796 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTtJRrST. fJuNE i, tm-j. 



more conscientious, but their efforts are of no avail 

 to keep Tip the reputation of Phihppine tobacco. The 

 EO'l and climate of the islands are as suitable as 

 ever for the cultivation of the leaf. The only way 

 to improve matters is to bung home to growers, 

 the need of imp'oving the quplity of their produce, 

 by cutting the crop in due sea&on and curing 7t i i a 

 businesslike manner. In no other -way can the aboli- 

 tion of the tobacco monopoly be expected to result satis- 

 factorily. In 188(j the leaf tobacco exported reached 

 120,793 quintals against 136,144 in 18S5. Under pre- 

 sent circumstances, with greed and indifference in 

 the ascendant among the planting community, the 

 experiment of free labour in tobacco growing in the 

 Philippines #et about with such a great flourish of 

 trumpets amid highly strained expectations, bids fair to 

 become a failure. A deplorable result truly. — Comercio. 



Coffee on the other hand is recovering, the returns 

 showing an export of 117,392 piculs against 8>3,337 in 

 1885. Yet its cultivation does not seem to spread, 

 though the local envirocment admits of a higher out- 

 turn. The efforts made to mend matters have failed 

 from lack of push and go. A few years back, the Go- 

 vernment directed the provincial autho-ities to order 

 the natives to plant coffee far and wide. The authori- 

 ties turned to with a will. Coffee plants were set out 

 ]u thousands. Glowing anticipations were built on the 

 prosjjects of their yielding plentifully. Other matters 

 engrossed the attention of Government. Interest in 

 the veork so vrell begun flagged. The newly laid out 

 coffee plantations soon went to wreck and ruin. No- 

 thing has been done to repair the neglect. Further 

 comment is superfluous. 



Indigo is another export article which shows 

 a heav}^ falling off. In the olden time, 

 Philippine indigo enjoyed high repute, until a 

 consignment of inferior quality brought on mistrust 

 in markets abroad. Since then, no amount of good 

 faith and careful preparation can restore the reput- 

 ation once lost. In bygone times, the trade in this 

 article was of much importance to the Philippines. 

 Last year the exports totalled 1,284 quintals against 

 G662 in 1,870. 



Pearl Shell figures low indeed in the export 'ist, 

 owing to the article being now forwarded from 

 Sooloo to Singapore and other po ts direc^. The 

 exportation of hides shows almost stationary figures 

 with a downward tendency. Why it should be so 

 is inexplicable, considering that c? itle raising ought 

 to succeed betttr in the Philippines with t.ieir fer- 

 tile soil, liberal laws, and a population open to 

 improving ideas. Districts of note formeily pros- 

 perous in the plamy days of the hide trade, have 

 now become impoverished. 



CEYLON : NATIVE AGEICULTUEAL EEPOBT 

 ON THE WESTERN PEOVINCE. 



THE WEATHEE — COCONCTS AND THEIE CDLTIVATION — 

 FEVER AND QITININE— EAKMING. 



Hapitigam Korale, 30th April. 



The drought broke up early in the month arxl we 

 have had frequent but not very heavy rain almost 

 daily for the last fortuight and everything is again 

 koking fresh and flourishing. The drought has done 

 some harm to weak coconut trees that were hearing 

 beyond their strength on heavy loams and tliin 

 gravels, but less than might have been expected from 

 the long spell of dry weather. 



