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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [November i, 1882. 



Shell Marl. — A Company has been formed in 

 South Florida, it is said, to manufacture an active 

 fertilizer from the shell marl, which is found in lar^e 

 quantities ou some portions of the upper St. Johns. It 

 is proposed to grind the shell, and supply ammonia by 

 adding tlie decomposed flesh and bones of fish. — OU and 

 Drvg News. 



Pioneering in Perak.— No doiibt the depression 

 and hard times have since of late given an im- 

 pulse to the sons of Lanka's isle to leave her and 

 their sweet homes, to try their fortune in other 

 climes. Just at this time Perak from far-ofT hails the 

 so-oilled pro.'pecta to our young friends with the 

 good news that a dollar $ is equal to R2'25 of Ceylon 

 curri.ncy, which makes an impression on people to 

 obtain employment at any cost, but they know nothing 

 of the difficulties they will have to undergo because 

 they onlj see the bright side. I shall now in the 

 interest of my countrymen depict the gloomy side of 

 the picture. Offering employment at Perak on a salary 

 of 5U or 60 $ per mensem and free quarters is looked 

 upon by those in Ceylon as really a chance to make 

 money. I shall make use of the old saying to applicants: 

 ''Look before you leap," or else the ditch is near. Now 

 comes the grand question : what kind of a place is 

 Perak, how far from Ceylon, and what are the expenses 

 for living in such a place? Perak is a province in the. 

 Straits Settlement and a native state having a JMalay 

 Rajah. The sons of the soil are Malays — a wicked and 

 ugly race who would draw their knives for the least 

 thing. Besides these there are a few Tamils and thous- 

 ands and thousands of Chinese with their pugnose 

 and pigtail. The Europeans are but a handful. The 

 working of the Stale is carried on by the British, sub- 

 ject to the Rajiih, with a Resident who is like the 

 Governor of Ceylon, an Assistant Resident, a few Col- 

 lectors, a Doctor and his Assistants, a Superintendent of 

 Public Works, and Surveyors with a few assistants, 

 a public office with a few clerks, a force of Sikhs, some 

 coustables, a jail and jailor, and some bazaars with 

 the exception of a number of mines ("lead:") every- 

 thing else is jungle. The distance from this to Ceylon 

 is about 1,058 miles, 1,050 by sea and river, and 8 

 miles by land. Penang is the first landing-place when 

 you leave Ceylou, and the proximate cost is passage 

 Colombo to Penaug RlOU to R1.S(/ second-class, 

 boat hire R50, guide R2 25, carriage Rl"12, cart hire 

 and luggage, R2'2.'), the lowest hotel charges for the 

 day R13'25. From Penang to Larut :— Carriage R1'12, 

 cart hire for luggage R2-25, boat and steam tug R3'«7 and 

 from thence lo Tliaipeng, the chief station, of Perak, 

 cirriage and cooly hire R4'87, and re»thouee charges 

 R2-50, attendance and bath Rri2for the day. Then 

 comes the cost of fiifferent things : — washing 8c a piece, 

 a crop 60c, a shave 41c, scavenging 25c a day, a bath 

 40e, a cook R25'00 (or 10$) a month, who will do no 

 other work. In short, every servant yiu engage will 

 have to pay lOS. Meat or mutton cannot be got, but 

 buffalo meat which is sold two or three times a 

 week at 40c per lb, fowls of small size 60 tu 100c 

 each, eggs 8c each, ducks R2 to R2'25 each, poik 

 40c to 50o a lb, river fish 30c a lb, all dry and fresh 

 fish is sold by weii^ht counts 12c each, onions 20c. 

 a lb, chillies 25c a lb, (rice 20c a measure), eating this 

 ia similar to eating straw, firewood for cook- 

 ing 25c a day, a pair of shoes R4, a white "drill", 

 suit h7, an ordinary tweed suit 35$ or R77 02. 

