796 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[April 2, 1883. 



Coffee in Brazil. — The municipality of Aoarap'a 

 CearA, has freed all the slaves witbia its borders through 

 gift aud popular subscription. There were ouly 32 

 slaves in all, and through their liberation Acarage 

 becomes the first free municipality in the empire. It 

 is a distinc tion than which none can be more honorable. 

 Aooordingtn the Rio Braiico, of Pira^sunuuga Sao Paulo, 

 the next coffee crop in that municipality promises to 

 be very light. The Gazeta of Valeica, Rio de Janeiro, 

 says that the next coffee crop in that municipality is 

 not very promising just now because of the drouth. — 

 Rio News. 



Shaving Cinchona.— Dolo.sbage, March 3rd.— Here 

 is the result of eight days' shaving from O. succirnbra 

 planted in S. \V. monsoon, 1880. The trees are there- 

 fore rising throe years : — 



Wet Bark. 

 Coolies. Trees. lb. 



5 ... 8.35 ... 682 



5 ... 795 ... 778 



5 ... 870 ... 644 



5 ... 719 ... 625 



6 ... 835 ... 720 

 5 ... 858 ... 838 



5 ... 662 ... 622 



6 ... 889 ... 755 



Total. ..42 ... 6,463 ... 5,634 



Average per cooly say 13+ lb. ; average per tree nearly 

 14 oz. — trees taken as they stand in the lines, bi"and 

 little. May this be considered a satisfactory growth, 

 aud above tlie aver.age ? [It seems to us very good 

 for such young trees.— Ed.] 



Coffee in Brazil. — Renewed attention will be 

 given to this subject now, and it is interesting to 

 learn the opinion of a competent authority (the Jiio 

 News) ou the late Mr. Cruwell's aud on Mr. Scott 

 Blaoklaw's letters which we published in pamphlet 

 form : — 



We are in receipt of a convenient and valuable little 

 volume published at the offices of the Observer, Colombo, 

 Ceylon, entitled Coffee Cultivation in Brazil: Its condition and 

 prosptcts. The book, which contains something over 150 pages, 

 is compo.sed chiefly of letters addres.sed to The Observer 

 from Brazil by two wellknown Ceylon planters, i\Ir. G.A. 

 Oruwell and jlr. A. Scott Blacklaw, but also contains much 

 valuable information on Brazil collected from other sources. 

 It was first publi.shed in 1878, and does not therefore 

 contain the many valuable letters from Mr. Blacklaw 

 which have been published during the last few years. The 

 purpose of the book — that of giving the Ceylon planters 

 all available information about Brazilian coffee production — 

 is one which is worthy of the highest praise, and might 

 be imitated here with the best results. 



Divi-Divi. — We quote as follows from recent proceed- 

 ings of the board of Revenue: — " The board having learned 

 that Mr. Cardozo had a small Divi-Divi plantation that 

 was turning out very well, Messrs. Whiteside and Wilson 

 visited and inspected it on the 9th November 1882. Mr. 

 Cardozo has about seven acres planted with Divi-Divi, 

 all produced from .seed from two parent trees, which are 

 about 25 years old. These two trees produced last year 

 560 lb. of pods, which when sold realized E 18-10-0 (nett). 

 Mr. Cardozo stated that the price in the London market 

 varied from £13 to £19 a ton. During the three hottest 

 months of the year, the trees are occasionally irrigated, 

 but they are extremely hardy and thrive best on that 

 soil that suits the Babul {Acacia Arubica). The trees are 

 planted in rows, 22 feet apart. Mr. Cardozo has had 

 offers for the seed at the rate of K12 an ounce, aud for 

 seedlings natives are now offering him E6 a hundred. 