Since my last, several questions have been raised 

 about the proper soil and treatment ot coconuts. One 

 of your correspondents gives his vote for great depth 

 and width of holes, while others object to the systc m 

 in toto. So far as I am concerned, I only limit m^ 

 holes in size by the cost of digging them ; I make 

 them as deep and as wide as I can get thf-m made 

 for four cents, and I fill them up with loost- earth to 

 within one foot of the surface by breaking down the 

 sides. In no case should the crown of the root he 

 more than one foot below the general surface. In 

 sandy land depth is of no importance hut in ioanis and 

 gravels the deeper the better, always provided the 

 boles are filled up to the regulation one foot. A deep 



sandy loam is the most amenable to cultivation, and 

 givew the best return for manure; thcugh tie strong 

 loams have mt.re of Mitural fertility, they do not so 

 readily resjond to cultivation and till the trees 

 a lain to a wrorl age, sav fifteen to twenty years, they 

 suffer from drought. Cahoo"c lands are not guilty 

 of the general condemnation given them by one of 

 your correspondents. They range in quality from 

 utter barrenness to a considerable de^jree of fertility, 

 and the be.ter kinds are more responsive to cultiv- 

 ation than the heavy Icams. 



With execption of the dwarf Maldive, I have never, 

 under the most favourable conditicn, .seen a coconut 

 tree flower before the filth year. Some one challenges 

 old planters to state whether thev have ever seen a 

 ( oconut field with 75 per cent of the trees bearing in 

 the tenth year. I must answer that I never have 

 simply from the fact that I have never seen a coconut 

 field treated fairly during the first ten years of its 

 existence. I do firmly believe that under liberal and 

 skilful cultivation every coconut tree will be in full 

 bearing hefore its tenth year. 



I approve of annual ploughing or digging, merely 

 because it cannot in general be done oft aner. To keep 

 the soil pulverized to the depth of eight or nine ii)ches 

 is the first of the two things that the coconut re- 

 quires to give a satisfactory result. As to disturb- 

 ing the roots it is a matter of no con.sequeuce ; 

 no coconut tree ever suffered from a defciency 

 of roots to take up any plant food in the soil; I 

 want no main roots within nine inches of the surface, 

 as the deeper laying mains send u^d abundance of 

 feeders into the upper soil. 



I know no economic plant that will grow and 

 bear fruit on soil so poor and under such utter ne- 

 glect as the coconut, nor do I know any that so 

 immediately and so amply responds to even minute 

 quantities of manure. Say a ton of bone dust, costs 

 laid down on an estate E75. that properly applied 

 to 370 trees already bearing more or less, fiey 

 will within three years yield at least 12,000 nuts 

 additional to their former crops, worth at the low- 

 est price R300. Allowing R45 for additional labour 

 the cost will be R120, leaving a profit on tte in- 

 vestment of R180. Lime is a very good application 

 to heavy soils r''. put on in sufficient quantity, un- 

 fortunately it will not pay at the local price of the 

 article. 



I have never seen or till recently heard of pearls 

 in coconuts. The testimony is too weak so far to 

 convince a person of a sceptical turn of mind. I 

 would hardly believe it if I saw it. 



This is awful season for fever in this neighbour- 

 hood ; there is hardly a house for miles round free 

 from it and in some cases whole families are 

 suffering. My own household is laid up as I write, 

 except myself, and I have no patent protection. 

 We are consuming quinine at a rate that would be 

 ruinous if we had to pay the price of English dis- 

 pensing druggists. 



I am trying to combine some farming with coco- 

 nut cultivation. I am still in doubt if it will pay 

 directly, but if not, the coconuts will get the bene- 

 fit of the work and manure. Local prices are not 

 encouraging. Our climate cannot be depended on 

 for any of the more valuable minor products and 

 however successful we may be in growing such 

 things as cassawa, sweet potatoes, pumkins. pine- 

 apples and so forth, they are not worth taking any 

 trouble with, ni less so far as they can be consumed 

 on the place. Cattle and poultry thrive on cassawa, 

 especially milkcows, who give a double supply 

 und. r this feedii g. I know no plant that yields so 

 large a bulk of substantial food for man or beast 

 with so little labour as cassawa, but its very pro- 

 ductiveness rendei i it an unprofitable crop in larger 

 quantity than required for home consumption. 



The Antigua average rainfall for 1886 at 41 

 stations is 47 89 inches. This, we believe, has been 

 considered an exceptionally wet year for Antigua. 

 Compare Roseau Valley 208-10 ; Eoseau 94-31 !— 

 Dominica Dial, 



