472 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 



rjAN. 1, 1837. 



the industry, the returns so far have been disap- 

 poiuting, sokly in consequence of the non-growth of 

 the cane through -want of moisture. Coiisequently 

 the large Airdmiilan mill (whicb, by-the-by, I believe 

 mainly representrd Victorian capital), aftiran expen- 

 diture of over £100,000, was closed, and Arrange nientg 

 made for the cane to be cruslied at an adjoining 

 estate. The re.sult of the frequent raius is that the 

 cane crop on Airdmiilan is splendid, and it is doubt- 

 ful if the two Inrge mills, Seatorth and Pioneer, will 

 be able to take it off. Cane which had been left 

 to run out has astonished every one by its growth, 

 and second ratoons have yielded 30 cwt. sugar per 

 acre, thus proving the suitabdity of the delta Boil 

 if only it can be watered. The droughts of preceding 

 years led to extensive irrigation works being adopted, 

 and at the two plantations above-nanxed they have 

 pumps which throw 300,0(.i0 gal. an hour, there being 

 an inexhaustible supply of good water at a depth 

 of seldom more than 12ft. Irrigated land has been 

 found to yield four tons of sugar per acre. 



The reports from the M'ide Bay and Burnett dis- 

 tricts are exceedingly favourable, and the return this 

 season promises to be what the local paper terms 

 " phenomenal." The outijut from millaquiu, on the 

 Burnett, is calculated by Messrs. dan and Company 

 to reach 10,000 tons, and the same firm consider that 

 their manufartory at Yengarie, ou the M*ry River, 

 will turn out 5 000 tons. 



bane and Southern districts. Here there have always 

 The only places iu which there will be a notable 

 decrease of jield through the closure of mills and 

 the relinquishment of CHne culture will be the Bris- 

 beena number of small mills, aud every year makes 

 it more apparent that such cannot compete with the 

 larger establishments and there more perfect machi- 

 nery and organisation. 



Of late there has been no difficulty about the lab- 

 our question. The supply of Kanakas has been ample, 

 and a great part of those now on the plantations 

 and that arrive from time to time are those who have 

 previously served a term of years, and who elect to 

 reengage for plantation life iu preference to ramaining 

 on their own island. 



Mackay, Oct. 25th. 



The first half of the crushing season 1886 has been 

 a continuous trial to the patience of sugar growers 

 in tropical Queensland. The spring months, the driest 

 of the twelve, according to records extending over 20 

 years, have this year been the most rainy, the fall 

 during September having exceeded that of any month 

 of tlie Wet season. As a consequence, instead of half 

 the crops being in at this stage, barely, one-third are 

 yet milled, and in place of the tich juice usually 

 supplied by canes cut in October a density of 9deg. 

 Beaume only has ruled utitd within the last fortnight 

 The quality of the liquor manipulated, accordingly, 

 involves an abnormal consumption of fuel, and as 

 such is gall and bitterness to the careful-minded 

 proprietor ; the quantity, however, measured per ton 

 of cane is above average, and, in this respect, has 

 seldom been excelled. If the curious reversal of 

 sea^on8 continues, and the late spring is followed 

 by an equally late summer, with January dry, the 

 harvesting will probably be completed, and the total 

 estimated output of 20,000 tons successfully attained. 

 Under less favourable cicumstances man> estates will 

 be compelled to leave fields to stand over until 1887. 

 In order to avoid this undesirable result the most 

 strenous efforts are being miide to recover lost ground, 

 and labour of all kinds is in brisk demand. Brisbane 

 has been opportunly lelived of some of its unem- 

 ployed by the ma igned planter, who, no doubt, re- 

 joices in thi-i -heaping political coals of fire on +ho 

 head.s of the Queen-street Government. It is a case of 

 the north to the rescue, and seldom has better labour 

 been offered mill ownf'rs than the young fellows who 

 have lately been iandeil here at Government expense 

 under agreements for three months at a wage of IDs. 

 to 12s. per week with rations. 