 So far as information is av.ailable at present, the Diri- 

 Divi is Of great value in tanning, dyeing and making ink; 

 for each of these purposes a different part of the pod 

 is used. Mr. Cardozo showed the ink made frnme Divi- 

 Divi. It is extremely black, does not clog or c<.)rrode the 

 pen and does not fade. The board are decidedly of opinion, 

 in view of the success that is attending Mr. Cardozo's ex- 



periment, that it is very advisable to encourage the cultivation 

 of Divi-Divi as widely as possible. There are immense 

 tracts of land throughout the presidency onw hich the tree 

 would grow well. It requires very little attention, and 

 the price that the pods and seed command in the market, 

 even now when the great value of the product is not 

 sufficiently known, is very remunerative. The board re- 

 commend that collectors be instructed to endeavour to 

 stimulate the cultivation of Divi-Divi. The demand for 

 it in the London market would increase, no doubt, with 

 the supply." The Government have approved the recom- 

 mendation made by the board. — iladras Times. 



Weeds in the Cold Weather.- [Ihey get rid of 

 weeds on tea gardens in India, by hoeing them into 

 the ground. From the following letter to the Indian 

 Tea Gazette it appears that the theory of weeds being 

 rather beneficial than otherwise, is entertained by superior 

 intellects in India as well as in Ceylon. — Ed. T. A.] — 

 Some [jlanters maintain that it is best to allow a garden 

 to be overrun with weeds in the cold weather : that 

 hoeing is of no good until the early rains set in. Weeda 

 conserve moisture, and I have an idea that it is 

 perhaps a good thing not to hoe the garden in the cold 

 weather, but let it lie in rather a dirty state. Will 

 some of your readers kindly give me the benefit of 

 their experience ? 



Cultivation of Tea in India.— A correspondent of 



the Indian Tea Planters' Gazette writes :~ The following 



is my estimate of cultivating (as agents and planters 



understand) lOOacres of tea. R • 



One hoeing Duffadar ... ... 100 



Deep hoeing once, at 6/8 per acre ... 650 

 Light hoeing four times, at 3/12 each 



per acre ... ... ... 1,500 



Filling up vacancies ... ... 250 



Manuring and forking (20 acres) ... 150 

 Draining ... ... ... 120 



t!utting jungle, &c. ... ... ... 100 



Pruning ... .. ... 375 



R3,245 

 or R32 8 per acre. 



Coffee Production.— The Chicago Tribtine says "that 

 some idea of the rapid growth of the coffee trade of the 

 world may he obtained from the fact that the total 

 production which wns 675,000,000 pounds in 1859, has 

 now risen to 1,.')00,000,000 pounds or nearly doubled. 

 In Europe alone the consumption of coffee is said to 

 have increased 240.000,000 pounds in the single year 

 1879. As for the producing countries it seems that 

 Brazil now holds the first place with a total of 

 560,000,000 against 330,000,000 pounds in 1870. The 

 emancipation nf the slaves is, however, expected lo lead 

 to a falling off in the crop, unless the Chinamen .and 

 coolies imported from Asia should prove unexpectedly 

 well suited for the work of cultivation. Next on the 

 list comes the Dutch-Indian posnesaious, which export 

 about l.'iO,000,0()0 pounds, the British East Indies, now 

 exporting over 140,000,000, and Venezuela, producing 

 about 100,000,000. On the other hand, the Antilles 

 Inlands have long been declining in the scale. .Jamaica 

 does not supply half as much coffee as in 1805. 

 iVlartinique has fallen still more entirely out of the race, 

 and the Reunion coffee, which was once highly 

 esteemed, and is still declared to be of excellent qualitly, 

 finds no longer any market in Europe, owiug to 

 the unfashionable bitterness of its taste." [The 

 bitter taste here referred to gives Ceylon coffee as pecial 

 value to coffee roasters and mixers for it is required 

 to lie added to the acrid coffees to give them some- 

 thing npproaching a tone. The above statement is very 

 interestiui; from a grower's point of view, aiid if the 

 Yankees obt.iin a free breakfast tible, as seems some- 

 what probable, what I he figures for cousiimptiou may 

 adv.inoe to in the next 10 years in the United States 

 would be a difficult matter to determine. — Ed.] 



