November i, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



359 



that English leopard and English goat moths are not so 

 complaisant to the foreigners as they ought to be, nor 

 the chermes to the Spruce, nor the coccus to the coniferous 

 trees. If we make the necessary allowances, however, M. 

 Lichtenstein's statement may pass, and also his ^ assertion 

 that man successfully defends himself against insect at- 

 tacks by his intelligence and forethought, never by direct 

 action. 



It is evident, he continues, that one can crush a fly or 

 suffocate a few thousand Vme lice with bisulphide of carb- 

 on, but every one who knows what the reproductive powers 

 of insects are, well know that the complete destruction of 

 any insect whatever is as impracticable as the quadrature 

 of the circle. The difficulty, then, must be evaded and 

 the first method to be adopted in the case of the Vine 

 is to plant Vines capable of resisting the Phylloxera. It 

 is obmous that American Vines resisted the louse and the 

 structure of the roots affords the explanation of theii- 

 immunity. This much ascertained, the next point was to 

 select the variety of Vme best adapted to particular soils 

 and climate, there beiug great differences in these parti- 

 culars in the vineyards of France. The fruit of the 

 American varieties is far inferior as to flavour to that of the 

 European kinds, but by grafting the best European kinds 

 on American stocks, in the course of three years the 

 cultivator may olDtain a crop. In the first year an American 

 cutting is planted, in the second this is used as a 

 stock, in the third the scion bears fruit. Oare must be 

 exercised in selecting stocks suitable for particular dis- 

 tricts, for the variety that is fitting in one place is not 

 so in another. 



Mr. Lichtensteiu sums up by dissnading Vine growers 

 from expending money on insecticides, and by counselling 

 them, on the other hand, to cease from making war di- 

 rectly on the insect, but to pull up their French Vino 

 stocks and plant American in their places. Twenty thou- 

 sand hectares are thus annually reconstituted in the South 

 of France, and the Vines are splendid. — Gardeners' Chron- 

 icle. 



AGRICULTUKE IN MOZAMBIQUE. 

 The only agricultural industries that can be said to have 

 firmly and successfully estabUshed themselves in the province 

 of Mozambique, appear to be those of the cultivation of the 

 oil-producing plants, Amendoim and Gerr/dim. The produc- 

 tion of these, says Consul O'Neill, together with the col- 

 lection of indiarubber, calumba root, and orchilla weeds, 

 forms five-sixths of the total exports of the province. This 

 cultivation, and the labour requisite for the collection of the 

 latt er products mentioned, is conducted solely by the natives. 

 Efforts have been made from time to time, by the Portuguese 

 and other colonists, to introduce the cultivation of other 

 produce for which both the climate and the soil are especially 

 favourable, but none have been thoroughly successful. Of 

 the greatest importance have been the endeavours in various 

 parts of the coast to raise sugar, opinm, tobacco, and coffee. 

 As the cultivation of amendoim and ijeryelim is entirely in 

 the hands of the natives, it follows, as a natm-al consequence, 

 that every stage of the workmg is of a most rude and 

 primitive kind. The thousands of acres that are utilized in 

 the cultivation of these seeds are cleared in great part with 

 an axe of native make, of tomahawk shape, and with an 

 ed ge hardly two inches in length. In some parts particularly 

 in the European settlements, a species of bill-hook is also 

 used for clearing the undergrowth, but these two form the 

 only tools of the Makua forest clearer. The vast area 

 of country cleared is then turned over by both men and 

 women with a rough and clumsy hoe, also of native make, 

 the slow worldng of which entails an enormous and unnecess- 

 ary consumption of labour. In the sowing of amendoim, 

 holes are made in the groxmd some little di.stance apart, 

 generally three or four feet, to allow space for the creeper 

 to railiate. This is usually done with a sharp-pointed stick. 

 One seed — care is taken that it is only one, as the natives 

 declare that growth of two oj- three will stangle each other 



is then dropped in each hole, and the earth stamped over 



by the feet. In the sowing of c/eri/dim, the seed is broad- 

 cast as with grain, and scattered thickly over the ground. 

