i6S 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[AUGUST I, 1882. 



Labour in Jamaica.— Mr. Valentine Bell, in 

 a lecture on railways in Jamaica, gnve a history of the 

 Jamaio'i railway and compared its working and expense 

 per mile under Government control, with that of the 

 Compiny who instituted the railway, imd gave several 

 reasons why the engineers who had charge of the ex- 

 tension of the Jamaica railway chose to cut the Gibral- 

 tar Tunnel. He was sanguine I hut when the extension 

 was completed the railway traffic would be doubled, 

 and it would bo a source of revenue of some advant- 

 a"e to the colony. Notwithstandiug the enr.riiions 

 exodus of bibourers to the Panama Canal works, there 

 were still plenty of labour to be had, and he was of opi- 

 nion that labour would be plenty throughout. These 

 works supplied labour to persons who would othenvise 

 be idle. After the lecture advantage was taken, by 

 several persons in the body of the Hall, of the usual 

 " question time " allowed, which ^ave the meeting 

 the appearance of a political election campaign with 

 the farce of "Heckling" which always winds up the 

 more serious performance. These queetioners elicited 

 the fact that male labourers on the railway receive 

 Is 6d per day and females Is per day, but the most 

 of the work was tnsk-work which was paid by results. 

 — Gall's Netos Letter. 



The Labour Question in Brazil.— There are 

 many questions awaiting the attention of Parliament, 

 whose settlement is of urgent importance. Among 

 these is the old immigratiiou question which assuredly 

 should be deliyed iiolonger. It is rot a matter which 

 can be settled in a day, nor a week ; it will require 

 the earnest, candid consideration of Parliament for 

 many weeks, for the simple reason that the welfare of 

 immigrants requires reforms in almost every depart- 

 ment of legislation. We are convinced thnt Brazil can 

 secure a large and steady immigration, providing the 

 right inducements are held oul, but never under pre- 

 sent laws. The immigrant must come as a prospective 

 citizen and property-holder, and he must be assured of 

 every right which his fellow-emigrauta enjoy tlsewhere. 

 He must be assured beyond all possibility of doubt 

 thnt there will be no restrictions upon his religious 

 faith, and that no artificial barriers will be pLiced 

 before him socially and iiolitically. He must be made 

 to feel that the countrj needs his political and snci-d 

 co-operation jnst as much as it neeils his labor. This 

 (lueslion is one which cannot safely be deferred much 

 longer, and the General Assembly will do well to inaugur- 

 ate the needed reforms at once.— /?/o News. 



Coarse or Fine I'ea Plucking.— Of course the 

 younger tea leaf is when plucked the finer the 

 resulting tea. But quantity and price at which 

 planters can afford to sell, have to be considered as 

 well as quality. The Indian Tei Gazclte, in discussing 

 the question of separate rollings for large and small 

 leaf writes : — . , „ , ^ 



It is most assuredly eertam we shall have to 

 abandon the fine plucking so lately recommended ; 

 the diffionlty pointed out by our correspondent will 

 become less, because the leaf will be more equally 

 coarse : that is to say the percentage of coarse leaf 

 will be out and away above tliat of the very fine. 

 Whereas we had been told at the commeuceni'nt of 

 last year that none but first-class teas would do, 

 now we lire told that the demand will bo for teaa 

 which can be sold, at a profit, retail at 2i a lb. or 

 lees. And why is this ? Because Indian teas are 

 going into more general consumption — wliich means 

 that Ihc middle classes arc drinking them, having 

 found out their merits over Chinas. Rut stdl these 

 classes cminot afford to pay, aud will not pay, more 

 than a certain price. Thus it seems that, while making 

 a certain percentage of tea for mixing, we shall have 

 to make a larger percentage than before of teas to be 

 druuk pure, and then a little over-fermentation will 

 not prove a matter of so much consequence, as regards 

 the other. 



