January i, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



515 



I see? Along the roads, every now and then, the holes 

 tliat l)arl been cut when plautiiig up the estates were 

 exposed in vertical section in tlie hank. With few 

 esceptioiis the roots of the cofTee were to be seen 

 hole biund, i. e. , tlieyucvir got bcvoud that hole, the 

 thick surface roots of course excepted. 



Well, when later I beyan to think about planting 

 tea, I studied all the papers that were writti-n by the 

 various experts, visited several estates, and became 

 intimate with lilessrs. Cameron, Ualy, and others ; and 

 I was not long in liudiug out one gieat fact about tea, 

 viz., that it is a much hardier plant than coffee, and 

 far better able to hcdd its own against other plants 

 growing with it, owing- to its stronger and more 

 vigorous roots. To argue, therefore, that what coffee 

 will staud, tea will more so, was an easy process, aud 

 reasouaMe enough; an. I in old coflfee land, pitted with 

 old mauure holes and with passages made by coffee 

 roots, it eeeined to me to be the height of folly to 

 waste labour on more "holes," which, however, I 

 should not liive cut even in new land. Properly done 

 alavanging is cheapest and best. — Yours, H. W. J. 



COFFEE AND LEAFDISEASE. 



Dear Sir, — I have to express my obligations to "An 

 Old Coffee Stump" for his very interesting letter pub- 

 lished on the rOth IJec in answer to mine. The inform- 

 ation he affoids is more than I dared to hope for, aud, 

 what i^ of niore iniportatiee to me, hears me nut 

 strongly in the opinions 1 have expressed, even further 

 than "A. 0. C. S." seems to be awnre of. — Yours 

 faithfully. SWADDV. 



CURIOSITIES IN CACAO AND COFFEE. 



Maria, 5th Jan. 1884. 



Dear Sir,— In going over this estate tod.ay to select 

 certain cacao trees from which to pick pods for nursery, 

 I came ou a very healthy large tree which to my sur- 

 prise had tliree varieties of fruit of all sizes : — 



(1) red when very small, and up to ripening; 



(■J) green when small, gradually ash colour, then ashy 

 red when lipc ; 



(;{) green when small, then yellow when ripe; — each 

 kind on a different branch. 

 I have two Trinidad trees in bearing about 300 yards 

 from this tree ; the fruit is green when young aud 

 gets yellow when ripe. How to account for the tree 

 giving three varieties without grafting or anything 

 done to the tree I leave to a scientist to desci ibe. 

 I hive also a coffee tree now four years old bearing 

 the last two years, grown out of a kitul tree about 

 15 inches above ground ; the kitul tree is now about 

 nine years old. This has been shown to many visitors. 

 —Yours faithfully, J. UOLLOWAY. 



LIFE IN SOUTHLANDS, NEW ZEALAND. 



Dear Sir, — I sent down the letter of your cone- 

 spoudeiit from Southlands, a Ceylon man, to a re- 

 lative of mine, a yuuug mau who has betn nine years 

 in S'lUthh'nds and now having sufficient capital has 

 taken up limd on his own account. 



I Bind }0M lull ( xtriicts of his reply, if j-nu think 

 it would be of interest to your rendtrs your are at 

 liberty to publish it. Though for my own part had I 

 three thoiLsand (loutids, and were 1 young and healthy, 

 the uplands of Cejlon would be good enough for me. 

 — Yours faithfully, H. 



Mosaburii, Elbow, Southlands. 

 My dear , I have carefully read the letter by " Ceylon 

 Planter" aud with one or two exceptions can find no fault 

 witli it; it shows the writer has thoroughly observed and 

 understood what he saw. Prices, etc., are .so ver^ different. 

 in different places, that it is very hard to give an; fixed 



price for ploughing, harrowiug and other works, but in 

 my district they are 20 to 25 per cent higher than quoted 

 ill your paper. 



I also doubt if in any part of New Zealand, land can 

 be bought for the price quoted. 



The price for unimproved land near a railway station, 

 except direct from Government, mider the deffered pay- 

 ment system aud under stringeut conditions of residence 

 etc., ranges from £i to £8, and improved land near a 

 railway from £5 to £15 ; nearly all the D. P. lands that 

 are any good here are already taken up. 



The want of society, of course, is keenly felt by those 

 of better education and will continue to be so if people 

 make that a reason for not coming to New Zealand. It 

 is easily explained : 99 per cent of the farmers have come 

 to makt: a living ; not to live comfortably ou what they 

 already po.ssess, and for the first few years there is 

 sure to be a hard struggle and a gre.at many go to the wall, 

 and often by the time tliey have made a comfortable 

 income they have got into the way of hard grinding and 

 do not care to get out of the old way of living. Every 

 year the condition of farmers is improving, and a better 

 class of people taking to farming. 



" Ceylon PI.inter"'5 estimate of the amouut of capital 

 required is very true ; also his account of the willing- 

 ness of Loan Companies to advance, which often ends 

 in the Loan Company taking everything. 



AVith the rest of the letter I thoroughly agree, every- 

 one should see for themselves, no one's experience will 

 be exactly the same. Exactly opposite advice is given 

 and there is truth and reason in both ways of looking 

 at a thing. One thing is certain: a clear-headed, hard- 

 working man will get on perhaps belter in N. Z. than 

 elsewhere, and a thrittless, careless one is perhaps more 

 likely to lose what he has. 



Drink and gambling are the two great curses of this 

 colony aniimg all classes. 



Fixed deposits in the banks just now receive fi percent, 

 loans on freehold secmrity 7 per cent to 10 per cent is 

 easily obtained. 



With regard to the estimates given at the end of 

 "Planter"'s letter, my experience is very different. 



It is very seldom that a man picks up a block of 1,000 

 acres that he can plough the whole of the first year. 



The best laud generally takes a great deal more than 

 36 6d per acre to clear it, and no allowance has been 

 made for draiuing. 



And even if ho could plough the whole the first year 

 what would any stock he might ha.ve do for tucker'^ 



One would not be jiistifieil in depending alone on crop- 

 ping, for in this, as in otln-r countries, there are good 

 ami bad years. And the same with regard to sheip 

 feed must lie grown for them therefore a certain rota- 

 tion in cropping is necessary one would not find sale 

 for 1,000 acres of turnips in one district, (hough two or three 

 huudred acres are always marketable. 



Ill iny district (Wallace country^ the prices range sonu ■ 

 what as follows: — 



s. d. s. d. 



Clearing ... 3 6 to 20 per acre. 

 Ploughing... 6 to 10 6 ,, 

 Sowing ... 10 to 1 „ 

 Harrowiug... 10 to 1 per time. 

 KoUiiig ... 10 to 1 „ 



Draining m,-iy cost from nothing to almost anything ac- 

 cording to the nature of the ground. 



With regard to sheep, I think the a\'rrage clip would be 

 nearer to them !)lb. Though, perhaps, after many years 

 careful breeding it might be raised to !'ib. No one could 

 expect to pick up sheep for sale that would clip that 

 amount. 



The climate here is very changeable, aud at times cold. 

 We have a great deal of moderate wci.ther, a Uttle very 

 bad, and a little exceedingly charming. 



I believe no country iu the world is more pleasant 

 than N. Z. when it really is fine. Of coui.sc. my experience 

 is confined to the M'allace country, and I have been hen 

 now 9 years, and I can speak confidi-nt.'y of its re- 

 sources, which only want men who will wi rk, and capital to 

 develop them and 1 am for my part pretty confident, 

 llat a man can do well here. — Believe me, yours truly, 



A. li, 



