MAfecji I, iB87.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



6i$ 



PLANTING IN PERAK. 



The great backbone of revenue and prosperity of 

 the State has been thi, and this metal will probably 

 continue for some years to be the chief attraction. 

 Chinese have had almost a monopoly of this miaing 

 until a year or two ago, when oue or two Europeans 

 and European Oempauies came into the field. Generally 

 speaking, as is commonly known, these companies 

 have not been a success. Thoy too frequently started 

 with millstones, in the shape of largo quantities of 

 very expensive machinery, and European managers, 

 assistants, engineers, &c., at salaries which only an 

 El Dorado could paj', and still have something for a 

 dividend. That money can be made at tin mining, 

 ani\ by Europeans, I feel convinced. The Chinaman 

 has, of course, a great advantage in his store account, 

 for he supplies everything to his coolies at an enormous 

 profit to himself. Cases occur every month where a 

 Chinaman is an apparent loaer by working the tin, 

 and his books will probably show a loss of S5,000 to 

 $10,000 on a six months' working. In reality, how- 

 ever, he is a gainej: probably to that extent, his store 

 account having covered any deficiency, and likewise 

 left him with a profit. Europeans cannot, of course, 

 go' iuto this system, but if they would be a little 

 more ready to profit by tho Chinaman's experience 

 in actual mining I am convinced that much useful 

 information could be gleaned ; and most of these 

 Chinese are ready at all times to give the intelligence. 

 The idea seems to be to make a grand start ; if they . 

 would be content with small beginnings and proceed 

 slowly, only getting expensive machinery where such 

 is shown to be an undoubted economy, I think there 

 is money to be made. At present, this may be termed 

 the ouly money-making concern in the country, but 

 there is also rich agricultural land in mauy parts, the 

 district for instance round Kwala Kangsa being of 

 rich soil and suitable for the growth of many products. 

 Arabian coffee and tea (Assam hybrid) are doing well 

 on estates in both Perak and Sunghie Ujoag, though 

 at present the extent is not very great. Liberian 

 coffee is also doing well in low countries. Sugar like- 

 wise, on the Shanghai Company's Gula estate on 

 the banks of the Korean River, is doing well. About 

 seven hundred acres are now under cultivation, and 

 more is being got into order. — London and China Kxprr,<is. 



PRODUCTION OF ALFA IN ALGERIA. 



Consul General Playfair, in his last report issued 

 at the commencement of the year, on the commerce 

 and agriculture of Algeria, says that alfa is of great 

 and increasing importance, both to Algeria and 

 England, where nearly the whole of the exports are 

 consigned, and he gives the following account of the 

 plant taken from the report of a commission recently 

 sent to the high plateaux by the Governor-General, 

 to study the subject in the great upland plaius where 

 alone it is found. Alfa or haifa is a plant which is 

 found in calcareous soil or silicious clay, but not in 

 compact clay or pure sand, unless, at a short depth 

 below them, silicious clay is found, or soil unimpreg- 

 nated with sea salt. In the high plateaux of the 

 south of Gran it is fouad in calcareous soil of the 

 formation cretaeee superieure (compact calcareous 

 rock, in horizontal bauds, the decomposition of which 

 produces stones and finely powdered eirth coloured 

 dark red by the oxide of iron), and in sand mixed 

 with clay or quaternary alluvium. The thin circular 

 and shallow roots of the plant require air and a 

 little moisture, thus the alfa is never found in the 

 white sand near the Chotts, nor in the depressions of 

 compact soil scattered about the high plateaux. 

