Vol. IX. No. 209. 



THE AGHFCULTURAL NEWS. 



133 



cocoa-nuts from which have an e.xcellcnt reimtation. At one 

 time, they were equally abundant in the Comoro Islands, hut 

 for several reasons, their number has sensibly diminished 

 and the export is very small. In Iteunion the cocoa-nut 

 only exists in small cultivations, and as isolated specimens 

 scattered in gardens: all its produce is consumed locally. The 

 palm -seems to have been introduced into Madagascar at 

 a fairly remote time. Prudhonin;e estimates that it would be 

 dittirult to find more than twenty or twenty-five thousand 

 trees in the island. All the nuts collected are consumed 

 locally. The administration of Madagascar has made very 

 great eft'orts to assist in the development of plantations of 

 cocoa-nut palms. 



According to Ferguson, the world's cultivation of cocoa- 

 nuts covers an area of about 2,800,000 acres, divided as 

 follows : — 



Ceylon 708,175 (about one quarter) 



South America 500,000 



Hritish India 352,500 



Malay States 1 



Philippines 302,500 



Straits Settlements I 



.Java and Sumatra 252,920 



Central America 250,000 



Pacific Islands 250,000 



East Africa 111,285 



Siam and Cochin- K„, ,„,. 

 China I ' 



West Indies 10,000 



THE CONGO COFFEE PLANT. 



Inforination regarding the Co.igo coffee plant 

 {Coffea robwita) is given in Bulletin No. 7 of the 

 JJepartment of Agriculture, Federateil Malay States. 

 As part of this is of more general interest, it is extracted 

 below. 



Coffea rohusta was discovered wild in the Congo region 

 by Kmil Laarent in 1898. The plant was taken up commer- 

 cially by a Brussels Horticultural firm and named Cojhn 

 robusta by them. 



C. ro/jiiMa differs in many ways from the well-known 

 V. liherira. The habit is somewhat dirt'crent. It grows 

 more rapidly. An eight-months-old plant is much larger 

 and has more branches and leaves than a Liberian one-year- 

 old. The branches of ('. rolnistn are longer and have a ten- 

 dency to bend down towards the ground, po that the bush is 

 rather umbrella-shaped. Gormandizers and ."-uckers are fewer 

 than on C. liherira-. the leaves are a lighter green, thinner, 

 and larger in size. 



C. ro/iustn bears more berries in a cluster than ('. iiherici, 

 often fiver si.xty: they are much smaller, but the beans are 

 almost as large, as the skin is thinner. < )n an average, 10 

 piculs (133?, lb.) of Liberian berry give one picul of market 

 coffee. On the other hand, only -1 piculs of the berry of 

 ( '. roliuKt'i are required for a [licul of market coffee. Though 

 many more berries go to a picul than in the Liberian, the 

 greater number in a bunch makes the picking, if anything, 

 cheaper. 



Plants about eight months old begin to show flower buds, 

 but a number of these early flowers may not develop into 

 berries, and no concern need be felt if they do not, as, unlike 

 those of Liberian, all later Howers set. 



The plant blossoms the whole year through, and no loss 

 will occur from ' windfall ' if berries are collected once 

 .1 month. About ten months are rcnuired for the berries to 



come to maturity: when most of them in a cluster are strart- 

 coloured they may be picked —as a rule the whole cluster may 

 be gathered. 



In .Java it was at first urged against C. volmHti that its 

 fecundity would not continue, but it is now seen that nine- 

 year-old plants are as vigorous and yielding as much as, or 

 more than, they did when they were four years old. 



The root development of C. robmto is comparatively 

 raiiid and intense. If a young plant is pulled up it will be 

 found to have a mat of fine rootlets— considerably more than 

 a Liberitin plant of the same size would show. It is easily 

 understood, then, that it thrives best in a loose clay soil, 

 somewhat sandy for preference. Practically all our inland 

 estates have .soils which are admirably adapted to it. 



In peaty land, experience here has already .shown that it 

 does not thrive, at least where the peat is deep and badly 

 drained. It behaves just as rubber and other plants do when 

 they suffer from acidity in the soil, except that C. rohusta is 

 more .sensitive than the Para tree. The acidity of such soils 

 nuist be removed by good drainage and a liberal application 

 of lime. The quantity of lime required will vary with the 

 acidity, which must be tested from time to time. It is now 

 I>roved that by such treatment. Para ruliber can be made to 

 thrive, a.id no doubt C. tohusia would too. Coffea canephora, 

 which is equally prolific, would probably do better in such land. 



THE SOURCES OF THE WORLD'S 



RUBBER SUPPLY. 



Rubber reaches the home market in almost every possible 

 shape and colour. In most eases the queer names which one 

 reads in the market reports are fairly descriptive. Thin pale 

 crepe, for instance, arrives in long strips, generally about 4 

 feet long and 8 inches to 1 2 inches broad. It varies in 

 thickness from ^^- to i-inch, and has a roughish surface, 

 from which the name 'crepe' is derived. This rubber is 

 pale-yellow in colour, and when held up to the light it is 

 (juite transparent, which proves its purit}% and accounts for 

 the very high price obtainable for this grade, viz , at present 

 about lO.*. 3(/. per lb. 



The so-called 'sheet' rubber is similar to crepe, but 

 slightly thicker, and not so transparent. It is prepared in 

 a different manner, and, unlike crepe, must be put through the 

 washing mills by the manufacturer before it can be used. 



The world's present sources of supply for crude rubber 

 are approximately as follows: — Tons. 



The liver Amazon with its tributaries 39,000 



Other districts of Prazil 2,800 



The Federated Malay States — Ceylon, 



Sumatra, etc., ([)lantation rubber) 4,600 



The Congo Free State and the French Congo 5,600 



Portugue.se West Africa 2,900 



The West Coast of Africa, excluding the 



Congo and Portuguese West Africa 9,500 



Rangoon, Penang, Rorneo, etc., (wild rubber) 1,200 



East Coast Africa, .Mozambique, Madagascar, etc. 800 

 ilexico, the East Indies, and Central America 1,500 



67,900 

 The figures given above are necessarily for the most part 

 e.stimated, as with the exception of the exports from the 

 Amazon, no exact records are obtainable of the production of 

 the various districts, nor is it possible to obtain a complete 

 record at the different ports of arrival, as statistics of some of 

 the ports can only be obtained in an unclassified form, and 

 from other ports no accurate statistics at all are obtainable. 

 (The rimesi WeMij Edition, Jfarch 18, 1910.) 