 The sowers arc then followed by others with hoes, who work 

 the need rou^dily iido (he goound, stainpiug the whole in 

 with their feeti (Jareaud therefore much labour is required 



to keep the gi'ound clear of weeds that spring up in this 

 climate and soil with astonishing rapidity, and throughout 

 the growth of both these plants, the plantations are care- 

 fully tended. In the reaping or collection of uniend.oim, the 

 plants are simply pulled up by hand, and the tubers taken oft' 

 as with the common potato. They are then laid out to 

 dry in the sun, and when thoroughly dried, are shelled by 

 hand for the extraction of the seed, an operation requirng 

 considerable time and patience. With gergelim the plant 

 is in some districts literally reaped, but singly and by hand, 

 with an ordinary knife. In others the plants are simply 

 pulled up out of the ground; in the latter case they are 

 then cut about a foot down the stem. The plants are now 

 tied into small bundles, which are stuck in the ground in 

 the Sim till thoroughly dried, when the seed will drop 

 readily off. Large mats are then spread on the ground, the 

 bund les taken up and shaken vigorously over them till all 

 the seed have thus been extracted. AVith both amendoim 

 and yeryelini the seeds are then packed in baskets of native 

 manufacture, and carried on the heads of blacks, in some 

 cases a distance of fifty or sixty miles, to the house of the 

 coast trader, there to be bartered for cloth, beads, powder, 

 &c., and to be stored till an opportunity occurs. 'The sugar 

 cane is cultivated by the natives upon mo.':t parts of tho 

 coast where alluvial soil exists, but only in insignificant 

 quantities, and to be used by them as a sweetmeat, or for 

 the purpose of che\ving. The only jjart of the province 

 where its gi-owth has been attempted upon any considerable 

 scale is in the rich soil of the Zambesi delta, and by the 

 Portuguese planters of that district; numerous plantations 

 exist there, and cane grows luxuriously upon them. The 

 only use, however, to which the cane has, up to the present 

 time, been put, is that of the distillation of spirits. Con- 

 sid Baring says, that beyond the ZaB>besi, there are many 

 places in the province eminently adajjteil for the growth of 

 the sugar cane, and which possess easily accessible and secure 

 ports for discharge and shipment. Amongst these may be 

 mentioned Mwambi Bay (Pomba), Mwendazi (Mwemba),the 

 western shores of Nakaha and Nihegehe, on the branches 

 of Fernao Veloso Bay, and the country to the south and 

 in the vicinity of Mokambo Bay. Tobacco, though cultiv- 

 ated as an article of commerce for export, has not met 

 with much success, as the passion for the weed has become 

 deeply rooted in the natives of the coast and interior, so 

 that it is cultivated by them in many parts of the ]>ro\'ince 

 for their o\vn ^mpsumption, and forms a regular article of 

 sale and barteflWhiongst themselves. The tobacco leaf is 

 dried very carelessly by the natives, and is made up in a 

 peculiar way, as follows: — It is first plaited, and when the 

 plait has reached a length of three or four f< ot, it is wound 

 up in the form of a spiral. Gradually ih-ying in this shape, 

 it preserves its form without any binding, and it is unwound 

 and cut off in the short places when required for use or 

 sale. This mode of preparation is invariable among the 

 Makua and Yao, between the Eoouma and Zambesi. Con- 

 sul O'Neill say.s, that "were the natives instructed in some 

 simple method of ckying and pressing the lea f, the valuable 

 product W'ould be probably brought down by them in consid- 

 erable quantities, affording, as it would do, a larger margin 

 for profit than does the culture of oil seeds, and it might 

 become a regular article of colonial manufacture and export." 

 Among the many plants usefiU to commerce that grow 

 wild on the coast land and interior of Moz: mbique, may 

 be mentioned the castor-oil plant, the semia ]>'ant, a species 

 of sarsaparilla, the capsicum, or common red pepper, used 

 by the natives with their food, but as yet not gathered by 

 them for sale, in spite of the efforts of some merchants 

 to induce its collection ; and the pine apple, the fibre of 

 which has been lately proved to be a valuable substitute , 

 for flax. — Journal of the Society of Arts, 



THE OOFFEE-DEYING SYSTEM VAK MAANEN. 



As the above system is just now a subject of controver.sy 

 regarding its eft"ect on the coffee-prices, we will enter upon 

 a short description of it, though we are sensilile that 

 many of our readers are already acquainted with it. 



We should have hked to illustrate the affair with a few 

 cuts, but that there were several objectioii.i to this on 

 the side of the inventor himself. So we si. .all have to 

 confine ourselves to giviiu^ hut a gi-neral idc.i of the ar- 

 rangement, and showing the advantages it has already 



