36S 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[November i, 1883. 



over a yeai', and must give you some of my experiences 

 of it. Whcu I left Ent;laud, I fully luteuded to go 

 to Manitoba, but, when 1 arrived at Montreal, ijeojilc, 

 for wlioni I got lett-jra, strongly advised me to t'y 

 Ontario lirst. Wben 1 arrived iu Outiu-io, I made 

 Toronto, the capital, my headijuartcrs, and from thence 

 I went over a good part of the province, looking, for 

 land. I found good and bad also dear and good, and 

 I think here I have got land cheap and also f^ood. Of 

 the good land I saw plenty west of Toroulo, near 

 Loudoil--lIaMiiU<in, Woodstock, etc. The laud there, 

 however, is about $11)0 an acie, including buildings. 

 This part of the country, which by looking at an 

 atlas you will see is situated in the Georgian Bay 

 and on the direct route to Manitoba via Prince Arthur's 

 Landing, has both good and bad land : the good, a 

 clay loam on limestone bottom, and the bad swampy 

 land, wliieh, however, could be made good by drain- 

 age, and slony, rocky land, very expensive to make 

 fit for the plough — the value, price being from 130 

 to §50 per. acre. It is a newer country than about 

 Toronto and London, &c. , but has a good future 

 before it, and the markets Owen Sound and Meaford 

 are rising towns. 



All sorts of grain are grown here — wheat, oats, barley, 

 peas and Indian corn. Cattle, sheep, horses &o. do well, 

 and there is a good market for them; but the pasture is 

 poorer than in England, as the climate is much drier. 

 The great want there is drainage. The climate is 

 nearly a< hot here in summer as Ceylon, but somehow I 

 don't feel it as much. I have found no difficulty in 

 working in the open all day. The winter is very 

 severe : we registered one day 16^ below zero. How- 

 ever, wilh the exception of a few stormy days, the cold 

 is not unpleasant, as the air is so dry, and the sun 

 shines brightly. Last winter is said to have been the 

 most severe one experienced for a long time, and the 

 spring, of which there was little, and even the summer 

 have been very unseasonable and very wet ; so much 

 so that the winter wheat has rusted badly. Other 

 grains however, such as oats and peas, are very 

 fine, and we have had a splendid crop of hay. 

 Snow commenced to fall about the 7th Novem- 

 ber, and was general about the middle of the month ; 

 and it did not quite disappear till about the end of 

 April, and even after that we had a good deal of suow. 

 The couutry is prosperous, but there is not much money 

 in it, farmers having as a rule started without money 

 — and almost everything is bought on credit, except 

 grain and cattle. Agricultural implements are sold on 

 one to three years' credit. The farmers are or try to be 

 nice and obliging, but they ore sharp, and most of 

 them — shame to them ! — take advantage of new comers. 

 Thej are liard working and pushing people. 



Fruit here does splendidly. There is an orchard 

 at nearly every house, of apples principally, plums, 

 pears, peaches, chenies, etc., and all the small fruits 

 strawberries, raspberries, etc., grow wild and iu pro- 

 fusion, also gr.ipes do well.* I have heie an orchard 

 of about 4.^ acres, and last year there were nboutSOO 

 bushels of ap[)les this yeir the ciop of apples is 

 email, but plums large. The trees are rarely pruued ; 

 consequently, one year there is an over-abundance and 

 the following year a scarcity oi fruit. Apples are worth 

 about oOc , and plums about St per bushel of 601b. By 

 the way, a dollar is now woi th about 4s 2d, and, of course, 

 there .ire 100c. in the doMar. I brought over with me 

 a few hundred pounds of Winds ir Forest tea. .\t first I 

 found difficulty in selling on, but I did sell all except 

 what I kept for my own use, and I got other 600 lb. 

 of Loolcondora and Kookwood ten, which I am now 

 selling. It is rather difficult to get a market for a 

 quantity, and to get the cash ; still, the cousumption 

 must increase, and it le greatly appreciated by those 



« In hothouses, of course. — Ed. 



