January i, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



521 



preparation of the ground will be necessary beyond the 

 reduction of useless and encuniberiua vine or bush growth : 

 such trees as may be useful as timber or otherwise being 

 left as shelter against the squalls of the wet season— the 

 Ceara trees being somewhat heavj' headed and brittle when 

 in full growth. The yovmg Ceara trees can then be planted 

 — by labourers using ordinary grubbing holes— singly where- 

 ever a space of 12 feet occurs amongst the indigenous 

 trees left. 



PRODUCTION OF PRIVATE AGEICULTUKAL 



EXTERPKISES IN JAVA IN 1S82. 

 Products for the great marts are cultivated and 

 prepared : 



On Private Estates. — On lands ceded by Government 



in rent or lease ; On enterprises exehisively dependent 



on agreements with the population, and lastly, by euter- 



• prises on rented land, in the PrincipaUties of Soerakarta 



and Djokjokarta. 



Coffee. 

 281 Concerns producing 273,324J piculs of coffee. 

 Most of the Plantations are still very young; very many 

 have not yet any fruit-bearing trees. The coffee yield may 

 be doubled within a very few years, when all the new 

 Concerns are in full swing. The best results are anticipated 

 of East Java; the production per unity of ground is on 

 the whole gieatest there, and the gardens there seem, as 

 a rule, to be of longest hfe. 



More and more it is growing the custom to send the 

 coffee to Netherland in the parchment. The opinions as 

 to the results are not unanimous : but the custom shares 

 in the struggle to which all novelties are, and will ever 

 be, exposed. 



For Java it is a thing of the greatest moment to spare 

 labour. This also saves time and hands, for the better 

 watching and tending of the crop. If the prices of 

 ordinary and inferior coffees were not encouraging these 

 last years, yet experience has proved, nevertheless, that 

 superior coffees hold their prices tolerably well. The pro- 

 ducers have therefore chiefly to apply themselves continu- 

 ously to the improvement of the quaUty. 'Whatever 

 may be thought or said about the menacing and over- 

 powering competition of South America, we ourselves are 

 convinced that Java, as to the burning question of labour, 

 holds a much more favourable position, and that just this 

 question — especially in South America— will become more 

 and more critical. 



Tex. 

 39 Conserns producmg 5.674,171) lb. of tea. Besides 

 which 101,350 lb. were bought up by the population. 



It we cannot exactly say that the tea industry in Java 

 languishes, still less cause have we to boast of progressive 

 improvement. It is undeniable that the young concerns 

 are burned ivith heavy charges, quite disproportionate to 

 the low prices of the product. Any idea to increase 

 these charges, either directly or indirectly, should there- 

 fore be seriously combated, and it the Dutch Legislature 

 should increase the high duties on tea, then there is no 

 doubt that both the producers in Java and the commerce 

 in Netherland will be great sufferers. Seven years ago 

 this consideration withheld the Legislator from resolving 

 on an increase of duty. The circumstances did not im- 

 prove afterwards. The producers in British India work 

 under much more favourable conditions. Yet they did 

 their best to push their products into notice, and t« 

 make them appreciated. It is mdeed much to be regi-etted, 

 too, that the enterprisersi n Java have not made a better 

 and larger use of the Amsterdam E.xhibition, were it only 

 to conquer the prejudice or the aversion still prevaiUng 

 against their article. 



Though the tea-industry in Java is restricted to a few 

 districts, yet it binds great capitals, is a blessing for the 

 local popiilatiou, and of great significance for commerce. 

 The productions of cinchona demands a serious word 

 in conclusion. Allured by high prices, it has been thought 

 for about six years that planting cinchona was like open- 

 ing an inexhaustible goldmine. The culture has been 

 carried to a lamentable (;xcess, both in Java and in British 

 India, without minding that the demands for a remedy, 

 however specific, have their limits that may easily be 

 overstepped. 



