August i, 1882.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



169 



ACTION OF LIGHT ON VEGETATION. 

 Professor Priug-'lieim thus sums up i the reRuIta 

 under this head obtained fr^m a long « ries of observ- 

 ations: — The primary action of the rays of the sua 

 on vegetition consists in thermic and photo-cliemical 

 effects, tho iuflueuce of which on the separate eou- 

 stitueuts (if the cell? is directly recognizable in intense 

 light. The photo-chemical effects relate exclusively 

 to the behaviour of the plant towards the oxygen 

 and carbonic acid of the iitmosphere ; they are 

 simply changes of iutensity in the interchange of 

 gases. These have been fully determined in the 

 case of the absorption of oxygen ; less completely in 

 that of carbonic acid. I' cannot be shown that 

 light produces auy other ■flfect on the plant thnn 

 the thermic and the photo-chemical. All the action 

 of light on tho phenomena of vegetable life, not 

 merely on growth and metasiasis, had also the so- 

 called vital and mechanical movements of irritation 

 caus'd by lit,ht, can readily be traced to purely 

 thermic and photo-chemical effects. A more exact 

 knowledge of them requires, however, a special in- 

 vestigation of the behaviour of those constituents of 

 the cells which are sensitive to light, i.e., which are 

 photo-cheraically excitable. For an investigation of 

 these, and of th' ir differences from those con- 

 stituents which are not e.Kcitable photo-chernioally, 

 the reader is referred to the author's treatises on 

 the functions of chlorophyll and the action of light 

 upon it. — Pharmaceutical Journal, 



THE LABOUR DIFFICULTY IN JAMAICA. 



TO THE EDITOK OF "THE PLANTERS* GAZETTE." 



Sir, — It must be a matter of sincere regret to all 

 wellwishers of .Tamaica to find that now, after so 

 many years, the old cry of the decadence of Jamaica 

 is raised again at homtf with as much earnestness 

 and vigour as ever. When such respectable journals 

 as the Colonies and India and the Planters' Gazette 

 give credence to it, and write leading articles upon 

 it, and when the chairman of the Cole ial Bank re- 

 iterates it at an annual meeting, it is but natural to 

 think that there must be some foundation for all the 

 statements made. 



None, however, is given. They say there is no 

 prosperity in Jamaica because of the " labour diffic- 

 ulty," and they advise us to import coolies from 

 India to remove it. Now, as a matter of fact, there 

 is 00 "labour difficulty" in Jamaica. The difficulty 

 is purely mythical, and the cry is a delusion and a 

 snare. It was a cry of some force some fifty years 

 ago, but today, with an increase of population equal 

 in proportion to that of the United Kinsdom, it is 

 nowhere. If a hurricane of great severity, if a drought 

 of greater inten^iily, and if unexfiected floods disturb 

 — as disturb they must — the prosperity of a pure.y 

 agricultural colony, the depression which naturally 

 follows is at once ascribed to the old bogey, the 

 "hibour difficulty." 



It would, no doubt, surprise the writers of the 

 articles in question to learn — .and I speak from some 

 experience and knowledge in tho matter— that the 

 Jamaica negro, who is paid la 3d or Is -fid per d ly, 

 and finds his own hut, food, tools, and medical attend- 

 ance, is twice as good a labourer as the poor Indian 

 corly (recommended to us by our mentors), who in 

 Ceylon gets 9d or lOJd per day, but who, in addi- 

 tion, has barrack', tools, rice, blankets and medical 

 attendance fonnd for him. As a tropical Lib urer, 

 the Jamuica negro is unsurpassed, and he only re- 

 quires careful and judiciju-. mauagenieut and pruinpi 

 paymeut lo make him fully qual to all the labour 

 deraa.ms of tiie colony. On the government cinchona 

 plantations — the most remote and most difficult o£ 



access of any plantations in the Blue Mountains — we 

 have had to dismiss this week 60 people, all strong 

 healtliy Jamaica negroeB, whose services are no longrr 

 required. The other day I wished to get some ten 

 acres of forest cleared in another portion of the Blue 

 Mountains, and asked a headnwn to get a gang for 

 the purpose. In a few days he hud 60 men — axemen 

 and others — to do work intended for only about 10 

 men ! If the necessary capital were forthcoming, at 

 least 5,000 acres could be placed under cultivation in 

 cinchona and coffee on the Blue Mountains of Jamaica 

 without importing a single cooly ! Where is then the 

 ' ' labour difficulty ?" 



Is it on sugar estates? The fact that few, if, in- 

 deed .any, coolies are applied for to the Immigiation 

 Department, in spite of two heavy railway contracts 

 in progress, and the departure of 500 labourers for 

 the Panama Canal, shews that the difficulty on sugar 

 estates is as mythical as on the coffee and cinchona 

 estates. If not on the mountains nor in the plains, 

 where is the "labour difficulty" of Jamaica? Surely 

 it can only exist at home .'—I am, Sir, very faithfully 

 yours, D. MoRKis, 



Director of Public Gardens and 



Feb. 24th, 1882. Plantations, Jamaica. 



THE ORAJ^GE TRADE IN THE AZORES. 

 In a revaew of the produce of the Azores, dated 

 about the middle of last year, it is stated that the 

 Orange trade shows indications of decline ; 220,678 

 " malote " boxes of Oranges, of the value of £42,312, 

 were exported to England, and notwithstanding this 

 apparently large number the season was stated to be 

 a most disastrous one for St. Michael's, the Orange 

 trade e\-eiy year getting less and less, and the popul- 

 ation emigi-atmg because they are unable to find em- 

 ployment and subsistence. Several circumstances, how- 

 ever, have tended to circumscribe the exportation of 

 Oranges to England : firstly, the old trees have been 

 left, yonng ones have not been planted in sufficiently 

 large numbers to replace the old ones, and a corre- 

 sponding diminution of fine Oranges has been the result; 

 secondly, a series of rainy seasons has caused the 

 Oranges to drop off before maturity. Instead of 401,191 

 " malotes " or flat boxes of Oranges which were ex- 

 ported in 1878, and nearly as many in 1879, only 

 220 678 were exported last year, being little more than 

 half. On the other hand the anticipated falling-oif 

 of the Orange trade has stimulated the cultivation of 

 Pine-apples, which has been raised to 57,232 Pines 

 exported during the season under review against 

 35,207 and 39,869 exported in 1878 and 1879 respect- 

 ively. But what has tended more than anything to 

 paralyse the Orange trade with England has been the 

 an'ival of Oranges from Valentia in Spain, and the 

 islands of the Mediterranean. In 1872, 417,026 cases 

 of Oranges were exported to Great Britain from Val- 

 entia, and in 1878 this trade had increased to 645,000 

 cases, and no doubt during the last two years the 

 importation of Oranges to England must have been 

 more important. It is stated further that another 

 cause of the diminution of this trade has been the 

 employment of steamships instead of sailing vessels, 

 for one of these largo steamers will take six times as 

 many Oranges as the former sailing ships did. and on 

 that score landing in England at one time, and deliver- 

 ing in a few weeks the whole of the Azores crop 

 of Oranges and meeting at the same time the ship- 

 ments from Valentia the market in England became 

 glutted, and this at a cold -winter season when the 

 state of the weather limited the consumption. In 1S72 

 and 1873 steam vessels were purchased by a company 

 in St. Michael's ; no doubt the speculation has proved 

 remunerative to the company, but detrimental to the 

 interests of the proprietors of Oranges in the island 



