Jam. I, 1887.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



4S5 



experienced with what virulence it cau sweep round 

 an estate, and have seen the wreckage it leaves in 

 its wake. Bug haa put the philosophy of many a 

 man to the test, and has formulated questions 

 which were hard to solve. Oiiu who was sufior- 

 ing mentally and financially from a bad attack 

 of bug, said in reference to it, and in serious 

 earnest : " I really don't know what Providence 

 can be thinking about ? " Poor fellow, he had a 

 hard nut to crack, but his attitude of mind was re- 

 verent enough, albeit his form of speech was not 

 devout. The other who saw in leaf-disease Providence 

 as having a controversy with the planters, and who 

 looked upon the invasion of bug as the last act in 

 which those who had survived the first visitation, 

 were to be ruined under the second, had made an 

 attempt to answer the query as to what Providence 

 was thinking about. But was it a good shot? I heard 

 the other day of a li-cturer in Melbourne impressing 

 on his audience that every insect pest has its use, 

 dwelling especially on the mosquito, the cloth moth, 

 and the garden snail. At the close of the lecture, 

 a gentleman got up and asked for something more 

 definite as to the snail. His garden, and indeed al- 

 most all the gardens in Melbourne, were over-run with 

 them ; his boys caught hundreds of them every night, 

 and it was with the greatest difficulty young plants 

 could be protected. The lecturer was a little non- 

 plussed, but said the snail was fulfilling the aim of 

 its existence, namely eating ! If it had been a planter's 

 estate which was being handed over to the destroyer 

 instead of the garden of an energetic colonist, there 

 would have been some one about " to point a moral " 

 and the snail would never have fulfilled the aim of its 

 existence until it had showed a decided partiality for 

 the belongings of reprobate planters. 



But this is a long way from the bug on our coffee. To 

 return to it, it is a pleasure to notice that the pest 

 is dying out, evidently in the same way that it did 

 about the same time last year. The appearance is 

 as if a white fungus were growing on the insect. Will 

 it keep away ? Is it worth while in these parts to 

 prune, manure or cultivate, even if coffee is to go 

 very much higher in price? If we only knew what 

 Providence was thinking about, it would not be diificult 

 to make up cur minds as to what to do with what 

 remains of our coffee. 



At present, I fancy, there are more sellers ef tea 

 estates than buyers ; but it is a happy token to hear 

 of a tea propertj- near Watagami for which £3,000 

 was refused. It is not a big place, and only ayear-and 

 a-half old. 



There is the other side, however, of wanting to sell 

 and not being able, like what occurred the other dav, 

 a man in search of au investment, for the offer 

 of the property at a rattling big fis;ure. Stirling money 

 of course, and after reading the unsolicited letter 

 which contained the terms of thra proposal he said : 

 " Well, Ceylon is far from being worked out yet, 

 when people cau have the cheek to ask such a price. 

 There must be something in tea." 



I understand that land suitable for tea lying near 

 the Matale line is being looked after, and that next 

 season should see more clearings there. — Peppercorn. 



TEA, SUGAR, CINCHONA, AND COOLIES IN 



NETHERLANDS INDIA. 



{Iranslated foi the "Straits Times.") 



Accordingr to the Samarang Locomotief, tea plant- 

 ations in Java, bid fair, this year, to turn out an en- 

 ormous yield. On one estate in particular, called 

 Sinagar Ohirohama,the tea produced is said to materially 

 excel the British India kind in quality. This heavy 

 outturn is generally ascribed to the dry East mon- 

 »oon in 1885, followed by a lack of destructive in- 

 sects. In spite of the promising future in store for 

 this branch of planting enterprise there, capitalists in 

 Java shrink from investment therein. For iustance, 

 two tea growing companies started in that island last 

 year, havato work with capital mostly drawn from 

 Britain, so it is said, What with the" depression of 



trade and fall in prices, it is no wonder that they mis- 

 trust the paying nature of plantation undertakings under 

 present circumstances. Moreover, it is evident that the 

 enormous increase of the tea yield to be expected with- 

 in the next few years, might readily result in over- 

 production within, say, four or five years. Even were 

 years of ndversity sure to come, there is every sign of 

 prosperity for tea cultivation in Java, provided growers 

 be not borne down by fiscal burdens sure to ruin them 

 in times of crisis. 



Of late, natives have been engaered in great numbers 

 in Java for labour purposes in British North Borneo, 

 Queensland, and Gprman New Guinea. The local author- 

 ities before authorising their emigration, had ascer- 

 tained that these recruits were fully aware of the 

 terms of their engagement, and had agreed to them. 

 The authorities also prpvailed upon the companies cun- 

 cerned to sive security for returning these labourers 

 free of charge to Java, should they wish to come back 

 at the expiration of their contracts. The Netherlands 

 India Government has not yet decided what other line 

 of action to take with regard to the recruiting of 

 natives for foreign countries, or whether special provi- 

 sion be made to protect more effectively the inter- 

 ests of coolies. 



In the opinion of experts there is at present uo pros- 

 pect of any rise in the price of sugar which continues 

 to be low indeed in Java. The only remedy worth a 

 thought is that of striving to make the article pay 

 even at the discouraging quotations rulinsr, by calling 

 in the aid of science and carrying out improvements 

 wherever feasible to increase the outturn on less 

 expenditure. 



Steam ploughs have turued out not to meet re- 

 quirements in Java. Trials have provad conclusively 

 their unremunprativenesB. In supervision alone, each 

 plough costs about 150 guilders. Another drawback is 

 that the plough had no steady work. Sometimes it 

 stood still for months It seems that among the many 

 steam appliances which have replaced manual labour 

 in agriculture the steam plough is one of those which 

 answers the worst. 



Uncertain as are the prospects of Java Cinchona 

 planters from over-production of bark in Ceylon, 

 they hope to make head against competition, by re- 

 iving on the advantage, Java bark has over the Ceylon 

 kind in containing less cimhonidine. Sometimes 

 Indian and Ceylon barks show even 50 per cent 

 hieher percentage of cinchonidinc than of quinine. 

 The consequence is that their value has become de- 

 prpciated. For instance, out of 2.518 bales of Ceylon 

 bark put up for sale by auction at London, on the 28th 

 June last, 1,330 proved unsaleable. The 169 bales of 

 Java offered all found buyers readily. Under these 

 circumstancps, it is no wonder that the 21 millions of 

 cinchona trpes planted in Cejdou when coffee grow- 

 ing proved unremuuerative, are being rooted up to 

 make room for tea. 



INDIAN HEMP: "BHANG." 



An excellent paper was read by Dr. "Watt, the 

 Commissioner of the Indian Economic Court, on In- 

 dian Hemp wlfich we take the liberty to reproduce. 



" He said that it was a common experience in thii 

 country that the extracts obtained from the drug 

 were of different strengths. This was due to the 

 use of different kinds of the drug. The drug which 

 was produced in Eastern Bengal was the best, and 

 there were two kinds of it-^the flat and the round 

 ganjah, as stated by Mr. Holmes. These differed 

 considerably in strength ; moreover, the round was 

 t»xed by the Government a fourth more than the 

 flat. The duty on the round was from 35^. to 

 40^. per maund, exclusive of the licence to fell it 

 either by wholesale or retail. In connection with 

 this taxation thprs was a curious anomaly existing 

 in India to which he wished briefly to refer, viz. 

 that the yearly returns in Bengal showed a con- 

 sumption amounting to 6,000 maunds with a tax of 

 2O,OO0L, whereas iu Bombay the consumption was 