 In like manner everything else is dear, no sea fisli' 

 maldivefish. plantains, hoppers, &c., &c., to be got ; nu:} 

 some liniad. As for the dainties and luxuries of Ceylon 

 you will ever have to pine. Taking up appointments 

 in Per^ik for 75§ which is equal to R19S-75 is only 

 ofi'ering oneself for voluntary banishment for life. In 

 bygone days convicts of Ceylon were sent to the 

 Straits and it was considered as a great punishment. 60 

 or 70S 18 hardly sufficient to live upons, so how can 



you manage to get back to your native country ex- 

 cept you get money from home, otherwise end your 

 days in sorrow and cares ?-Cor. [Hoot, toot; this 

 will never do for a young Ceylonese emigrant.- Ed.] 



Effects of the Red Spider.— The destructive ef- 

 fects of this pest «ill best be understood by a refer- 

 ence to the figures taken from the published reports 

 of the Leebong Tea Co. In 1875 the outturn was 

 40UO mds., but since 1S78, the advent of the red 

 spider, the out-turn from the original gardens has 

 fallen to 2,600 mds.—Indian Tea Gazette. 



The Congress on the Phylloxera have arrived 

 at no very practical result. It seems to be held 

 that those who have the means of submerging their 

 vines for at least forty-five days continuously in water 

 may cure their vines of the insect plague, though we 

 do not know that they would not be liable to a reinva- 

 sion by it. But very few have the means of managing 

 this immersion, and if they had, a great many of the 

 vines are found to be injured as fruit-bearing trees by 

 the process. Again, sulphuret of carbon and sulpho- 

 carbonate of potash kill a great many of the insects i£ 

 the roots of the vine be well impregnated with either ■ 

 but the cost of the first is £18 per acre the first year 

 and £12 afterwards, and of the second, £28 an acre 

 the first year, and £20 an acre afterwards. Neither 

 does either remedy, costly as it is, ensure the plant 

 against insects. Completely killing out the infected 

 vines and importing new kinds seems the best chance : 



but that, again, means an enormous waste of capital. 



Spectator. 



Tea in Northern India.— The Duars, or as some- 

 times called, the Bhootan Duare, ia a belt of forest and 

 jungle land, stretching out from the foot of the Darjee- 

 ling and Bhootan Hdls along the banks of the river 

 Teesttt, on to the borders of the Assam districts. This 

 very fertile tract of country belonged to the Deb Rajahs 

 of Bhootan ; but after the Bhootan war of 1864, the 

 territory was ceded to the British. Early in the season 

 of 1874 75, applications were made, by a few planters, 

 for land in the Western Duars; and in due course' 

 clearings were made here and there, and tea gardens 

 sprung up. The country is very favourable for the 

 growth of tea, as its soil is rich and loamy, well man- 

 ured by decayed vegetation, which has lain there for 

 ages. The aboriginal inhabitants of the country are 

 the il/ac/wM, atribe of people very much allied to the 

 Assamese, whom they resemble in features and habits. 

 Their mode of cultivatioa very disastrous to the- 

 forest tracts. The Macldes are useless as labourers for 

 tea gardens. They simply refuse to work. All the 

 labour has to be imported, and the Nepalese coolies are 

 found to be the best workers. At the present time 

 there are a good number of tea gardens scattered over a 

 large area of country; and the manufacture of tea has 

 been going ou for the last five years. A glance at the 

 tea sale reports will show th.it the prices realized for 

 the Du!»r teas are, on an average, much higher than 

 the prices obtained for tea from the Terai, or the 

 Darjeeliug district. Possibly this is due to the rich- 

 ne.-s of the land, and hence a finer crop of leaves. 

 From the latest iufurmation received from the Dmirs 

 it would i.pp.-ar that there are no less than 500 appli'- 

 catious for land lying in the Commissioner's ofhce ; and 

 it is quite possible that, within a very short period, 

 the whole of the country will have become a continuous 

 string of tea gardens. As to sport, the district abounds 

 with game of nearly every description, from 

 the elephant downwards : and we would recom- 

 mend it as a good shooting ground for sportsmen 

 during the cold weather. — Civil and Military G'izettc. 

 [The great disadvantage of the Duais is that against 

 which planters in the Terai aud in many parts of Assam 

 and Cachar have to struggle, apestiferous climate, — 

 £d.] 



