June i, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



939 



allowauce of auiinal food. This is most frequently 

 given in the fcn-m of salt fish. I belie\'e this addi- 

 tion to tlieir food is as necessary in Fiji as else- 

 where, and I \\ould therefore raise this point for the 

 consideration of the Governor." Mosquito nets for 

 estate labourers sounds to us absunl, but in Fiji 

 they seem an absolute necessity, for Dr. MacOregor 

 writes : — " In preserving the health of tlie labourers 

 it is of much importance that they be put in a pos- 

 ition to procure, at night, sound sleep and rest to 

 the body. This is hardly attainable on any single 

 estate visited by me. In most cases the mosquito 

 nets were highly objectionable, incapable of excluding 

 mosquitos in tlio majority of cases ; but, in one in- 

 stance, made of thick calico, and therefore too hot 

 and close. In almost every case, if not in all, the 

 labourer sleeps on a hard plank or on ralax (shelves) 

 constructed of bamboo, covered usually with a single 

 mat. It is ditiicult to believe that a tired man can 

 rest his body sleeping on a hard plank, and I would 

 therefore insist on the use of a certain quantity of 

 some soft material below the mat. Mosquito nets, I 

 hold, should be of a white colour, to make sure of 

 their being kept clean : the meshes should be large 

 enough to permit the circulation of air, but not so 

 large as to allow the entrance of mosquitoes. Care 

 is also needed to prevent too many men from occupy- 

 ing one mosquito net." 1'he comparison instituted 

 between Polynesians and Indian coolies shows why 

 planters accustomed to docile kanakas find coolies too 

 independent : — •' Although a matter that is difficult 

 to prove by actual demonstration there is much reason 

 to believe that exposure to cold and wet has much 

 to do with the very frequent occun'euce of fatal 

 dysentery among the Polynesians. The Polynesian is 

 placed at a great disadvantage compared with thf 

 Indian. The I'olynesian is much more passive, greatly 

 more ignorant, and far less able to protect himself 

 than the cunning, exacting complaining Indian : and 

 yet the law protects the latter to a very much greater 

 degree than it does the former. Tlie Indian nearly 

 always works by the task — that is by piece work. 

 If he feels in any way indisposed, or if tlie weather 

 is bad, he need not work ; and thus he avoids ex- 

 posure, and can rest if ailing. If he does more tlian 

 an average day's work in fine v.cather, he is paid 

 accordingly. The Indian feeds himself and can there- 

 fore select his own food : and he jiossesses natui-ally, 

 a certain amount of talent in cooking, and in making 

 himself comfortable. His position is therefore greatly 

 superior to that of the Polynesian, who little uniler- 

 stands liow to make himself comfortable, whose services 

 at all times and in any weather are at the call of 

 his employer. He eats what is given to him, which 

 is, I fear, often of bad quality, and cooked in the 

 rougliest possible manner ; he lives without complaint 

 in any house or hovel put at his disposal by his 

 emijloyer, and accepts whatever accommodation is 

 supplied to liim. Unless his employer gives him a 

 specified task the Polynesian has but little idea of 

 hours or of a fair day's work. When sick his passive- 

 ness and docility become helplessness. Surely if this 

 comparison of the two races is a fair one, and as it 

 is based on my own obsei'vations, I believe it is not 

 misleading, the law should provide greater protection 

 for the I'olynesian than for the Indian. The legal 

 safeguards turuisbed the Indian are not greater than 

 are required ; in the ease of the Polynesian they are 

 less than experience demands." 



REPORT FOR 1882 OF THE PUBLIC GARD- 

 ENS AND PLANTATIONS IN JAMAICA. 

 We have already noticed that portion of Mr. 

 Morris's elaborate Report which dealt with the pro- 

 duction and export of table fruits to the United 



vStates. Reverting to the document we find it stated 

 tliat, in consequence of the failure of the May rains 

 or " seasons," after a scries of dry montlis with parch- 

 ing winds, all agricultural operations suffered from 

 drought. Young coffee and cinchona plants suffered 

 very severely, and precautionary measures had to be 

 taken with reference to the water supply of Kings- 

 ton. Old planters in Jamaica, like old planters in 

 Ceylon, believe that the seasons ai"e more irregular 

 and precarious than in former days, and there is an 

 evident inclination to lay the blame on forest de- 

 nudation. But the clearing away of forest can scarcely 

 have produced, simultaneously, unseasonable drought 

 in Jamaica and unseasonable rains in Ceylon. Trees 

 may have important local effects, but the seasons 

 are surely influenced by great cosmic forces beyond 

 the control of man. No doubt lands entirely bared 

 of timber are specially liable to injury from floods. 

 Mr. Morris has, therefore, only performed his duty 

 in recommending for consideration the preservation 

 of forest on mountain tops an<l ridges as well as iu 

 tlie neighbourhood of springs and on the banks of 

 rivers. .Jamaica, like the whole of the West Indies, 

 is subjected to much more violent meteorological 

 phenomena than are ever experienced in Ceylon. 

 No wonder, if the export of produce from Jamaica 

 was diminished in 1881-82, when we learn that severe 

 floods in 1879 were followed by an unprecedented 

 drought in 1880, to which a hurricane was added, 

 drought continuing, in 1881 ! Nevertlieless, Mr. Morris 

 writes : — 



At the close of the year 1881, iu spite of the drought 

 of that year there were many hopeful signs of improve- 

 ment. The sugar crop, grown in localities not seriously 

 affected by the decreased rainfall, w.as the. largest for mauy 

 years ; the exports being sugar, .38,392 hhds. of the value 

 of ,€G14,2S3, and rum 22,742 pbus. of the value of j620S,64o; 

 which is an increase on the exported value of these two 

 articles, as compared with 1880, to the extent of £398,621. 

 The coffee crop as a whole was above the average, but 

 on account of the low prices ruMng fin- this article, many 

 of the settlers growing lowland coffee suffered severely. 

 For the best qualities of Blue Jlount.ain coffee, grown and 

 cured by skilled labour, the prices appeared to have been 

 little changed. 



Many suggestions have been made to deal with the evil 

 but ileep digging and treating with caustic hme, while the 

 insect is iu the larval state, appears to be the only ef- 

 fective means of destroying it. Careful rolling of the 

 surface with a heavy roller when the ground is soft might 

 also be tried : as well as assiduously de.stroymg the adult 

 insects whenever practicable. 



There are no figures for the coffee crop, but, allow- 

 ing for local consumption of sugar and rum, the 

 value of products of the sugarcane exceeded one 

 million sterling, notwithstanding the prevalence in 

 some districts of an aphis blight in the canes, as 

 also a destructive caterpillar : but the latter for only 

 a few weeks. Much mischief has been done to 

 pasturage by the mole cricket (dnUiis campestris) so 

 wellknown on lowcountry estates in Ceylon, where 

 the insect flics at higher game than grass roots, to 

 wit cacao and Liberian coffee seedlings. Mr. Morris 

 writes : — 



While on the subject of insect pests iu this islaufl, I 

 would desire to draw attention to the fact that 1 have 

 noticed that such pests are most prevalent in the neigh- 

 bourhood of villages and iu localities where bird life is 

 rare or entirely absent. Owing to the indiscriminate 

 slaughter of small birds in this island, where every one 

 with means sufficient to purchase a gun can shuot all 

 the year round, bird life ^especially humming birds, red- 

 start.- and others of au insectivorous character and with 

 bright plumage) is becoming, more and more rare. 



