530 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[Febrttart I, 1884. 



Kerosene will soften boots and shoes that have been 

 hardened by water. 



Buttermilk and bathbrick mixed together is the best 

 [hiug for scouring copper boilers. 



Salt will curdle new milk. 



Before scaling fish, dip them in boiling water for a mo- 

 ment ; it saves h^^lf the trouble. 



Half a teaspoouful of common table salt, dissolved in a 

 little cold water, will instantly reUeve heartburn or dys- 

 pepsia. 



Soap rubbed on mildewed linen, and afterwards fine 

 chalk scraped on the spots, will remove them after two 

 or three times. 



Spirits of salt will remove ink stains from mahogany. 



A teaspoouful of oxalic acid, dissolved in a teacupful of 

 hot water, will remove ink stains from a coloured table- 

 cloth. 



Cream of tartar cleans soiled white kid gloves. 



Shoes may be rendered waterproof by being rubbed over 

 at the seams with a little beeswax and mutton suet melted 

 together. 



Charcoal, finely powdered, gives knives a splendid polish. 



Before using a brass kettle clean it with salt and vin- 

 egar. — Leader. 



THE QUEENSLAND SUGAE DISTRICTS. 



The great event of the week among sugar planters has 

 been the sale of one of the largest plantations in Jlackay 

 to a Slelbourne capitalist. The plantation known as the 

 River Estate, the property of Messrs. .Spiller and Brandon, 

 was sold on Saturday to Mr. Robert Bruce Ronald, for the 

 sum of £80.000 cash, as on the 1st of June. The plant- 

 ation commences at about three miles from the Mackay 

 wharves, and consists of 2,414 acres. At the present moment 

 1,4:W acres are under cultivation, and of these the cane 

 from COl acres will be crushed this season. The estate 

 also crushes caue from 560 acres belongiug to farmers 

 located in the neighboiu'hood. By the end of the season 

 the output at the plantation is expected to exceed 2,000 

 tons of sugar. There are two mills on the estate; the 

 older and larger mill produces the usual sugars manufact- 

 ured in the district generally, but the new mill, which is 

 just approaching completion, is intended for crushiug pur- 

 poses only, and will forwanl its juice by means of piping 

 to the older mill, there to undergo the usual process for 

 final production for sale. . A railway runs through the whole 

 plantation, and by means of the portable rails the further- 

 most portions of the land are brought within a few minutes 

 of either of the mills. The rails and locomotive are by 

 Messrs. Fowler & Co., of Leeds. Altogether, the length of 

 the line amounts to three miles. The one mill is lighted up 

 by a Gramme electric light. The plantation, besides the 

 usual implemants, &c., is worked by 130 dr.iught horses; 

 it employs ()'.5 Europeans and 2.50 kanakas. This number 

 of white and coloured hands is in about, the usual pro- 

 portion of such labour in this district, namely, one to 

 four. By the time the crop is taken off and sold the 

 purchaser will have received £20,000 back .tgain, this sum 

 being the balau<'e of the amount estimate<! to be realised 

 on the sale of the sugars, less the expenses of taking off 

 the crop, &c. 



Thu property has undoubtedly been sold cheap. There 

 are several reasons for this, not the least of whicli is the 

 very unsatisfactory state of tlie coloured labour question. 

 During the last week two Labour schooners— the Fauuy 

 and the Emily — certainly arrived with full complements of 

 kanakas, but previous to that several ves.sels like the 

 Spuukie, tin; Laviua, aud others, came in only half full, 

 and that after six or more months' recruiting. The de- 

 claration of the Premier that he will introduce liulian 

 coolies is not of much value in the face of an impend- 

 ing dissolution, and the planters arc experiencing more 

 difficulties than they expected in the introduction of Chinese 

 labour. 



Planters regret nmoh that the failing health of Mr. 

 Spiller has caused the retirement of oue of the chief 

 pioneers in sugar production in the north of Queensland. 