The Yellow stain made by the oil used on sewing 

 machines c.in be removed, if, before washing in soap- 

 suds, the spots be rubbed carefully with a bit of cloth 

 wet with ammonia,.— Qaeeaslander. 



GORSE (OR FURZE, SCOTTICE WHINS) AS A FORAGE 

 PLANT is thus noticed by a writer in the Field: — 

 There were some very intelligent farmers in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Guildford some years ago, aud I believe 

 they tried goree as a forage plant. It grows freely 

 enough and blossoms maguificenlly, all over Surrey, 

 on the poorest sands. "Agricola" gave many examples 

 in the Field of its successful cultivation ; and many 

 others have been reported in Staffordshire, where it 

 was given to cows, and in Wales, where it put horses 

 into c.ipital condition. I have seen a report of cavalry 

 horses during the Peninsular War getting nothing 

 but gorsc, and doing well on it. It is a plant of 

 strong constituiion and vigorous habit, deep-rooted and 

 rodnotivB— the best plant in the world, one would 

 uppose, for extracting nutriment from poor soils. 



An American Coffee Pianting Colony in 

 Mexico. — The Boston True Flag of February 18th 

 relates the following concerning the establishment of 

 an American colouy in Mexico : — A thoroughly Americ- 

 an city has been laid out in the state of Chiapas, 

 Mexico. The site is a beautiful plateau of land, 

 through which runs a never-failing stream of mountain 

 spring water, clear as crystal, full of fish, and affording 

 power for any amount of manufacturing machinery, at 

 an altitude of three thousand feet above the sea-level, 

 on the line of tbe Mexican Southern railroad. It is 

 called Allen City. Around the city are laid out aud 

 taken up twenty-four coffee farms, each touching the 

 city plat. There will be over three million coffee trees 

 in nursery cultivation at this place within the coming 

 year, all to be transplanted and raised to bearing wilh'n 

 the next four ye irs. All goods, stores and supplies, 

 agricnlturnl implements, machinery, building material 

 and furniture for the colonists, are exempt from duty, 

 also all exports and imports of productions of the 

 country, and stock for work or breeding purposes, are 

 exempt for ten years. The colonists thus far are from 

 California.— i?(o News. [The altitude is all right, but, 

 before offering an opinion on the prospects of the coffee 

 enterprize, we shoukl -like to know what the average 

 rainfall is and its distribution over the year, also the 

 minimum temperature. — Kd.] 



Cinchona and Cacao in Jamaica. — Sir Arthur 

 Muigruve and iVlr. D. Morris are doing wonders for 

 the West Indian colony: would that we had some 

 of their energy in high quarters in Ceylon: — 



The cfibrts of the Government of Jamaica to in- 

 troduce the cultivation of the cincboua tree into 

 that ii-liind promise to be as successful as those of 

 the Government of Indin, and may be expected in 

 time to contribute powerfully to lower the high 

 price of that invaluable drug quinine. Governor Sir 

 Anthony Musgrnve, in his report just published, di- 

 rects attention to the fact that this year the article which 

 used to be known in commerce as .Jesuits' or "Peru- 

 vian " bark appears for the first time in the bst of 

 West Indian exports. The b.Trk sent away during 

 the year, amounting to 23,981 lb., of the stated value 

 of i:7,.302, was chiilly the produce of the Govern- 

 ment phintalions. Sir A. Musgrave observes that a 

 great impetus has been given to the cultivation of 

 til is valu:iblo tree by the success attending the ex- 

 periment undertaken by Government, and it may be 

 confidently hoped that in the course of a few years 

 the export of cinchona bark will rank high on the 

 list of exports. It is added that there is a large 

 quantity of land available which ia well suited forthe 

 growth of cinchona, for the acquisition of which on lib- 

 eral terms facilities have rictntly been offered bj pub- 

 lic notification, the particulars of which have already 

 been set forth iu our columns.— Colonies and India. 



