768 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[May 2, 1887. 



tbem would far rather go elsewhere if they had the 

 chance. A correspondent of the Hong Kong Daily Press 

 writes as follows, with regard to the profit to be 

 made on Manila Hemp: — "I have before me a pros- 

 pectus for the production of hemp in the Philippines, 

 showing a profit of something like 80 per cent per 

 annum. It is well known that the profit on hemp 

 cultivation in the Philippine Islands is over 100 per 

 cent per annum ; but English capital once invested 

 in any business in these delightful islands is seldom 

 or never seen again ; this I know from sad experience. 



The quantity of fibre obtained from each stem is 

 very small, and up to the present time the process of 

 extraction has been a very lengthy hand-labour one ; 

 but a machine, lately invented by Mr. Death, con- 

 siderably simplifies it. The stem being so bulky, the 

 main consideration in the manufacture of Manila hemp 

 is that of porterage, and the sites of plantations 

 should, therefore, be selected chiefly with a view to 

 this end, in places affording a maximum of water 

 carriage. The stems are not properly ripe for cutting 

 under fifteen months of age, but when once ready, 

 the stool continues to yield a ripe stem every two 

 months or so continuously, 



Indian Rubber is growing scarcer yearly, and as 

 wherever it has been found the practice has been to 

 cut it down and destroy it, its production seems 

 likely to decrease, and its price to increase considerably. 

 Our Indian rubber is obtained from a creeper, a 

 species of Willoughbeia which grows wild under forest 

 shade, so that if young plants are put out at the 

 foot of each forest tree, no further expense need be 

 incurred in connection with its cultivation beyond a 

 slight watch being kept to see that bands of native 

 collectors do not visit the locality, and in four years 

 a large quantity would be ready for collection. There 

 need be scarcely any limit to the size of the space 

 planted up with it, and the work of taking care of 

 a large acreage planted with Indian rubber would 

 seem to be particularly fitted for anyone with natural 

 history or sporting proclivities. There would be some 

 diflBculty at first in' getting seeds or slips to plant 

 in nurseries, but once they were obtained, all the 

 rest would be easy. 



Sago is the product of a palm tree which flourishes 

 to perfection in Borneo. The following remarks by 

 Mr. W. M. Crocker on its cultivation will be of 

 interest; he says that its production in Sarawak " affords 

 a steady industry to some thousands of inhabitants, 

 all living in comparative wealth. It may give some 

 idea of the enormous rate of this product if it be con- 

 sidered that three trees yield more nutritive matter 

 than an acre of wheat, and six trees more than an 

 acre of potatoes." 



The main drawback to the investment of capital 

 in sago planting is the length of time that elapses 

 before the trees are ready to cut ; but it must be 

 understood that when once they commence yielding, 

 they go on continually without cessation, so that the 

 only expense attending their cultivation, when once 

 they are in bearing, is the upkeep of fencing to keep 

 out pigs. It is also to be added that the expense of 

 planting is very small compared to the returns when 

 once they begin to come in. Mr. Crocker calculated 

 that a plantation of 2.000 acres would give a profit 

 of £15,560 a year. Since this calculation was made 

 the price of sago has declined, but there is no chance 

 of its not yielding a good profit to the grower. It is 

 also to be remembered that the sale value of a newly- 

 planted sago plantation would rise heavily yearly. 



Amongst other things, cocoa will, I think, be found 

 to thrive particularly well in British Borneo, judging 

 from the few trees grown in the native gardens on 

 the Segaliud and elsewhere; while coconuts flourish 

 extremely well, are a safe investment, and yield some 

 two years quicker in British Borneo than elsewhere. 



I will conclude my remarks upon agriculture by 

 again expressing my extreme desire to see general 

 plantations started on land in the Sandakan district, 

 and my confidence that if rightly managed they would 

 prove a profitable investment to their owners, and 

 lead up to their being the main prop of the country 

 geueially iu the future.— iStmiU Tmii. 



