Sii 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[JANrARV 1, 1884, 



COLEMAN S PATENT CANE PLANTER. 

 After the trials made at Kaoeohe and Sprecklesville 

 last j'enr, Mr. Coleiuar has devoted himself tr> im- 

 proviug his invention. For the purpose of facilitating 

 the working of the machine, the drum which feeds 

 the cane has been placed at right angles to the 

 wheels iuetead of parallel to them, as in the first 

 eTperiments ; the drum is worked by a chain passing 

 around the axle and commnuieatiug with the drum 

 by means of an ingenious set of moveable pulleys. 

 The cine, in piece? about a foot long, is placed on 

 a shelf and fed by hand to the drum, it is dropped 

 by the drum into the delivery spout, which lays it 

 regularly into the furrow. The furrow is made by 

 a plough placed betiveen the two hind wheels, while 

 just behind the delivery spout are the coverers which 

 close the earth over the seed cane. Recently Mr. 

 C ileman made some practical experiments on a piece 

 of land just beyond Mr. Ward's residence. Very few 

 people were present ; among those on the fpot were 

 His Majesty, the Hon. V. N. Castle, Messrs. Atherton, 

 A. P. Baldwin, and A. T. Atkinson- The working of 

 the machine wag clearly shown ; as to time, it was 

 impossible to estimate, for the six yoke of oxen 

 employed were inferrior animals not np to their work. 

 A good furrow, however, was cut, the cane regularly 

 laid and neatly covered over. Three men suiffice to 

 manage the machine, one to attend the plough and 

 coverers, and one to feed the drum, and one to supply 

 cane from the box to the feedc-r. We have little 

 donbt thaf Mr. Coleman's machine will be a success, 

 and will be used not only by our own planters, but 

 by planters in other sugar-growing countries.— Paci/ic 

 AdverCiser, 



FARMING IN BURMAH. 



The Moulmein correspondent of the Raiujoon Gazette 

 gives the following account of an interesting farming 

 experiment : — 



I went a few days ago to the farm at Toungwine 

 which is being carried on by Mr. Addis, junior. He 

 has a grant of 2U0 acres, of which 3.5 have been brought 

 under cultivation, which is carried on scientitically. 

