4ii 



^m f^oPicAt Aomttjvvvmnf, pEc, i, me, 



PLANTING IN FIJI : COCONUTS, CINCHONA, 



COFFEE. 



{From the Handbook t» Fiji) 



Under the heading " Agriculture " a considerable 

 space is devoted to noting the prospects and pos- 

 aibilitits connected with the chief products of the 

 colony. Attention is directed to coconut cultivation, 

 and after describing the method considered to be 

 most suitable, probable results are thus referred 

 to: — "Taking the produce in Fiji at 00 nuts per 

 tree, per year, an acre would give, say, 4,200 nuts. 

 This would make about two-thirds of a ton of copra, 

 the average value of which is about £7 10s., from 

 which deduct the expense of collecting and manu- 

 facture, which is about £2 10s., which leaves a pro- 

 fit of £5 per acre. It may be added that copra is 

 shipped to Europe where it sells at fBom £16 to £20 

 per ton. And it must be remembered that in the 

 aljove calculation no account is taken of the husks, 

 or pericarp, which, by the use of the proper machi- 

 nery, is manufactured into coir fibre and is of con- 

 siderable value. As to the oost of land and the ex- 

 pense in labor, etc., entailed to bring a coconut plan- 

 tatiou up to the bearing point, a rate cannot well 

 be fixed as many causes may operate to vary the 

 amount. Land may be purchased at a low or a high 

 figure. Labor may be well and economically used, 

 while on the other hand it may be wasted most 

 enormously. Taking the above into considaration the 

 co-t per acre for bringing a cocoanut plantation into 

 full bearing may vary from £20 to £40 per acre ; it 

 may be done for £20, but it might take £40. If 

 therefore, a person has capital to purchase, say, 

 50O acres suitable coconut laud in the proper locality, 

 to clear, plant, and cultivate 500 acres of coconut 

 trees up to full bearing point, he may calculate on 

 an income of at least £3,<100 per annum as the combined 

 profits of copra, fibre, and cattle. As to the value 

 elsewhere of full-bearing coconut plantations, a refer- 

 ence to the Oeylon newspapers will show that sales 

 of such property there are never made under £100 

 per acre, and often much more.« * ^ * Probably 

 no crop or product is to be found where so large 

 a return is obtainable at so small a risk as that of 

 coconuts. * * *■ The husks from 700 coconuts produce 

 about one ton of fibre, which is of the value on the 

 estates in Fiji of from £5 to £15 per ton, according 

 to quality. Brush fibre or bristles is worth from £15 

 to £30 per ton in Fiji. The cost of labor to pro- 

 duce one ton of fibre, exclusive of cost and wear of 

 machinery, may by putting down at from £5 to 10." 

 The exact value of the foregoing will at once be 

 relised by the coconut growers of Fiji, while those 

 who desire to be enlightened may easily attain to 

 the most perfect assurance on the point through the 

 fame medium, experienced. 



•'Cinchona" is the next product noticed and after 

 a truthful statement to the capacities of the group 

 for this cultivation, the subject is quitted with the 

 following observations : — " Here a planter who can 

 afford to wait for the returns for seven years cannot 

 do better than open out a cinchona plantation ; whilst 

 for one whose capital is too small to enable him to 

 wait there are many products such as tobacco, corn, 

 ginger, cardannms, bananas, etc., which he could 



flam afi well, and on the immediate returns of which 

 e might live until the cinchona would be fit to cut. 

 For the capitalist who i-equiies ffood interest for his 

 money and a healthy pleasant life there are few 

 places like Fiji.'' Kclerence is here kindly permitted 

 to the long roll of capitalists and planters who have 

 realised this good interest, but whose names have un- 

 fortunately not been mentioned, 



Relative to the next product noticed, '• Coffee," the 

 gcuticniau whose name appears up^n the title paj^'e 

 j;ive« assurance that it can be received with perfect 

 Confidence. Possibly he may not have written the 

 matter; liut he has been a coffee cultivator himself ; 



a Surely there is some great mistake here ! Has 

 coconut property iu Ceylou ever sold at £100 per 

 ^cre 'f — Eb. 



the scene of operation specially retfered to is one with 

 which he is intimately acquainted, and these facts 

 are a sufhcient guarantee that he would not counten- 

 ance an imperfect or insuflBcient statement of the case. 

