134 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[August i, 1882. 



the expectation of a permanent enhnDcement of 

 prices. In this view of the situation we are not 

 alone, as is evidenced by the caution of buyers. At 

 tbo prices now disked by holders of German there is 

 little eneonrngfiuent to purchase for speculative pur- 

 poses, although some fair sales have been made during the 

 past week, probably to fill contracts of parties who 

 had sold " short." The pretty general belief enter, 

 tained in the trade that American manufacturers 

 would advance their prices, following the slight re- 

 action in German, has not been confirmed, they 

 doubtless seeing the situation did not warrant the 

 rosy view taken by some of the more sanguine spec- 

 ulators, and being less influenced by the temporary 

 flurries in this market. 



PLANTING IN THE NORTHERN AUSTRALIAN 

 TERRITORY. 



(FROM THE " ARGUS " SPECIAL REPORTER.) 



AoRicuLTCiRAL ANB PASTORAL : — These two indust- 

 ries are yet in their early infancy. On the first, not 

 more than £25,000 has been spent throughout -the 

 Territory ; and on the second, leaving the price of 

 cattle out of the question, not so much. But the re- 

 sults obtained, in agriculturre especially, where they 

 are sooner measurable, have been encouraging out of 

 all proportion to the effort, personal or pecuniary, 

 expended. 



I will first briefly indicate what has been done in 

 furtherance of it. The most important place, agri- 

 culturally, and that which served as a nursery for 

 all the rest, is the Government plantation at Fannil 

 Bay, about four miles from Palmerston, and on the 

 coast. Years ago thei'e was another (Government garden 

 close to the town, but very little real work was done 

 in it. It is only two and a half j'ears ago since the 

 present plantation, the area of which is 32 acres, 

 was selected and cleared, but during that time a 

 thousand different kinds of Chinese and other tropical 

 plants have been tried — nearly all successfully. The 

 white ants, that at one time seemed an insuperable 

 bar to the cultivation of acclimatized vegetation in 

 the territoi'y, have been overcome by the use of arsenic, 

 and, though there has been only one skilled man to 

 supendse the work which Chinamen, paid from T5s 

 to 20s a week, do, the garden scientifically and pract- 

 ically is all that one could wish to see it. Though 

 the ground was chosen because of its second-rate 

 character, the better to test the average of the soil 

 throughout the Territory, and, though not a spadeful 

 of manure or a drop of water besides that falling 

 du-ectly from the clouds have been used the area 

 is covered with luxuriant plants, many d them as- 

 pu'ing above the heads of outside native trees, per- 

 haps 50 times as old. Creepers mdigenoeus to a foreign 

 soil, planted here, have run at once over the place, 

 and now gi'ow eveiywhere in wild profusion. 



Of sug>lr•c.^ne there are 16 acres flmrishing. From 

 the last year's crop was made at Delissaville the first 

 sugar ever nianufaeturrd iu South Australia — a sugar 

 equal to the ordinary imported table kinds. Maize 

 is tlie next principal crop in the garden, and it is 

 looking as well as it ean look anywhere, iiotwith- 

 staudiiJg tiiat it is the third crop in a year. Rice 

 simply fiourishes, strengthening the evidence I have 

 had throughout that the Northern Territory will be 

 a great rioe-g''owing country. Cinchona has not been 

 90 successful as it was expected it would be, l)ut 

 young plants iu the interior look strong enough. Tae 

 "test will be, of course, when they i.'et bigger. Coffee 

 does not d^* well iu the gardens. The jnnme cause is 

 said to be the fact of its being planted .«o near the 

 sea. The Arabica is not unhealthy looking above ground 

 but it has no root. The Liberian looks sturdy, but 



needs great care and attention. Tea and several spices 

 have failed to grow satisfactorily ; cocoa is moderately 

 successful. I saw young tobacco plants with leaves 

 27in. long by ISin. wide. From these capital cigars 

 have been made. One of the best things in the gard- 

 ens is arrowroot, which actually overruns the place, 

 growing in grand perfection weed-like. Simie of the 

 roots, ground with a nutmeg-grater, yielded a com- 

 pound declared by the local importers to be superior 

 to the cummou article of import. An average of the 

 productiveness of the crop was based on this return, 

 proving that even the indifferent soil in the gardens 

 will yield at least 25 cwt. of the finest arrowroot per 

 acre. Cotton grows wild all over the place. The same 

 may be s.iid of indigo, the plants of which grow 5ft. 

 high. Pe.anuts thrive ; last year one-fifteenth of an 

 acre gave 4 cwt. The chief of the other plants which 

 have been successful I will simply enumerate pro- 

 miscuously, with the mere mention of the fact : — 

 Pine-apples, bananas, plantains, Scotch kale, pepper, 

 cloves, capsicums, chilis, cinnamon, lychee-mits, man- 

 goes, bread-fruit, guava, jack fruit, yams, melons, 

 beans, sweet potatoes, M.anilla almonds, mandarin 

 oranges, lemons, citrons, pomegranates. Cape gooseberries, 

 custard apples, oarob beans, figs, earthnuts, sorghum, 

 sesamoil, cassava, castor oil, sweet sob and sour sob, 

 rhea, or Chinese grass plant ; ludiarwbber, teal 

 (Chinese oil plant), several fibre plants, including the 

 bamboo silk, the Indian physic nut, the papaw, and 

 scores of others. 



In the open ground, and in a special shade bamboo 

 nursery, various kinds of grasses have been tried. The 

 best to succeed is the common Phillips's, though several 

 of the Alizanas also thrive. The English lawn grass 

 grows well under shale, but does not seem to stand the 

 heat, and the gardener's experience has taught him 

 that the native grasses are just as good as the imported 

 are in their own home, and better than they ever will 

 be iu the Territory. He has experimented with the tall 

 rank kinds 1 referred to in my telegrams, and by 

 cutting them down frequently he has got at last a 

 thick, soft, fast-spreading, somewhat dwarfed buffalo 

 gr.ass, which surpasses the best " couch" for lawn and 

 feeding' purposes. English lucerne grows well, and the 

 reaua, a luxuriant fodder plant about 15ft. high, springs 

 up with surprizing rapidity. 



The gardens were formed for the "express purpose 

 of raising plants of commercial value, and distributing 

 them over the country." In pursuance of this object, 

 seeds of the heft acclimatized grasses are offered to 

 the te.xmsters for distribution around the camping- 

 grounds in the interior. Last year 140 tons of cane- 

 heads were given to plantation owners for planting. 

 During the same time 8,000 banana trees and 13,000 

 pineapple plants were distributed gratuitously, and 

 this season the figures are already 2,000 and 5,000 

 respectively. In every sense the plantation may fairly 

 be classed amongst the most successful experimental 

 works tried by the .South Australian Government. 



In referring to private plantations, all of which I 

 visited, I would preface my remarks with the observ- 

 ation that the industry was pioneered by Chinese, who 

 have for yeai-s warded off disease m the mining 

 districts in the interior by dispensing to the 

 European diggers the vegetables they grew. There 

 are scores of these small gardens all tlirough the 

 country and Companies are to be formed in Hong- 

 kong to take up large areas of plantation land, to 

 be owned, managed, and worked solely by Chinese. 

 Rice and .sugar, and possibly the opium poppy, are 

 to be tlie st.-.ple9 of the crops, and the industry will 

 prnbiibly etnlirace the u.anufacture oi "semshoo," or 

 Chinese wine. All the work on the English plant- 

 ations is being done by the Chinese, whose wages, 

 "finding themselves," are £1 a week. Some of "the 

 plantation owners prefer them to European workmen. 



