Oct. I, 



1886.J 



THE TROPICAL AGRtCULTURlST. 



^3^ 



a better test is not ic.iuired. To place good coffee 

 on the table daily is a simple and inexpensive 

 business, but it cannot be done at a penny a cup, 

 as some folks are in haste to aver. At for l'2d to 

 20d. per pound a good collee in berry is always 

 obtainable, and Kid. may at the present time be 

 considered a fair family price. It is best to roast 

 and grind as wanted, but the grinding is the one 

 important point because ground coiTee quickly 

 parts with its aroma, and there is a great charm 

 in having it made immediately from the mill. In 

 some houses the trouble of grinding is thought 

 much of, but as a matter of fact, it is almost noth- 

 ing and a mill costing only a few shillings will 

 last a lifetime. Coffee should never be boiled ; it 

 should be made with soft water at boiling heat 

 but if hard water must be used it should not be 

 made to boil until wanted, for boiling augments its 

 hardness. A common tall coffee-pot will make as 

 good coffee as any patented invention, but a ca/e- 

 tiere is a convenient thing as it produces bright 

 coffee in a few minutes, and thus enables us to 

 secure a maximum of the aroma and dispense with 

 the use of any rubbish called "finings." Every 

 one to his taste, we will say, but as careless people 

 make the coffee too strong one day and too weak 

 the next, the ground coffee and the boiling water 

 should be both measured, and it will always take 

 as much as four cups of water to make three cups 

 of coffee. For the breakfast-table the addition of 

 about one-eighth of chicory is an improvement, 

 but for the dinner-table coffee should be made 

 without chicory, because it dulls the piquant flavour 

 of the genuine article. Two points in coffee-mak- 

 ing deter people from using it — the trouble of grind- 

 ing and the boiling of the milk. The grinding 

 however, must be done, and it is really nothing, 

 but the boiling of the milk may be advantageously 

 evaded by using Swiss milk, which harmonises 

 perfectly, and by many well-trained palates is pre- 

 ferred to fresh milk heated. 



PLANTING IN NETHERLANDS INDIA. 



BUITENZORG GARDENS — JAVANESE COOLIES — SUGAR — 

 CINCHONA. 



(Translated for the Straits Tunes.) 

 The yearly report on the Government Botanical 

 Gardens at Buitenzorg for 18^5 has just been 

 published. The particulars given of the improve- 

 ments made and work done last year in kee^jing 

 up and increasing their usefulness show satisfactory 

 progress, especially in the determination of the 

 Netherlands India Sapotaceae or family of plants 

 yielding gutta-percha. Dr. W. Burck, assistant 

 Manager of the (iardens, commissioned by Goveru- 

 mejit to invt'Htigate the subject, has determined 

 the existence of til different varieties of which no 

 Ichis than 24 were rcproseHted in tlic gardens. 

 Dr. Burck has drawn up and brought oui a mono- 

 graph on Gutta I'ercha plants describing no less 

 than 55 new species of which II were discovered by 

 himself. Another family of plants forming a subject 

 of investigation in the Gardens, was that producing,' 

 Minyak Tinkawang or vegetable tallow. From many 

 quarters, a,^ well from Holland and the Nether- 

 lands Indian possessions us from Britain and the 

 British Colonies, inquiries were made into the 

 Botanical characteristics of the so called Minyak 

 Tinkawang, a tallow exported from Borneo, and in 

 great demand throughout Europe and America for 

 industrial purposes. Research soon disclosed the 

 fact that the tallow in question was obtained from 

 a great many different kinds of trees belonging to 

 the Dipterocarpea' and Sapolacae families of 

 which but little was known botanically. Owing 

 to the cultivation of those plantfj being of great 



importance from the demand for the tal- 

 low the yield, it was decided upon by the 

 Garden authorities to set to work make a 

 thorough investigation of the subject, by first 

 of all undertaking, systematic research regarding 

 the Dipterocarpea' to be found in Netherlands India. 

 The first steps taken to carry this through were 

 directed to calling in the aid of Major General Haga, 

 the then Civil and Military Governor of West 

 Borneo, and of the Resident of that Division. 

 Their co-operation resulted in the securing of a 

 large collection of dried specimens of tallow yield- 

 ing trees from West Borneo, besides a piece of 

 Minyak Tingkawang from each tree specified. Dr. 

 Burck has been smce actively engaged in these 

 researches. The results will be made public in 

 the next annual Gardens report. 



The Batavia Dafiblad comments as follows 

 on the description of -Tavanese coolies as 

 bein^ full of arrogance and false pride 

 given by a Johore correspondent in a recent num- 

 ber of the Straits Times: "It is rather amusing 

 ■to find a British writer complaing that Javanese 

 of the lower classes who go to other lands in 

 search of coolie work or have been recruited by 

 crimps for the purpose are in fact too proud and 

 too arrogant in nature to make good coolies. It is 

 especially instructive to the British to find their 

 cherished belief, backed by natural jealousy of 

 another colonial power in neighbouring countries, 

 that the Netherlands colonies are the scene of 

 tyranny, oppression, and extortion, meeting with 

 little confirmation when they come in personal con- 

 tact with the people of Netherlands India, especially 

 with the lower orders. Instead of a submissive 

 slavish sort of people they meet with fellows of 

 whose arrogant air they complain, and who do not 

 show that submission to discipline indispensable 

 for coolies to be serviceable. 



It is to be hoped that the so-called arrogant air of 

 our Javanese coolies will give the British in some 

 way another idea regarding the oppression and 

 slavery under which the Netherlanders in the Far 

 East bring the people under their sway — so at least 

 the British persuade not only themselves but also 

 the world whenever they can." The Banhlad points 

 out that the substitute system under which 

 while the number of a gang of Javanese coolies 

 continues the same, the faces are continually 

 changing, is also known in Java, the substitutes 

 being called orawj (janti. This is accounted for by the 

 Javanese coolie being perhaps too honest to abscond 

 and fancying that his employer has nothing to 

 complain of when he takes upon himself to substitute 

 some other coolie in his stead. 



Java sugar shows no signs of improvement in 

 value, (juotations ruling now under 1^ guilders per 

 picul. So near arc planters being drawn to the 

 brink of ruin that the Home Government has been 

 alarmed into prouiising to do something to alleviate 

 their lot. Meanwhile, notwithstanding the deaduess 

 of the times, enterprising individuals are casting 

 about seeking fresh cutlets for speculative energies 

 and unemployed capital. Fajicr mills and cenienl 

 works started at various places will yield little to 

 make up for the certain loss resulting from the 

 scanty outturn of staple articles, when plantation 

 enterprise not longer pays remuneratively. The 

 moment all is over with sugar and coffee cultivation, 

 it will be hard work to keep new industries going. 



Several influential persons interested in the cin- 

 chona trade have forwarded a memorial to the 

 Netherlands Minister for the Colonies in favour of 

 increasing the number of bark action sales at 

 Amsterdam to eight a year, They urge this course 

 on the ground that Java cinchona has of late 

 been shipped by holders more and more to London 