 The surface of the high plateaux in Oran may be 

 compared to a carpet, the ground of which is alfa, 

 picked out with innumerable ramifications of sennarct 

 and artemisia. The tuft of alfa presents at its base 

 the appearance of a central axis arouuil which at a 

 short distance proceed horizontal ramifications. These 

 spring up vertically and produce bunches of flowers, 

 sheathpd in iiiirrow falling leaves. After the first 

 T9 



year's growth, each ramification sends out from its 

 base a shoot, which decends iuto the ground, pro- 

 ducing a small root ; other ramifications are then 

 produced at the base of previous ones, and become 

 rooted in their turn. The tuft thus increases from 

 the centre U> circumference, each addition being 

 united to the central mass, but forming gradually 

 its own root, so as to be able to live when the 

 central part dies and disappears. It is only in the 

 third year from the sprouting of the ramification that 

 the flower appears to be developed. If the plant is 

 allowed to grow unchecked, its flowers and leaves 

 vegetate during the spring, they ripen in summer, 

 and they commence to decompose from the point* 

 downwards, uikUt the action of the autumnal rains, 

 fading progressively during the winter. In propor- 

 tion as the sap of spring developes new leaves, those 

 of the previous year fall over inert and partly dried 

 up without ceasing to adhere to the stem on which 

 they continue to decompose during the following 

 years. After several years the dead leaves form a 

 thick central mass, impenetrable to the shoots at 

 their base, and around this mass the new leaves pierce 

 through, and the small roots continue to develop 

 outside the circle. Alfa grows abundantly in Algeria, 

 and a large population, both of Spaniards and Arabs, 

 is engaged in collecting it. The workman generally 

 twists round his hand, or round a small stick, the 

 upper part of the leaves, which he tears out by a 

 sudden jerk, and puts under his left arm, and 

 this he continues to do until he has made a 

 small sheaf which he ties up. A number of 

 these small sheaves are made into a larger one, 

 and the.se are placed upright to dry. To preserve 

 this plant as much as possible, an ordinance of the 

 Governor-General was published on the 13th Marchj 

 1884, prohibiting the collecting of it during a close 

 period of about four months every year, varying 

 according to the climatic conditions of the district 

 where it occurs. A large quantity of the best alfa 

 is exported to Spain, where it is mixed with tho 

 esparto grass of the country ; the ordinary quality ia 

 almost all sent to England for the mauufaoture of 

 paper, Of^ late the exportation has greatly diminished, 

 owing partly to the competition in Spain, Morocco, 

 and Tunis, hut partly to its excessive price and the 

 introduction of woo i pulp in the paper trade. The 

 extent over which the alfa is found in Algeria is 

 about 4,441,000 acres, and it is estimated that 

 upwards of 16,000,000 cwt. were collected during the 

 year 1883. — Join-nal of the Society of Arts. 



JAPANESE LABOUR IN THE SANDWICH 

 ISLANDS. 

 The Planters of Hawaii are not unanimous as to 

 the value of Japanese labour. Some appraise it very 

 highly ; others place it below that of Portuguese or 

 Ohint'se, From the report presented at the Planters' 

 Labour and Supply Association, we learn that on a 

 majority of the esfates where they were employed the 

 Japanese had given satisfaction, though in a few 

 cases their labour was rated very low. This is perhaps 

 as much as could have been expected. It has been 

 already pointed out in the-iecoloumns that the Japanese 

 who went to the Sandwich Islands were a very mixed 

 lot. The first batch consisted of ex-soldiers, vagrants, 

 needy fishermen, and, in general, persons not at all 

 likely to settle down to steady work. Curiously enough 

 fishermen, though capable of enduring hardship and 

 toil of the severest description, frequently fail where 

 persistent effort is required. Trained to a life of fitful 

 exertion with intervals of almost absolute indolence, 

 they find great difficulty in reconciling themselves to 

 the monotony of unvaried labour. Even fishermen, 

 however, would have answered the purpose of the 

 Hawaiian planters better than ex-soldiers and vagrants 

 who emigrated under the delusion that their sojourn 

 in the sugar islands was to be a long spell of sun- 

 basking, relieved by the busiues.s of eating and sleeping. 

 It might have been foreseen that men of this class 

 would not prove a succes.s. But the task of selection, 