 As it is about the first of the kind undertaken for 

 the past thirty years, by private enterprise at least, 

 in these parts, perhaps It would not be uninteresting 

 if I give you some particulars of what I saw. The 

 laud IS plotted off in squares of an acre, each having 

 its allotted number ;■ and for the convenience of cult- 

 ivation there is a gravelled pathway of 6 feet in 

 width between each plot, which appears to me an 

 unnecessary waste of good laud. There are a comfort- 

 able teak and tiled bungalow which might house a 

 family easily, cooly quarters also built of wood and 

 tiled, for 20 men; fowl-house and yard surrounded 

 by wire netting seven feet high (with- a tank ad- 

 joining for ducks and gefse), containing about 100 

 head of poultry : a piggery which boasts of 7 or 8 

 pips, large and small, Eugli.^h and Chinese, and cow- 

 sheds aceommodating some 40 head of rattle. The 

 latter seem to be allowed a great deal too much liberty 

 as could be seen by a number of plai.tain, mangoe 

 and other trees being denuded of their leaves or 

 ehoots. The work of clearing, up-rooting and plough- 

 ing muet have bi en no sm.-{ll joS. but I understa'nd 

 some contractor undertook it at E.30 per acre. If the 

 work of up-rooting was conscientiously carried out, the 

 figure mentioned was a low one. The ground is laid 

 out in lonir luds fonr feet wide and manured with 

 oil-cake and bats' dung obtained from the caves. As 

 you pass the places wiiere the oil-cake is most utilized, 

 you cannot help exclaiming " .Sweet Edinbro ' I smell 

 thee noo !" hut Mr. Addi.^ does not seem to mind 

 it. and he smilingly iuforiiis you, to your surprise, that 

 it IS oitly decomijosing oil-cake. 1 certainly thought that 



I Maulmain sewage had been freely indented upon, and 

 for fear of any cholera germs floating about and seek- 

 ing their nidus in my internal economy I thankfully 

 accepted, as an antidote, av coorse, a large 'drop of 

 ] the crathur' which the hospitable planter offered me 

 j a short while after. However, don't suppose that 

 j the atmosphere of the whole farm was like that, it 

 i was only a small portion 1 hat was objectionable. Now 

 for the nature of the cultivation ; there were 4,000 

 young orange trees, 2,500 coffee plants, 2,000 custard- 

 apple trees which, strangely enough, are scares in 

 j Tenasserim, 7.000 plantain trees of good qualitiee, 

 I 1,000 areca palms. 100 cocianut trees, 300 dooriaus, 

 200 grafted mangoes from the Horticultural gardens,' 

 Calcutta. 100 guavus, 50 loquatz from Baugalore and 

 50 rose-apples. In addition to this there are, or were 

 six acres under tapioca cultivation, 2 acres of yam, 



3 acres of all sorts of English and country vegetables', 



4 acres of paddy, 2 acres of Chinese pan-leaf which| 

 unlike the indigenous variety, lasts for 5 years, one 

 acre of Burma roses and about half an acre of roselle 

 or sorrel tor purposes of fibre extraction. Every form 

 of cultivatiou looked in a thriving condi'ion. Besides 

 all this, which i^ most creditable for 7 or S months' 

 work, Mr. Addis has dug two large wells, 30 feet d-ep 

 and 20 square, and he is also bunding up certain 

 natural hollows which, when finished, will give him 

 a tank of water covering 3 acres. There is ground 

 quite suitable for a lake of 13 .acres but Mr. Addis 

 feels that the large sum this would cost could be 

 better employed in other directions. A windmill pump 

 is being got out from England for irrigation purposes. 

 There is also about a mile of portable railway with 

 several tdt trucks, on the premises, which will come 

 in useful by and bye. It will thus be seen from 

 what I have written, and what you yourself know 

 of the labour difficulty, that no' little capital must 

 have b^eu embarked in this concern, and Mr Addis 

 has received little or no aid beyond obtaining the 

 ground free. He cannot recoup himself to any great 



J extent f. r the ne.xt few years, while all his crops or 

 ! the greater portion of theui may at any moment suft'er 

 from tlie etlects of blight, insects, or other such well- 

 known pests like the coffee borer. Let us hope, how- 

 ever, that care and attention ui ay avert the danger, for 

 certainly Mr. Addis deserves a better reward. 



♦ 



PINEAPPLE. 



{From the Proceedings of the Agiicnltnrol and Horti- 

 cultural Society of India,.) 

 The following information was given by the Deputy 

 Secretaij regarding Pine-apple in answer to enquiries 

 thereon : — Tiiough the Pineapple is so thoroughly 

 naturalized in Bengal and other parts of India, It is 

 native of South America and some of the West Indiau 

 Islands, where it is largely cultivated for export. 

 Particularly in the Bahamas, where all that is con- 

 sidered requisite for its successful cultivation is that 

 the soil should be at least two feet in depth and 

 capable of ret.iining moistuie ; a rough and ready way 

 of testing this latter requisite, is to thrust a long 

 kn fe into the ground in the dry season, and if earth 

 adheres to the blade, tiie soil is considered suitable. 

 The best pines are grown on a reddish clay rich 

 with decayed vegetable matter, remains of shell fish, 

 &c. lu the West Indies only two varietits aie con- 

 sidered profitable for export, the .Sugar loaf and the 

 Scarlet. The former are planted somewhat closer to- 

 gether and have a longer time of life, about five years, 

 while the Scarlet variety lives about three years, but 

 the fruit comes to maturity a month or two earlier 

 than those of the Sugar loaf. As all the fruit in a 

 field do not lipen together, they have to be gone o»er 

 two or three times : the people eraplojed in plucking 

 them have to protect thenieelvss with leather gloves 



