862 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[May I, 1883. 



is to te extended to 5,000 acres. Tliis district, like 

 Mackay, Barolin and the Herbert, is what colonials 

 term " open bush." The soil is of considerable fertility, 

 but commend me the jungle or " scrub " as it is caUed here. 

 Hundreds of Chinamen, as on the Herbert, Johnson and 

 Ciiirns, are employed. Tlie Kanakas employed on the 

 Burdikin are an insubordinate lot, and I fancy turn out 

 in the end very expensive labour, one nearly cut off an 

 overseer's ban il a short time ago, and it was the mutilation 

 of that member that saved his head. It is observable that 

 the contact with European labourers makes them worse 

 workmen. They are made too much of by ploughmen and 

 others ; and the Kanaka overseer, who thinks he is bound 

 to keep his nose at a certain angle, has often the finger 

 of scorn pointi.'d at him by the white workmen and 

 generally in the presence of Kanakas. As may be expected, 

 however imiiosing the overseer may be, he does not carry 

 much moral m other influence under such circumstances. 

 I have bad very good accounts of the conduct of these 

 Islnders on the Johnston and in the Cairns district, and 

 so no ploughmen, owing to its lieing scrub land, are em- 

 ployed there, the milk in the coconut is accounted for. 

 I had to do with the working of a large mob of Kanakas 

 for a twelvemonth, where no white men, save overseers, 

 were employed, aiul more reliable and satisfactory labour 

 could not be found anywhere. 



The pioneers of sugar planting are to be found 

 ou nearly every river of consideration so far up as 

 the Maclver near the extremity of Cape York Pen- 

 insula. I am sure there has already appeared in your col- 

 umns an extract of the Kev. J. Tenison AVood's graphic ac- 

 count of rich jungles between Cardwell and (.'ape Hat- 

 tery, a di.stance of some 120 miles. I h.ave been enquiring 

 of people who have been to Normanton aud the country 

 l>ordering on the Gulf of Carpentaria, and no one seemed to 

 consider it suitable for jilantiug enterprize. The inspection 

 of practical men may yet modify this opinion. 



I had a long talk with a person down from the Northern 

 Territory of South Australia. He says the white-ants are 

 likely to have a disastrous effect on the sugar industry. 

 They devour the roots of the cane. It is the only agricult- 

 ural venture there yet, but he spoke of a Company that 

 had been formed somewhere for a coffee plantation — prob- 

 ably the gentlemen from Ceylon who took up land some- 

 time ago, as reported in your columns. There is very little 

 jungle, and akso no ranges of consequence, but the open 

 fore.st is of more than ordinary fertility and the rainfall 

 perhaps larger'than anywhere in Australia. 



Mining also is a poor speculation there, and not to be at all 

 compared to the flourishing condition it has attained in 

 Victoria and Northern Queensland. The whites have to 

 abandon their allurial claims to Chinese, who appear to stick 

 to them so long as they can get sufficient to buy " the 

 smell of an oil rag," which is reckoned hereabouts their 

 hard times fare. 



Northern territory is unhealthy: my informant being a 

 specimen of the enervating effects of b.id climate and fever 

 pucka jungle-fever. 



Coolies have not yet lauded there : at auy rate they had 

 not before he left. 



The price of land has been raised from 7s fid to 12s an 

 acre, and the advance has caused great dissatisfaction that 

 has found vent in the columns of the Sydney newspapers. 

 The land surrounding the ports of Palmerston and Port 

 Darwin, he told me, was owned by English capitahsts. They 

 no doubt look forward to handsome returns when the trans- 

 continental railway becomes a matter of fact. 



