of adajitation or 

 accommodation to ciicumstances remains, so long is there 

 room and opportunity for variation as occasion may demand. 

 On the other hand, it is «onceivable that plants which hiive 

 for a long series of ages become adapted or accustomed to 

 one uniform set of conditions remain unafltected, do not vary 

 when those conditions :ue altered, or, being ui^ble toacconi.. 



