366 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [November i, 1882. 



difficulty is a more serious one. but even that will 

 not offei an insuperable obstacle to British enterprize 

 and pluck and determination. The terms on which 

 forest lands will be gi-anted have api^eared in our 

 columns, and the record of Capt. Butler's experiments 

 now, with the notice of what Dr. Heifer, in the 

 face of all obstacles, accomplished in Mergui dis- 

 trict, will shew what is possible to enterprize aided 

 by capital and labour. The latitude of British Burma 

 is more that of Jamaica than Ceylon, but the greater 

 distance from the equator is not likely to constitute 

 a serious objection. The climate and rainfall seem 

 closely to resemble those of Ceylon, excepting that 

 the period between Octoher and December (inclusive) 

 is even more a dry season than it is in our mountain 

 region. Apart from the possibilities of agriculture, 

 British Bnrma, with its slate formations alternating 

 with granite, seems rich in minerals, from gold to iron, 

 and from jade to rubies. So that the atiractions are 

 niMny-sided, and we cannot doubt ihat in the future 

 even more thun in the past the progress of Lower 

 Burma «ill be onwards. Upwarch, too, we might 

 add, for recent events, which shew that the rulers of 

 Upper Burma resemble the Bourbons in having learned 

 nothing and forgotten nothing (that is forgotten 

 nothing narrow and bad and vain and insolent), warn 

 us that any day the British, however unwilling to 

 annex more territory, may be compelled to extend 

 their border until it maiches with China, acting in 

 the interests not merely of their own subjects and 

 commerce but in those of outraged humanity. 



BEPOKT ON EXPEE15IEXTAL COLTIVATION CAKEIED ON BT 



CAPTAIN BUTLEE, DEPUTY COJOIISSIOXEE, MEEOn, 



DUEIXG LAST YEAR. 



In March 1881 a grant of B2,500 was sanctioned 

 to meet the cost of planting out 10 acres of coffee 

 and of making experiments on a limited scale of 

 cocoa, nutmeg, pepper, and vanilla seeds, and plants 

 were at once itidented, for and operations commenced 

 on the southern side of the forest plautition in clearing 

 jungle, digging up roots, trenching the laud, and pre- 

 paring nurseries for the plants. 



In reply to my indent for seed, I was informed 

 it was then too late in tne season to obtain any 

 all last year's crop having been already sold or planted 

 out. Messrs. D. Brandt & Co., of Singapore, sent 

 me some plants instead : — 



2,600 Liberian coffee plants, 



600 coca or chocolate, 



100 cardamoms, 



300 pepper seeds plau;,tu iu earth, 

 1 vanilla full-grown, 

 the cost of which, with freight, packing, and ship- 

 ping chai-ges, came to 274 dollars 75 cents or 11634-4-0, 

 and BISO more for the passage-money of the overseer 

 to Singapore and back to bring up the plants ; so 

 that the total cost of plants lauded in Mergui came 

 to K7S-1-40, leaving only a balance of Rl, 715- 12-0 

 out of the grant for cultivation. Messrs. D. Brandt 

 wrote subsequently offering to supply Liberian cotfee 

 seed at one cent per seed, equivalent to I!2r) per 

 1,000 seeds. I am inclined to think that it could be 

 obtained even for le.^s than that from Ceylon. For I 

 was only charged E20 a bushel, which contains over 

 30,000 seeds, by a Ceylon firm for coffee-seed which 

 I obtained through Messrs. King, Hamilton of Cal- 

 cutta, but this turned out to be Arabian seed. 

 Results at the end of the year. 

 Coffee. — Of 2.600 Liberian coff>e plants, which were 

 all planted out in nurseries on the upper land under 

 the shade of large forest trees, over 1,200, that is, 

 nearly oue-hnlf, »re doing well, being strong and 

 healthy pud making vigorous growth, throwing out 

 large leaves from nine inches to one foot long, like 

 A Portuguese laurel, and have already made over two 



feet of growth iu the year, and there is therefore 

 every prospect of the experiment being a complete 

 success. The remaining 1,400 plants, were more or less 

 sickly friim having got their roots damaged in the 

 boxes iu transit, and in consequeuoe were afterwards 

 unable to get their tap-roots well dowu into the 

 ground, or to make any growth. On the approach of 

 the hot weather they ^howed symptoms of drying up, 

 their leivts began to fall. In January I removed 

 then down to the banks of the creek, where the 

 moisture in the soil from propinquity to water caused 

 them to revive, though they were unable to make any 

 growth ; they are beginning to throw out fresh ■ 

 leaves, and will, I have every hope, pick up and become 

 strong healthy plants by the end of the coming 

 rains I he first supply of seed 1 obtained from Ceylon 

 in November turned out a complete failure ; not a 

 single seed germinated. I am incliued to think it had ' 

 been gathered too early, before it was fully ripe. I at 

 once sent for a further supply, and this time with 

 ample success. In every bed planted the seed germin- • ' 

 ated freely, and the young plants, about 8 to 10,000 in 

 number, are strong and healthy in the nurseries await- 

 ing for the ruins to be planted out, but the plants 

 appear to be Arabian instead of Liberian. 



Cocoa or Chocolate. — This, I am sorry to say, has 

 not been so successful as the coffee. In the first month 

 after their arrival, 400 nut of the 600 were carried off 

 and destroyed by white ants and crickets, both of 

 which pests swarm iu the dense forest land round 

 Mergui, and subsequently 140 more succumbed to their 

 attacks, leaving us ouly 60 survivors. It is a consol- 

 ation to know that this loss is not singular. 



Ferguson, in their Hand-book on Ceylon, state : — 

 "The failures with cocoa are, in our opinion, far more 

 numerous than with either Liberian coffee, cinchona, 

 or almost any other new product. White-ants and 

 other enemies seem to make a dead set at the young 

 plants, and if 12 per cent, survive of the first clearing, 

 planters have considered themselves fortunate." Yet 

 vpith this heavy percentage of failures cocoa seems 

 advancing in Ceylon, and I see no reason to despair of 

 its success here also, for it must be borne in mind that 

 it succumbed to the ravnges of insects, and not to soil 

 or climate being uuadapted to its growth. 



Cardamomn- — Of the 100 plants sent more than three- 

 fourths rotted iu transit from too much damp on the jour, 

 ney. I subsequently found out that they were indigen- 

 ous to the district growing wild iu the Palow township, 

 our revenue circle being culled Palatike, or the cardamom 

 circle, on account of its being found growing there. The 

 seed is collected by the Karens and sold in the bazaar 

 for Rel a viss for spicing curries, but like most bulbous 

 plants cannot easily be raised from seed ; the jjlaut 

 propugates itself from shouts thrown out from the 

 root. 



Pepper. — The 300 pepper-seeds sent in earth never 

 germiuated ; this also is to be found in many gardens 

 in the suburbs of Mergui, climbing up to a great height 

 on large trees, but it is not looked after or cared for 

 as the natives seem to prefer the more pungent chilly 

 and cotisequently its berries are generally carried off 

 by birds or squirrels. If properly cultivated and 

 attended to, it is said to be far mure profitable thin 

 either tea or colfee, and it therefore seems curious 

 why its cultivation has not been more extensively 

 resorted to by European planters. I obtained 200 to 

 300 cuttings from the gardens in Mergui, and planted 

 them at tiie roots of large forest trees, where they 

 soon took root, established themselves, and are now 

 growing vigorously. 



Vanilla. — One hundred cuttings were ordered, but 

 Messrs. 1). Brandt & Co., sent instead one large full- 

 grown plant, from which he said it would be far 

 better for us to take as many cuttings as we re- 