67 



Contrary to all former expectations and fears, the pro- 

 duction in the mother-land of the cinchona does not de- 

 crease ; on the contrary, in South- America they are apply- 

 ing themselves seriously to the regular culture. A pro- 

 duction of sis millions kilogr. of bark amply suflices for 

 all requirements, and whilst South America remains com- 

 petent to furnish this demand, Ceylon alone yields already 

 more than one milhon, and the production of Madras 

 and Bengal is not less. Should all the cinchona concerns 

 in Java only see a portion of their great expectations 

 realized within six years, as to production, then it is evident 

 that Java's production on the market must exercise a 

 preponderating effect, and the prices be so much depressed, 

 that, for establishments that are not free, there can be 

 no questions of profits. 



At present the market is already overstocked, and the 

 prices stand no longer in proportion to those on which 

 the planters based their calculations. 



Coft'ee is giving way to cinchona, because the former is 

 mistrusted, but inconsiderately and inconceivably enough, 

 no account is taken of the limited requirements, of what 

 has been effected outside Java, and of what is already so 

 amply produced. K. W. van Goukom. 



GuTT-i Pfkcha. — An article which may be termed French 

 gutta percha has been patented inParis by E.Mouriot fils,and 

 is described as follows : — He boils birch bark, especially the 

 outer layer, in water over an open fire, and concentrates 

 the extract by evaporation. After which there remains in 

 the evaporating dish a black liquid mass, which, on ex- 

 posure to the air, quickly becomes solid and very compact. 

 This mass possesses aU the properties of gutta percha, and 

 may be applied to the same uses. It has fm-ther this 

 advantage, it does not crack on exposure to the air, it is 

 i more solid, and its production is cheaper. It may also, 

 if desired, be mixed with gutta percha and with India 

 rubber. — Montldy E.rport Prices Current. 



Arbokiccltche in the N.-W. p. and Oukh, 1881-82. — 

 While mentioning the success obtained in rearing jack 

 seedlings, the report says that there ai-e two devices for 

 bearing seedlings that will not bear transplanting, either 

 of which is almost certain to answer. The first is a basket 

 of very thin strips of bamboo lashed together with bark, 

 which is put into the ground with a sufficiently wide apert- 

 ure in tile bottom to permit of the exit of the tap root. 

 The second is an earthen pot rather smaller at the top 

 than at the bottom, and open at both ends. This is put 

 on a board or tlat basket, and put with the plant in the 

 hole intruded for it. A few taps are said to disengage 

 the earth inside, and the pot is withdrawn bodily to serve 

 for another occasion. It is beUeved jjrobable that either 

 of these plans would succeed as well with jacks, as they 

 do with coffee plants. A third plan recommended is the 

 use of small pots made of clay and cowdimg, and of a 

 consistency and thickness which would ensure their de- 

 composing rapidly when buried. — Asian. 



GoVER.NjrENT F.iH.M AND ECONOJIIC GARDEN, HtDEKABAL. 



(Sind). — The Report on the Government Farm an Economic 

 Garden, Hyderabad i.Siud) for the half-year ending March 

 last, shows that good progress was maile during the year, 

 and that both these institutions are :i heady doing much 

 towards producmg upon the zemindars and agriculture of 

 the country side, those driect and indirect benefici.nl 

 effects which must be regarded as their chief object. 

 It is satisfactory to find that the agricultural class 

 attached to the farm is reported to be making good pro- 

 gress. It comprises Vi young zemindars, who are spoken 

 of as well-behaved young men, attenti^e to their duties. 

 Half of the number are well up in the subjects taught; 

 the rest having joined later arc more backward. Mr. 

 Strachau adds that a report as to the behaWom* and 

 studies of these pupils is sent to the Collector every 

 week, and as any one of them would crnsider it a great 

 disgrace were the Collector to see a 1 ad mark against 

 their name, these reports have a very wholesome effect 

 in keeping them to their work. 'Wo oiiserve that it is 

 intended to build quarters on the farm for the pupils 

 atteuding the farm class, and when thesj are ready, the 

 Superintendent thinks that they will be- able to devote 

 more of the morning to field work, and the afternoon to 

 theoretical work in the class room. — Asian, 