With labour at reasonabh' r.ates coffee planting will be- 

 come one of the great industries of Queensland. Even now 

 it should prove remunerative, for when one can get I (JO acres 

 for 2s (id an acre, the payment of this moderate sum spread 

 over five years, he can afford to give a fair wage. The 

 settler of small capital could not embark in a better under- 

 taking, for, different to the sugar farmer, he would be 

 independent of any possible caprices of a mill owner, and a 

 young family would be quite equal to the large amount of 

 light \vorh fortunately attached to this cultivation. As to 

 the question of the plant being at home here. there can be no 

 doubt : I my-elf have seen on trees in the Brisliane Botanic 

 Garden as good a crop as I have ever beheld on the .slopes 

 of Travancore or in the Pacific Islands, aud I have beard 

 especially good accounts of the Millicent Plantation Mackay, 



and Gairloch estate in the Herbert River. I also saw with 

 pleasure some young plants at Spillers in the Loner Burdekin, 

 that looked strong and healthy, proving it is not too fastid- 

 ious to content itself with good open forest soil. At 

 Gladstone near Rockampton, many have got small gardens 

 of the berry, and even so far south as the Logan A'alley, 

 which by the way is in N. S. W., the plant makes itself 

 thoroughly at home. An old bu.shman, native of the colony, 

 told me there were interminable forests of heavy scrub on 

 the mountain sides between the Richmond and the riverabove 

 named. If they can be utilized for coffee what a paradise 

 for the planter ! Soil and climate equal to any in the 

 world, and white labour at half what it costs in Northern 

 Queensland. I saw a few full-grown plants in the Botanic 

 Gardens, Sydney, and even in that climate they had a few 

 berries on their sheltered sides, which, however, as might 

 be expected, were dwarfed and ill-formed. 



From the Herbert in the south, far to the north, and for 

 hundreds of miles to the west of the coast ranger a terra 

 incognita lies, which, so far as it has been penetrated, 

 shows a dense jungle, with soil of the greatest fertUity and 

 au abundant supply of water. It should also suit coffee 

 together with other products. The name of " the Garden 

 of Queensland*' is already being applied to this region, 



I had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of an 

 enthusiastic bushman and daring explorer, Mr. Christopher 

 Palmerston of Cairns, and when I touched upon the topic 

 of coffee he gave it to his opmiou that the Daintree river 

 was the most suitable place for its cultivation he had viewed 

 jn all his wanderings. 



The Anti-Coolie League is an established institution. 

 From Townsville a delegate has been sent farther north to 

 haraugue and agitate. Considering the emigration not 

 that has ■ been passed in your colony, and the similar one 

 that exists in India, the league is now really " fighting the 

 air." It answers well as a political " bogie " however, the 

 party fighting for the Anti-Coolie principle are pretty 

 certain to get into the power soon. '• Queensland for the 

 white man " is the sentiment of nearly every workman in 

 this colony, and no one can be here long without in some 

 degree sharing it. The expediency of colonizing tropical 

 Anstralia with Europeans is however open to question. 

 The rising generation certainly exhibits a falling back in at 

 least the physical attributes of his forbears. Whether this 

 is merely an adaptation to climatic conditions, or the 

 beginning of a series of stage of degeneracy can be settled 

 only I imagine by time. "Would it not be the wiser policy 

 for the Imperial Government to direct the stream of emi- 

 gration in the future to those temperate climes and fertile 

 countries, which Britain possesses in such profusion until 

 the suitability of Queensland for the Anglo-Saxon and 

 Celtic race is beyond question. Let us hope however that 

 our race is suited to people this beautiful country and 

 that the inhabitants of Queensland will reach Charles 

 Kingsley's beautiful ideal of a tropical people. 



CEARA RUBBER. 



To THB Editor of the " Plantees' Gazette." 



28th February 1883. 



Sit;, — I hear from Mr. George Wall today that he has 

 madi' a round of several plantations growing the Ceara 

 rubbir trees in Ceylon, and he has tapped a great many of 

 the stems of the Mauihot Glaziovii on different plantations. 

 From feme trees he gets the richest rubber, which comes out 

 so thick it is nearly solid, in a short time ; from other trees 

 only a watery discharge, which is almost valueless. 



This is an extremely important fact for merchants on this 

 side to be made acquainted with, and it thoroughly confirms 

 my previous letters stating that the authorities in Ceylon 

 should instruct their assistants to carefully watch the trees 

 that yield valuable products, so tliat they may be enable to 

 deciile at what time of year the trees ought to be tapped, 

 and also to ascertain if there is any difference in the trees. 

 It is also important to know if the soil has any effect upon 

 the qiiahty of the indiarubber. 



Ws can do nothnig on this side, but surely Dr. Hy. Trimen, 

 of tilt' botanical gardens, Peradrniya, could investigate this 

 subject, and I am much indebted to Mr. AVall for this 

 valuat)le information.— Yours truly, Thos. Cheistt. 



