November i, 1882.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



367 



quired after arrival here than for him to sent 

 small cuttings, which might get dried up or 

 damaged in transit, and the result has proved the 

 correctness of his advice, for upwards of 20 cuttings 

 have already been taken from this single plant and 

 planted at the foot of large forest trees without a 

 single failure ; one cutting is already 25 feet high, 

 another 2U feet, the rest from five feet to eight feet, 

 but all doing well, lot.)kiug strong and vigorous ; 

 whereas two cuttings obtained by the Forest Depart- 

 ment from Cevlon two years ago, have not grown an 

 inch or thrown out a single shoot. 



Nutmegs. — Some seed or nuts were obtained from 

 ; Chinese gardens in Mergui from trees originally im- 

 ported by Dr. Heifer. Only 12 plants were raised 

 from over 100 seed nuts. This, 1 am inclined to think, 

 , was from the seed being planted too fresh, for when 

 gathered from the tree the seed is then full of green 

 .sap, which, when placed in the ground, rapidly fer- 

 • meuts and rots, but if the seeds were to be well dried 

 »■ In the sun before planting, better results would pro 

 ifcably be obtained. 



There are only about five full-grown trees ir Mergui- 

 and as the seed nuts can be obtained from Rl-8 to K2 

 a hundred, a further trial can be carried out next 

 . year without much expense. It is a delicate plant 

 and requires both care and time to raise, and takes 

 ■/.from six to nine years to come to full maturity ; it 

 • then amply repays one by ita very bountiful returns. 

 Each tree bears from 2,000 to 3,000 nuts, which at 

 Rl-8 per 100 would bring in R20 to R30 per tree ; 

 and as they require no expense in curing, th6 fruit 

 being merely dried in the sun and are then fit for 

 market, ought to make it one of the most profitable 

 of,tropical garden products. They are ext'^nsively cult- 

 . ivated in the Straits Settlements, where the export 

 in 1867 was 485,123 cwt. of nutmegs valued at 

 £50,559 and 5,416 cwt. of mace valued at £7,354, 

 which will show it is a cultivation well worthy of 

 every endeavour to introduc. Last week, while walk- 

 ing round the forest plantation with Mr. Hdl, Con- 

 servator of Fore-ts, we were rather astonished to 

 come across a quantity of fallen fruit under a tree, 

 which on examination turned out to be wild nutmegs, 

 the Myristica fa'ua or tomcntosa of a longer shape 

 and smaller. 



Labour, — The amount spent under this head amounted 

 to R1,510. For lliie (■uni (ij ^cres of land have been 

 cleared of jungle, and 3^ of this has been dug up, 

 cleared of roots, and trenched, aud I5 planted out, the 

 y iung plants raised from scd being still in nurseries 

 waiting for the rains to be planted out. as to plant out 

 in the hot weather would have killed the young 

 seedlings. This would seem rather a small area for 

 tlie outlay, but it must be borne in mind that this 

 includes building sheds, fencing the nureeries against 

 the encroachment of det-i", for both Samldiur, mouse, 

 and hog-deer abound in the dense jungle round, clear- 

 ing paths, planting and transplanting, watering during 

 the hot weather. Operations were commenced just 

 at the beginning of the rains, the moat unfavourable 

 season of the year to make clearings, for the sap is then 

 welt uo in the wood, aud the jungle cleared will not 

 them burn easily and and require to be stacked ; the 

 ground i^ then wet aud heavy, and large forest trees 

 and roots difficult to move or get rid of. Heavy 

 showers throughout the rains more or less hamper the 

 work, which ought, properly speaking, to be done in 

 the fine weather. 



However, talking all things into consideration, I 



think the results are not altogether unsatisfactory. 



All the plants raised from Ceylon seed, and half of 



the Liberian plants that were sickly and had to be 



1 removed to the lower ground, are still in nurseries, 



i and if the original intention of planting out 10 acres 



I with coffee is desired to be carried out, a further 



grant of Rl.OOO to Rl,500 will be required for this 

 year's operatiims to complete that extent, [-i further 

 grant of R2,.')00 was made to Captain Butler with a 

 .speiial recommendation to pursue the experiment in 

 coffee. — Ed.] 



After writing the above we were favoured with 

 the following figures for rainfall at Tavoy for three 

 years, as supplied to a Ceylon planter by the De- 

 puty Conmiissioner of Tavoy. From these it will be 

 seen, that in Tavoy at least, October and November 

 are just what they are in Ceylon, rainy montlis, and 

 that the dry season is also coincident with our own, 

 over the south-western portion of our mountain zone, 

 extending from December to March, inclusive. Over 

 the remaining eight months of the year, the rain 

 is pretty well distributed, although the great bulk 

 falls in the four months, June-September. In .July 

 of 1880 it will be seen very nearly 67 inches fell 

 and nearly 50 in August last year. The average 

 for the three years is 208'6o inclies, which, as well 

 as the four rainless months, constitutes a pretty 

 good tea climate as far as rainfall is concerned. In 

 1879, out of 221 25 inches. 163-29 fell in the four month.s 

 June-September, leaving 57-90 for the rest of the year. 

 In ISSO, the result was worse, 168-14 for four 

 months, leaving only 46-70. Still more unfavourable 

 was the result of ISSl, 160-27 for four mouths 

 and only 29-41 for the other eight. But Darjiling 

 shews a similar climate. Figures for temperature, 

 however, are desiderated, although there can be 

 little doubt that there is warmth enough and to 

 spare in the hot season. 



Rainfall in Tavoy for the past three years. 



1879. 1880. 1881. 



Inch. cts. Inch. cts. Inch. cts. 



January ... 0-15 — 



February ... — — 



March ... 0-72 4-82 1-4T 



AprU ... 1915 11-65 — 



May ... 13-55 19-82 1452 



Juue ... 32-90 3376 3451 



July ... 43-77 6696 46-86 



Augu.st ... 3917 32-16 40-86 



September ... 4540 3526 29114 



October ... 16-65 1009 915 



November ... 9-77 0-30 375 



December ... — — 51 



Total 



221-25 



214-84 



189-68 



By a slip of the pen we yesterday represented the 

 cultivable land reserve of British Burma at nearly 

 60,000 acres. For acres read square miles, repre.sent- 

 ing an acreage of 38,400,000. And this reminds us of 

 a fact mentioned in Mr. Bernard's Admrnistration 

 Report which may be quoted as an encouragement 

 to our authorities in Ceylon to push forward a reg- 

 ular cadastral survey. The result of such a survey 

 m British Bui-ma has been to reveal so much more 

 cultivated laud than unscientific surveys had previously 

 shewn that the land revenue, by this cause alone, was 

 increased 22 per cent. The tax is about one to nine 

 on gross produce, which accords with our Ceylon rate, 

 only that here -w-e tax only one article of produce, 

 grain — leaving all else free. This very liberality has 

 been quoted against our Government by wonderful 

 political economists, who, to get rid of "a bread tax," 

 proposed a land tax which would affect roots, fruits 

 and vegetables as well as grain. No doubt a land- 

 tax is a fair tax, where it can be trorked. and where 

 it stands in lieu of much other taxation. But Co- 

 vemments must consult possibility and expediency, 

 as well as hard and fast equity, in taxation. Grain 

 is taxed in ( eylon just on the principle that tea is 

 taxed in Britain. Revenue is necessary to good go- 

 vernment, and it is better to le\'y it from a few 