 A plantation newly formed on the Burdekin has also 

 changed hands. The Pioneer estate on that river, the 

 property of Messr.s. Spiller and Braudon, has been purchased 

 by Mr. G. E, Drys^alcj a ^ivetiua squatter, for '£42,000. It 



consists of 5,064 acres of splendid forest land on the 

 Burdekin delta. A 2,000-ton mill is now on its way out 

 from England, and the estate is further to be supplied 

 with a set of Fowler's powerful steam ploughs. There 

 are 600 acres under cane planted for next year's crush- 

 ing. This estate took first prize and special cup at the 

 late To^vnsville show for the best exhibit cf sugar-canes. 

 — Auitrolasian. 



DESPATCHING OF COFFEE IN THE PARCH- 

 MENT TO THE NETHERLANDS. 



The question whether the despatching of Coffee in the 

 parchment and the peeling in Netherland be recommend- 

 able or not, has not yet been satisfactorily answered. 

 Many planters aud brokers laud the results, while others 

 object to it, and in this case too, the right will be on 

 the side of those who neither recommend it absolutely, 

 nor dissuade it, but bespeak the matter conditionally. 



It is therefore desirable to watch carefully this still 

 tender industry. Nobody will deny that, if it is of great 

 importance for producers in India to save time and labour, 

 it is on the other hand becoming more aud more a grave 

 problem for Netherland, to create or preserve industrial 

 enterprises, that secure to thousands who desu-e it, useful 

 and remunerative labour. 



The 17th October last, the Netherland Haudel-Maat- 

 schappij sold by auction 112,102 bags of Java coffee, 265 

 chests of Padang Coffee, and 1,921 bags of Macasser coffee. 



The lots No. 17 t- /m 30, sold at Rotterdam were of 

 the same origin, i.e.., from the Residence of Tegal. The 

 Nos. lj/22, together 1,4.39 bags, were peeled and treated 

 in India, Nos. 2.3/30, together 1,170 bags, in Netherland. 

 (Chavot & Andres at Rotterdam). 



A rough computation (taking the bag for convenience 

 sake at 60 kilos) demonstrates that the coffee peeled in 

 ludia realized about 56,.500 guilders— i.e., plus minus ,/T),65 

 per kilogi-. and the coffee peeled in Netherland about 

 /56,600 i.e., plus minus 0,80 cents p. kilo. 



We have for convenience neglected the fx'actions ; they 

 can never be of much import.ant significance. 



However, this example proves so evidently the advant- 

 age of the coffee peeled in Netherland, that it must 

 attract the attention of those interested in it. For, if the 

 greater produce be compared to the greater costs of send- 

 ing it in the parchment and preparing it here in the parch- 

 ment, even then the account closes with a surplus of 5 

 cents per half-kilogr. 



Gould these cyphers allow of being appUed to the doc- 

 trine of equations, then we should come to the conclusion, 

 that the despatching of the government coffee in the 

 parchment aud the peeling in Netherland might jield the 

 government a profit of 6 or 7 millions of guilders. We 

 do not go so far, however, but we do believe that the 

 producers, especially in the Eastern part and in Central 

 Java, would run no risk, if they were to make serious trials 

 of shipping off the coffee in the parchment. 



Opportunities for peeling are extending more and more 

 in Netherlaud, and this circumstance gives us the right to 

 suppose that the suppUes of Coffee in the parchment are 

 increasing, and must therefore have proved profitable to a 

 portion of our growers. 



Where less favourable results are supposed to be observ- 

 able, it will always be reasonable ami advisable to ex- 

 amine closely whethir there may not be adventitious or 

 natural causes tx) account tor this. It has only been our 

 intention to point out to those interested in the matter 

 the facts proclaimed to us by the auctions of the 17th in- 

 stant. — Van G0RK031. — ImVm Ma-curii. 



THE IMPROVEMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

 jlliei-Jceii^hire Exjierimeids. — These experiments are stated 

 to have produced evidence that: — 



1. Tile Turnip plant can no more grow without phosphorus 

 than without water or air. 



2. It must have the phosphorus applied in au uuhurtful 

 form (that is to say, it must be neutralised by oxygen aud 

 lime, or a substance similar to lime; this triple compound 

 is termed a phosphate). 



3. A full crop of Turnips (say 30 tons) coutaius only about 

 JO lb. of phosphorus. 