Tobacco for OErLON. — The attempts now being made to 

 grow the tobacco plant on a good scale in this country have 

 induced the trade section of the London Chamber of 

 Commerce to offer two prizes of fifty guineas each 

 for the best specimen of tobacco grown in the 

 United Kingdom, and for that produced in India, 

 or in any of the British colonies and possessions. 

 It is stated that these prizes will be awarded as a 

 means of definitely ascertaining how far the above 

 sources of iiroduction can add to the supply of tobacco 

 suitable for the English market, and to what extent, 

 if any, these growths can compete in quality and price 

 with those of foreign countries, from which the con- 

 sumption of the world has hitherto been chiefly drawn. 

 Each specimen is to weigh not less than 400 lb., and 

 must not consist of picked leaves from a large quan- 

 tity. The specimens not grown in the United King- 

 dom shall be submitted for competition in London, 

 and in the bonded warehouse of either the Victoria, 

 the London and St. Katherine's, the East and West 

 India Docks, or other bonded warehouse. Specimens 

 of British-grown tobacco will only be admitted under 

 bond at the Haydon Square bonded warehouse. The 

 tobacco grown in the United Kingdom must be sent 

 for inspection on or before the 1st March, 1888, and 

 that of other places on or before the 1st of December 

 of the same year. I shall hope to hear that both 

 European and native tobacco growers in Ceylon will 

 compete for the colonial prize, as there is very little 

 doubt they would stand a good chance of success. In 

 1851 Jaffna tobacco, sent to the Great Exhibition by 

 some American missionaries in the north took a prize 

 medal ; and competent judges pronounced some of the 

 Triucoroalee-grown leaf first class, but spoilt by over- 

 pressure in the bales. This and the presence of not 

 more than 15 per cent of moisture in the leaf are 

 essential points. — London Cor. Local " Times." 



Indiak Figs. — A paper by Dr. George King of 

 Calcutta, on " The Genus Ficus, with special refer- 

 ence to the Indo-Chinese species," was read at the 

 Linnean Society on March 17, in which it was shown 

 that insects play a considerable part in the fertilisation 

 of certain forms. Dealing with the structural peculiar, 

 ities of the flowers in the genus Ficus, he specifies : — 1, 

 male ; 2, pseudo-hermaphrodite ; 3, neuter ; and, 4, fe- 

 male fertile flowers. Besides these there occurs a set 

 of flowers originally named by himself " Insect-attacked 

 females, " but for which he has adopted Count Solms 

 Laubach's term, "Gall Flowers " (see Gardeners' Chro- 

 nicle, vol. xix., p. 530 ; vol. xx. p, 22, 1885)— the latter 

 botanist having anticipated him in publicatiou, though 

 King's researches had commenced earlier. As to the 

 question of these gall flowers. Dr. King states that the 

 pupa of an insect can usually be seen through the coats 

 of the ovary. The pupa when perfected, escapes into 

 the cavity of the receptacle by cutting its way through, 

 and fully developed winged insects are often to be 

 found in considerable numbers in the cavity of the Fig. 

 The pupa of the insect must become encysted in the 

 ovary of the gall flower at a very early period, for about 

 the time at which the imago is escaping from the ovary 

 the pollen of the anthers of the male flo«*er is only 

 beginning to shed. Thus Dr. King holds that through 

 the interposition of insects the malformed flowers 

 doubtless become functionally important in the life 

 history of the Fig trees. From the peculiarities in the 

 structure and arrangement of the flowers Dr. King 

 is of opinion that the evolutionary history of the genus 

 Ficus may be traced. On data derived therefrom he 

 arranges the Indo-Malayan species into two great groups, 

 the second of these being again divided into three 

 subsidiary sub-groups as follows: — 

 FiCDS, Linn. 



Qrovp I. Pseudo-hermahphrodite ... 

 ^ fSect. I. ... 



I Sect. IL 

 Group II. Unisexual. -^ 



I Sect III 



L 



—Gotrienen' Chronicle. 



... Galreomorphe, 

 ... Urostigma. 

 ... SyncBcia. 

 / Sycidium. 

 Corwellia. 



( . (Sycidiur 



) ^- \ Corwelli 



1 j> I Eusyce. 



I. ■ I Neomor 



Neomorphe 



