904 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[May I, 1883. 



swamp, and what easier than to drain, pave, bui-n, and 

 dig. These are the simple things in agriculture which should 

 be taught to the people. Such improvemeuts are compre- 

 hensible and tangible, and come home to the simi^lest un- 

 derstanding. What the poor of the rural districts require 

 are instruction in the form of example, and tools with 

 which to imitate. I have walked through many lowcountry 

 villages, and have talked with the villagers, but very rarely 

 have seen anything more formidable in the form of tools 

 than catties. Often have I pointed out to the villagers 

 how easy it would be to convert a dry sterile piece of 

 their holding, that they had nothing from for a generation, 

 into a garden plot, but the answer always was — *' no tools, 

 no seed." How some of these poor people manage to keep 

 body and soul together is a marvel, but now that new 

 products are making their way here, employment will be 

 found for many, especially for women and children in tea 

 plucking and rolling, but the tea about here is in its early 

 stage, an 1 so the employment is at present rather fleeting. 

 But soon tea-houses will be erected, and there m\\ be 

 life and bustle and industry that wiU bring comfort to 

 /nany a native homestead in the Plains. I find the villagers, 

 men, women, and children thoroughly grateful for any 

 little help given to them, although it is little enough one 

 can do for aU of them. — •' Ceylon Times." 



COCONUT GROWING. 



TO THE EDITOR OF THE " QUEEXSLAXDER." 



Sir, — Altaough the cultivation of a variety of tropical 

 products has been, it is said, engaging the attention of 

 planters in Northern Queensland, it is smgular that coco- 

 nut planting has not attracted more notice than it ap- 

 pears to have done. There is no doubt that the climate 

 and soil on the coast of Northern Queensland is favour- 

 able to the growth of the coconut tree, and coconut plant- 

 ing gives a fair return when attended to in a systematic 

 manner. To begin with, there is a good demand for 

 coconut oil in the London market, and out of the husk 

 good cordage is manufactured ; in fact, scarcely any other 

 is used in the East. A fair sort of sugar, or, as it is 

 called "jaggery," is made from the sap. And perhaps it 

 is not generally known that the sap of the tree, which 

 goes by the name of " toddy," makes a very refreshing 

 drink, and is credited with possessing great medicinal 

 properties. From the toddy is also distilled the famous 

 arrack of Ceylon, which, when pure, and improved by age, 

 is equal to the best whisky, and is far superior to most 

 of the brandy and rum sold in these colonies, and which 

 often goes by the name of " chain hghtning " and " fight- 

 ing rum." As a proof of the wholesomeness of Ceylon 

 arrack, it is used in India in the Government hospitals, 

 and used to be served out to the troops. In Ceylon the 

 Government has a good amovmt of revenue by the sale 

 of the arrack rents every year, and the hquor is sold by 

 the retailers at the price fixed by law — of 4s. 8d. per gal- 

 lon. Among the planters and other European residents 

 of Ceylon ami India, to use the hquor, though palatable 

 and good, is not considered the " right thing," not be- 

 cause it is not liked, but it is considered degrading to 

 the position of the European to drink that which is sold 

 in all the native taverns or canteens, and is chiefly drunk 

 by soldiers, sailors, and the natives themselves ; although 

 there was a Governor once in the island, Sir Robert Wil- 

 mot Haughton,* who had such a predilection for it that 

 - he preferred it to any other spirituous liquor, and after- 

 wards through this, it took the name of " Haughton," and 

 sometimes goes by that name still. However, leavhig aside 

 the manufacture of arrack, which is not engaged in by 

 Europeans, and the prejudice entertained against that 

 liquor by them, they engage in coconut planting because 

 it is profitable. AVith regard to the medicinal properties 

 of the sap or " toddy," it is related that when the Portu- 

 guese first went to Colicut, or Calicut, there was among 

 the crew of one of their vessels a man who had con- 

 tracted a contagious disease of a nature that need not be 

 explained here; but he was so bad that none of his 

 shipmates liked to go near him, a portion of the roof of his 

 mouth having completely rotted away. He was given up 

 by the ship's medical man as incurable. But a native 

 doctor having come on board and seen the sufferer imder- 



•' * Horton. — Ed. 



took to cm-e him ; and in a short time he did so to the 

 astonishment of all on board, and the doctor in particular. 