The Javanese, on the other hand, introduced as a 

 sabstitute for the failing Kauaka supply, are con- 



stantly in the Police Court on various charges, and 

 have disappointed expectations. In physical activity 

 they are deficient ss conipare i with the cheery I'oly- 

 nesian, but they endeavour in mental quicknes.<« to 

 atone for this hhortcorniug, being prolific in every 

 variety of deceit in order to escape work. These re- 

 marks are particulary apphcable to the town hands 

 from Batavia or Singapore. Tho<e agricultural labour- 

 ers from the interior of Java, who have recently 

 being indented with their families, are a quieter class, 

 from whom better results are anticipated. The Kanaka, 

 however, remains facile princeps in all the essentials 

 of a reliable nature. — Australasian. 



Coffee Peospects in Kaduk.— Nov. The Koppa 

 side of the District has begun coffee picking, just 

 the first round of a little ripe here and there. The 

 general picking will most likely begin in abaut 15 

 days more. The season is later than last year by 

 nearly a mouth, in Koppa, and vrill be almost two 

 mouths later in the Chickmuglur and Mudgiri Talooks, 

 due wholly tn the lateness of the blossom showers which 

 fell at the close of April, instead of the usual middle 

 of March falls- The croi^s too will turn out a much 

 smaller average. I have not heard yet of any of one 

 estate with a full bearing crop. I have heard, though 

 the boast of two or more estates with a " spleudiu crop" 

 but the estates belong to persons whose words are 

 always taken with a very liberal pinch of salt. You 

 may rely on this ! The crops are not equal to the 

 usual aver:ige ; some have half, and others three-quar- 

 ters, and this is as close as it is possible to make to an 

 average.— B.S.—J/af/ra5 Weekly Mail. 



Coffee-Drinking and its Effects.— New York has 

 a doctor of unusual brightness, who has busied him- 

 self lately writing pithy aud scholarly monograms on 

 some of the baptii^ed aud endorsed evils of society. 

 His latest manifesto is on "How Coffee Affects People; " 

 and the aim of the paper is to show that cofl[ee is 

 one of the most powerful drugs in the list of medicines. 

 The proof of its power as a drug is shown by the fact 

 that it is used to a greater extent than any other 

 as an antidote for poisons, both animal and vegetable. 

 He urges that he does not desire to reach the ear of 

 the public in general, but of thi se who have pains iu 

 the region of the heart, oppressed breathing, and an 

 irregalar pulse ; those who are exceedingly nervous aud 

 unable to sleep at night ; those who have a full feeling, 

 dizziness, aud pains of a neuialgic character in the head; 

 who have nausea and sourness of the stomach with- 

 out ; having transgressed the laws of life ; who have 

 pains in the liver, a yellow skin, with e5es of the same 

 sortd and lasily, who have hemorrhoids. If the doctor 

 supposes he has left out one or two of all creation from 

 this list he may be right, but he certainly is moving 

 a wide swath, and may honestly say he is after the 

 ear of the public. To these he offers one suggestion, 

 Omit coffee for a time, throw physic to the dogs, and 

 find out if the trouble after all is not in the drug used 

 as a beverage. In moderate doses coffee raises the lilood 

 pressure and accelerates the heart. Now, says the doctor, 

 heart disease is in the main an easily prevented disease, 

 and it is very frequently due to the excessive use of 

 coffee. He enumerates several instances where he had 

 been called to prescribe and had found his patients given 

 up to die, Wut there was really nothing- the matter but 

 the breakfast drug. He wisely suggests that in this 

 day of sudden deaths we are called upouto review our 

 methods of eating and living in order to get at the cause 

 or causes. " The heart and brain require rest as well 

 as other organs of the the body." If the ves.'sels in 

 the brain are kept distended we have as a warning 

 tUzziness aud pain, and, if the warnings are uuheeiied, 

 appoplexy. So with the lieart. So short are its intervals 

 of rest when beating at 72 to 84 that we e .11 hardly con- 

 ceive it. Add to this the stimulus that sends it up 

 to yO and we must produce disease. He concludes 

 that for our regular meals and at evening parties we 

 should substitute the simpler cocoa or bouillon and es- 

 cape danger. — Ht.Lovjs Globe-Democrat. 