 With this premise it is only necessary to quote briefly; — 

 " Perhaps no tropical industry offers more genuine 

 attraction to a man possessed of ordinary business abil- 

 ity with a taste for agricultural pursuits than does 

 coffee-planting. * • # The coffee industry is no 

 longer in its infancy in Fiji. Questions with regard 

 to soil, natural fertility, elevation, and shelter having 

 now been proved by the experience of pioneer planters, 

 may be regarded as settled, and any one now open- 

 ing up a coffee plantation in Fiji need no longer 

 run the risks attending experiment in these directions. 

 • * * The coffee-leaf deseaise which some four years 

 ago threatened to crush the coffee industry through- 

 out the world may now be said to have all but dis- 

 appeared from Fiji. Experience has shown that it 

 may be best resisted by high cultivation, and for this 

 purpose the incomparably rich soil of the group offers 

 facilities that cannot elsewhere be met with. On 

 the island of Taviuni, for instance, which on account 

 of position and fertility seems to have been specially 

 selected as a field for the coffee indu.stry, the disease 

 is rarely to be met with. Of this i.'^land Mr. F. B. 

 Thurber in his ' Coffee from Plantation to Cup ' re- 

 marks : — ' In the island of Taviuni, in the Fiji Group, 

 there are somi half-dozen coffee estates ranging in 

 area from fifty to three hundred acres. Coffee trees 

 are just coming into bearing (1880). At the Sydney 

 Exhibition the first gold medal was awarded to an 

 exhibit of coffee from Fiji.' " This is all that is said 

 as to the present prospect of the industry. It is of 

 course left to the Executive Commissioner to dilate 

 orallj' upon the astounding progress which has been 

 made with these half-dozen estates since the date 

 above quoted. He may also be expected to supple- 

 ment it with glowing references to the Wainunu, 

 Bua, Rewa, and Serua plantations, and to explain 

 under what exceptionally favorable condition, apart 

 from those of fertile soil and admirable climate, they 

 have steadily attained to their present high state of 

 remunerative development. Connected herewith his 

 own personal experience will s-upply a most encour- 

 aging illustration, and it will further jiermit of the 

 confidential intimation that as soon as the exhibition 

 is over it is his fixed intention to rush back to Fiji, 

 put in a large area of coffee and to retire in a few 

 years upon the magnificent addition, he will thereby 

 be able to make to the colossal fortune he has al- 

 ready amassed. — Fiji Times — [This is, of course, sar- 

 castic, coffee culture in Fiji, so much vaunted by Mr. 

 Mason in the Hand-Book having been, really a great 

 failure. — Ed.] 



♦ 



AGRI-HOKTICULTUEAL SOCIETY OF 



MADEAS. 



The Dinde Tree. — Read the following letter from Mr. 

 Morris, dated Kew, tith July 1386 :— •' In the Report of 

 your Committee for the year 1885, mention is made of 

 the seed described as ' Dinde,' a valuable timber tree 

 sent to the Society from Kew. ]Mr. Dyer desires me 

 to say that since the despatch of the seed it has been 

 determined as C olorophora ti/u-toria or the Fustic Dj^e- 

 wood of the AYest Indies. I notice that in your Report 

 you do not speak very favourably of the 'Tree Tomato' 

 in Sourthern India. It is quite possible that it may not 

 be quite so good with you as it undoubtedly in iu the 

 West Indies, but on the other hand, it may be found, on 

 larger knowledge and experience to possess qualities 

 which may commend it to geueral approval. The 

 fruit .••hould be allowed to fully ripen on the tree. This 

 is an essential point as regards flavour and size. For 

 cooking purposes, all the seeds should be removed and 

 the outer skin, then cut the fleshy part into (juarters and 

 stew or cook as you would apricot or peach, or make into 

 jam or jelly. If found too acid, steep in boiling water for 

 a few minutes before using, and the flavour will be much 

 milder. The p auters iu Jamaica attribute to it very 

 beneficial prop rti s as regards liver disease ; and 



m\*nid uiy aikj^tiou. was lirst Urawu to it uader i\n 