 The cure is said to have been effected by simply gi\'iug 

 the patient quantities of toddy to drink. The truth of 

 this was vouched for by a missionary who was on board 

 the vessel at the time, and who, in wi'iting an accomit of 

 the voyage, mentioned this circumstance. However, the 

 efficacy of the use of arrack in cases of cholera has been 

 believed in in India from a very remote date by the nat- 

 ives. Though coconut planting may not bring in returns 

 so soon — nor perhaps so great— as eoffee-planting, it cert- 

 ainly is not attended with the risk, nor does it require 

 the outlay that cotiee does — that is, if coffee planting is 

 carried on in the way it is in Ceylon. And, as far as 

 coffee planting is concerned, it will also be found by those 

 who try the experiment (with the exception of small patches 

 that can be watered by hand) that Northern Queensland 

 has neither the climate nor other conditions necessary to 

 ensure coffee-planting on an extensive scale ever becom- 

 ing a profitable pm-suit. In the first i)lace, Cojf'ea A rahica 

 requires certain elevations, even when in the proper lat- 

 itude. Northern Queensland is in the| proper situation as 

 far as latitude is in question ; and, provided also that 

 land of suitable elevation is to be found, the country is 

 subject to severe choughts extending over such long inter- 

 vals, that the coffee-berry, the development of which 

 depends wholly on rain at suitable intervals, never comes 

 to maturity, or is such as to be totally valueless as a 

 staple of commerce. The above remarks do not apply to 

 Liberian coffee. The coconut, urdike the coffee tree, re- 

 quires no elevation, and is not nearly the trouble or ex- 

 pense. About the greatest ti-ouble experienced in Ceylon 

 in coconut planting is the protection of the ymmg plants 

 from the ravages of the porcupine, and which is done by 

 digging deep trenches or drains aronnd them. It is true 

 that coconut planters were sometimes plagued by a beetle 

 which used to pierce the young nut, and thus destroy it. 

 But this was only in certain localities ; and planters in. 

 Northern Queensland, I beheve, have not got the porcu- 

 pine," nor are they likely to be troubled with the insect 

 abovenamed. — I am, sir, &c., J. Buckley, Brisbane Val- 

 ley Railway. — Qncenslander. 



[Much of the foregoing with reference to the coconut 

 is well worthy of the atteution of Northern coast residents. 

 Sandy country near the sea suits it admirably, and in the 

 gi'eat country for coconuts — Ceylon — one cooly per acre 

 furnishes all the labour required. But the remarks re 

 Cojf'ea A rahica are scarcely in accordance with the experi- 

 ence of those who have grown it, this variety having been 

 fairly successfid wherever properly tried in the North. 

 Prolonged droughts in the coast chstricts of Northern 

 Queensland, too, are rare. — Ed. Q.] 



DEMEEARA CRYSTALS. 



The colony of British Guiana may be fitly described 

 as, at the present, a va.st manufactory, of " Demerara 

 Crystals." These sugar "crystals" fetch "fancy" prices 

 in the European market, they are held in high esteem 

 in English households, and there is little marvel in this 

 to one who has visited the home of their production. 

 It is probable that the "chemistry of common life" has 

 no more distinct illustration of .success. The whole system 

 of production in scientific to the last degi-ee; and when 

 we remember that the system results in an annual out- 

 put valued, even at low prices, at not less than £2,400,000, 

 we see we are dealing \vith a system of vei-y practical 

 interest to consumers as well as to producers of "sugar." 

 Moreover, there is already £2,000,000 worth of machinery 

 at work in the colony; the annual importation of English 

 manufactm-ed goods now exceeds £1,000,000, and the total 

 tonnage leaving the port already exceeds 200,000 tons. 

 This community, it will be seen, is a great customer 

 for oiu- home producers, and the sole present basis of 

 its property is sugar, and that chiefly in the form of 

 Demerara crystals. 



The sugar planters out here have taken their cue from 

 the refiners in England, and have with vigor joined the 

 loud thrpug who \vith superstitious unity of feeling at- 

 tribute every evil incident to sugar to the influence of 

 the bounties. The mystei-ious term has been erected into 

 a scapegoat, and made to carry all the blame which is 