who have used it. But the teas drunk here are gen- 

 erally green (Japans), vile stufi, and costing ouly about 

 20c. per lb.; and, of course, whciemoney is scarce, people 

 think twice before trying an expensive (at least what 

 they think expensive) tea. Still I am getting more, 

 but my capital is so small that I must get p.iid for 

 what I have sold before I get more. I shall be glad 

 to correspond with anyone in Ce.vlou who is anxious 

 to get a new market for his tea. Tea is drunk at break- 

 fast, dinner and supper, the only meals taken; so that, it 

 Ceylou tea wiis consumed here, the demand would be 

 large. No kiud of strong drink is kept in any house 

 here, though the quantity imbibed, when farmers go to 

 town, is pretty considerable. So, good tea, such as 

 Ceylon, would be a great blessing to Canadians. I am 

 now busy with my harvest, and have not time to give 

 you more at present; but I shall write again, and so give 

 you more particulars of the country, Manitoba, etc. 

 In the meantime, if any Ceylou man wants information 

 on any point or points, I shall be glad to write him 

 direct. — Yours truly, John Stkonacii. 



[Mr. Stronach will be well remembered iu planting 

 circles, especially in Dimbula, where he spent so many 

 years as a coffee and cinchona jdanter. — Ed.] 



THE PREPARATION OF CACAO BEANS. 



We are indebted to Mr. Frestoe, Government Bot- 

 anist of Trinidad, for a copy of a communication which 

 he has addressed to the Ti-itUdid C/ironicle on the 

 subject of the curing of cacao beans. Mr. Prestoe is 

 good enough to bear valuable testimony to the merits 

 of the Tropical Aijrkulturisl, while he pays the Cey- 

 lon planters the high compliment of showing thatiu 

 the new pursuit of cacao culture and preparation they 

 have improved upon the methods in use in the West 

 India Colony which is specially associated with cacao, 

 — Trinidad. We reprint the communication, which 

 sets forth with clearness and emphasis the benefit of 

 following up the fermentation of cacao beans in their 

 mucilage by clean washing and sun-drying. In cacao 

 as in tea culture our planters seem likely to take a 

 oremost, if not the first place in the world. 

 To the Director of the Triivdad Chronicle. 



Dear Su-, — I cannot tell to what extent the Tropcial 

 Af/rieiiltiirist is read here in Trinidad, I fancy, however 

 only to a very limited extent — probably not more than 

 half a dozeu copies being received iu the Islaud. This 

 uncertainty on my part must be my excuse, iu a nieas- 

 ui'e for troubling you for the favour of space for a few 

 words aueut one of the many subjects that go to make 

 up its contents, and meanwhile allow me iu view of 

 promoting the agricultural interests in Trinidad to offer 

 my testimony to the really valuable character of this 

 monthly, and which is perfectly uuique. 



The paper is ijublished by the Messrs. Ferguson of Co- 

 lombo, Ceylon, who are best known as Editors of the 

 Cci/lon Olisei-rrr and Dirntorij. It is a book of about 50 

 leaves, full to overflowing with most interesting and in- 

 structive matter, culled from publications in all parts of 

 the world, besides its own original articles and corre- 

 spondence and which treat on every possible subject with 

 wliieh a tropical agriculturist, especially a 'resident pro- 

 prietor, is likely to be interested in ; a striking ^feature 

 of the coixespoudence being narratives of the writers' ex- 

 periences with these subjects or wliat they know of tho 

 experience of others — all with the object of effecting im- 

 provement iu the agriculture aud aiding in the general 

 wealth of their colony. 



The special value of this monthly, more particularly as 

 relates to Cej'lnn lies in its character as a means — aud a 

 powerful one — by the general iuformation it ntfords for 

 initiating aud promotiug the cultivation of uew or little 

 known products on the piinciple of deafiug with as great 

 a variety of subjects as the conditions inesciited in the 



