544 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[Oct. 1, 1886. 



to say to Messieurs the President aud Secretary of 

 the Batavia Chamber of Commerce, 

 For this relief, much thanks — 



(Earner van Koophandel en Nijverheid, No. 45, 

 Getal der Bijlagen:) 



Batavia, 4th Sept. 1886. 

 Messrs. A. M. & J. Ferguson, Colombo. 



In reply to your letter of 26th July, we beg to in- 

 form you that, according to the Colonial Report issued 

 hy the Dutch Colonial Department in September last 

 year, Government's plantations of cinchona for the 

 year 1884 amounted to l,.516,.'iO(J plants in the nursery- 

 gardens and l,7"):-5,90i) trees is the open air. 



Private planters are very much against giving publi- 

 city to their operations and therefore we regret not 

 to be in a position to give you any reliable inform- 

 ations regarding the area under cultivation with cin- 

 chona trees en private estates. 



We suppose, however, j-our estimate of 1.5 million 

 trees of all ages given in your Handbook, as you say, 

 as the extent of the cultivation in .Java, is rather 

 more than the real quantity. At all events when 

 prices remain as low as they are now, many plant- 

 ations, in so far as they are not of the best kinds of 

 Ledgerianas, will hardly cover the cost to gather the 

 bark.— 'The Chamber of Commerce of Batavia : 



W. SuERMONDT, President, 

 F. Ader, Secretary. 



TEA CULTIVATION AND LAND REGUL. 



ATIONS IN NATAL 



are thus noticed by the London correspondent of the 

 Indian Tea Gazette : — 



At last the Natal samples promised sometime back 

 liave come to hand, but they have yet to be soldered up 

 I see, which means that they will not arrive at your 

 end till possibly a fortnight after this. I send them 

 merely as curiosities of interest from a new tea growing 

 colony which has already 400 acres under tea and is 

 planting out 200 more. The cHmate, or rather climates, 

 for with their hills in Natal they have several climates, 

 are excellent, and altogether the life is enough to tempt 

 anyone, who has had enough of jungle life and dis- 

 comfort, to start for Natal to begin afresh. To do so, 

 however, upon no capital and without a certain ap- 

 pointment to go to, is to drop the bone to snap at the 

 shadow, and a very long march to disappointment, 

 which may be found at far less cost close at baud if 

 .sought for. The following extract from the land regul- 

 ations of Natal, dealing with lauds likely to be re- 

 ([uired by a tea-planter, as there are other regulations 

 lor grazing and other classes of land, may not be amiss 

 here. All Crown lands otherwise unappropriated are 

 open for sale in freehold (except those referred to in 

 the regulations) in lots of not over 2,000 acres each, 

 payable in ten annual instalments without interest, 

 but subject to certain servitudes connected with roads, 

 railways, minerals, and outspan, and subject also to 

 compulsory occupation. The definition of occupation is 

 expressed as follows: — " To constitute such beneficial 

 occupation, there must be continuous personal occup- 

 ation by the purchaser or by his agent, duly approved 

 of by the Surveyor-General, during nine months in 

 every year of the period for which the occupation 

 certificate is issued, and the erection of a suitable home- 

 st'ad or dwelling-house, and the cultivation, where 

 the lands purchased are 100 acres or more in extent, 

 of not less than one acre in every 100 acres." The 

 process laid down is as follows : — A person 

 having selected the lands he wants, makes applic- 

 ation to the Surveyor -General, depositing certain tees. 

 The survey (at purchaser's expense) is then completed 

 and the lot is advertised for sale by auction at an 

 upset price of ten shillings per acre. The intending 

 purchaser must watch this : if he buys the lot, he 

 must pay down one-tenth of the purchase price in 

 each, and a further tenth each succeeding year till 

 the whole is paid, but is charged no interest. He 

 can then obtain clear title, having first satisfied the 

 Surveyor-General that the conditions of occupatiou 



have been complied with, and on payment of a further 

 sum of 40s. Should any purchaser wish to pay for 

 a lot, not exceeding certain limits, at once, he can 

 do so; but an auction sale must take place. The 

 upset price in that case is 20s per acre, and the 

 occupation clause is inoperative. I need hardly add 

 tliat the purchaser of land in a country of varied 

 soils and diversified physical conditions as are to be 

 met with in Natal, needs to take every precaution, 

 and should bear in mind that a small estate of good 

 soil and aspect, well looked after, is far more profit- 

 able than a large, unwieldy property, though bought 

 at a cheap rate. Over and above the large amount 

 01 Government lands still available — though not by 

 any means all suited for tea — there arc; doubtless 

 numbers of private owners of grants hi excess of their 

 needs, who would be willing either to sell land to 

 new comers on terms of credit, or to lease it with 

 right of purchase at a date to be fixed. At the 

 present time the usual prices are, on the coast, where 

 sugar and tropical products are raised, from £1 to 

 £6 per acre ; in the midlands from fifteen to thirty 

 shillings ; and in the up-country or pastoral districts, 

 capable likewise of producing cereals, from 12 to 15s 

 per acre. 



♦ 



CEYLON UPGOUNRY PLANTING REPORT: 



A NOVELTY IN TEi : MANUFACTUEIXG THE FLOWERS — 

 THE NEW PRODUCT COCA. 



13th September 1886. 



I have been shown a novelty in tea. The .sample 

 was made from the flower instead of the leaf, and 

 while it had all the fragrant aroma common to 

 high-class, well-made teas, the color was bright 

 orange. This, I should fancy, would prove a delicate 

 enough article, aud meet the wants of the most 

 fastidious. As to how it tasted that I cannot say. 

 I question if, up to the time I saw it, it had been 

 liquored : my opinion is that it had not. Perhaps 

 the owner of this dainty article was not quite sure 

 what its effects might be — in the tea seed there is 

 said to be poison, so there may be also in the 

 flower — and it is possible that he was waiting for a 

 friend to come around on whom it might be tried. 

 If the selection were judiciously made, that friend 

 might remember him all his life. I knew of one 

 manager whose memory will ever remain green in 

 consequence of his zeal. He was so determined to 

 get a strong liquor for his teas, and succeeded so 

 well, that a cup of it— taken in ignorance when 

 "^t was new — almost killed the wife of the proprietor, 

 and was likely to lead to a change in the management! 



Whatever may be the effects of the flowery tea, 

 there is no doubt it would be a boon to estates 

 with a bad jat if the flower could be utilized, 

 and it has been utilized. I heard of one place 

 where the flower has been regularly plucked with 

 the leaf rolled together, and the tea has realized 

 a fine price. Whether it be that the high average 

 got by this estate has been owing to the presence 

 of the leaf of the flower having been mixed with 

 the other, or in spite of it, I cannot say, but that 

 the flower can be manufactured, is something to 

 know. It is a puzzle what to do with those plants 

 which icill flower, few finding that to pluck the 

 flower off is a thing that pays. To get however 

 some return for that labour, would put a different 

 complexion on things, and benefit in more ways 

 than one. 



The new product Coca which was run after a 

 year or so ago, is not receiving much attention, 

 although there are some people who are now 

 planting it. That the export of its leaves from 

 Ceylon will ever be very great is not a likely 

 thing, but those who know about it, and what 

 weight of leaf it is likely to yield, incline to think 

 that even at the present price — 8d. a lb., I beheve 

 —it will pay to grow. If I remember aright, 



