40 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[JuLV I, i8S6'. 



remains of a gentleman long connected with Ceylon 

 found a resting-place in yonder churchyard. 



Poor John Frederick Gihbs ! I knew him well. It 

 seems but the other year I met him at 31, Craven 

 Street, London, where for 20 years he had been a 

 valued servant, now being induced— somewhat re- 

 luctantly- -to try his fortune in Colombo. It seems 

 but yesterday I took him for his first ride into 

 the interior of Ceylon, even into the heart of the 

 distant Morowak Korle, where he first beheld ^yith 

 evident delight the promising young estate into 

 which he had hopefully cast the savings of a life- 

 time. The Colombo connection was not a success. 

 Kather late in life and feeble in health poor Mr. 

 Gibbs did not transplant kindly, and it must be con- 

 fessed he was most ungraciously received. A man 

 of scrupulous integrity and systematic industry, 

 lie ought to have proved invaluable to his firm, 

 if generously and fairly treated, but this was im- 

 possible under the circumstances, he was unequally 

 yoked, and the connection came prematurely to an 

 end. Of the fate of " the wattle " it is needless to 

 write. Opened by that prince of careful planters, 

 Le Coc(i, it promised well, but ere it had yet 

 time to give its maiden crop, Hcimleui overtook it, 

 and — milt, was the word written upon the Abbey Rock. 

 With failing health and, doubtless, depressing 

 spirits, Mr. Gibbs struggled yet a few years in 

 Ceylon. At length, in search of a c^uiet retreat 

 in a genial climate, he, four years ago, came to 

 Tasmania. Last year he underwent a painful surgical 

 operation, and has since been ((uite an invalid, 

 frequently suffering much which no medical aid 

 uor circle of sympathizing friends could do much 

 to alleviate. His relief came on 25th April, at the 

 age of 51. Mrs. Gibbs and family of six receive 

 much kindly sympathy in their trouble from the 

 good neighbours amongst whom they are deserv- 

 edly much esteemed. 



I wrote the above before I had seen the follow- 

 ing figures, fresh from the hands of the Govern- 

 ment Statistician. They are certainly not encourag- 

 ing reading, and only confirm my growing im- 

 pression of the country that it is doomed, for a time 

 at least, to suffer seriously from the gross errors 

 of the past, that it is indeed on the verge of 

 disaster. Lovely country, no doubt, but what's the 

 good of ruffles when we want shirts ? The area 

 under wheat during the last season, is smaller than 

 it was 50 years ago, when the population was 

 only one-third of what it is now. It is pro- 

 bable that the whole yield of wheat for the last 

 season will fall short of local requirements by 

 440,000 bushels :— 



Eesults from 



Hops- 

 Acres... 

 Lbs. ... 

 Lbs. per acre 



Apples — 

 Busheli< 



Pears — 

 Bushels 



601 ().o7 

 .. 699,110 850,391 

 .. 1163-54 1294-33 



.. 199,713 197,521 



56 



150,9Hl 



130-59 



2,192 



... 12,013 9.536 2,507 



Land in crop, acres 86,462 85,750 713 



Land in permanent 

 artificial grasses, 



acres 117,086 120,607 ... 3,521 



Total land in cultiv- 

 ation, acres ... 252,8.50 257,571 ... 4,721 

 So far behind the rest of the world is Tasmania, 

 that the wave of depression which years ago 

 overtook all other civilized regions, has only now 

 reached this Ultima Thule. Much of the best 

 capital of the Colony, its bone and sinew, is 

 leaving for more favoured lands, and until property 

 here is re- valued and re- arranged there is little 

 hope f; r the investment of capital. Indeed, I am 

 more and more convinced that the only thing to 

 save Tasmania from endless trouble, is to (let united 

 to Victoria. Victoria needs more land. Here is 

 the natural outlet for her superabundant capital 

 and energy. Here is scope for her active agricul- 

 turists and a sanatarium for her dust-choked in- 

 valids. At present Victoria is only teasing and 

 squeezing the poor silly little sister, by her cruel 

 anti-reciprocity, taxing almost the only thing she 

 (Tasmania) has to sell at 100 per cent A. V. _ See 

 a case tried last week in Melbourne, where it is 

 decided that par- boiled Tasmania fruit— with or 

 without sugar— is jam, and subject to duty ! 



Poor misguided Tasmania 1 with all her ex- 

 pensive paraphernalia of Upper and Lower Houses. 

 Government House and London representatives, 

 too weak to cope with colonies too strong for her 

 own weak and scanty population. The mimicry 

 is as painful to the on-looker as it is costly to the 

 taxpayer. 



" The Te.v. Roller of thk Fctcke," according 

 to a rumour round the Fort yesterday, is 'Davidson's 

 and Law's"— that is the roller to which we re- 

 ferred as doing its work well on Gikiyanakanda 

 estate. But today we have the following testimony 

 from the purchaser of one of Kerr's " new and 

 improved '" rollers : — 



" I consider the roller a vast improvement on the 

 old one ; it rolls the tea beautifully with as small 

 a percentage of broken leaf as I have seen from an/j 

 machines. I rolled 700 lb. of green leaf to day in five 

 charges, the shortest time was 40 minutes." 

 The rolling here referred to was done by hand 



OOBTEX CiNCHON.K. — Tho direct imports of cinchona 

 barks into France as compared with former years have 

 greatly dwindled, and that country has ceased to be 

 a factor of importance in estimating the situation of 

 the article, while Great Britain has gained in import- 

 ance as a market, owing to the increased production 

 of quinine bark in Ceylon. The United States are 

 now almost entirely dependent upon London for 

 their requirements. Another factor of importance is 

 found in the increased exports of Java barks, mostly 

 to Holbuid ; the total exports of the island amount- 

 ing to 1,321,569 lb. 989,168 lb., and 735,3M lb. 

 during the seasons 1884-85, 1883-81, and 1882-83 

 respectively. An increase in the supplies of better 

 class Columbia bark is anticipated this year, tin- 

 course of (exchange favouring exports from that 

 country. No importance is attached to the rumoui s 

 recently circulated regarding the discovery of a forest 

 of cinchona trees in the neighbourhood of Kio de 

 Janeiro. It is a fact that some two years ago specimens 

 of bark were brought to Kio by an engineer employed 

 in the construction of a railwisy in the interior : hut 

 upon examination they proved tube devoid of quinine 

 although closely resembling the cinchona bark.--C/(c'/»- 

 ist ^ Dru^y'ist for May, 



