January i, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



535 



the land will soon get into good heart. It is true 

 that a large flux crop is exhausting to the soil. But so 

 is any large white cr.ip. But it the linseeri is used ou 

 the farm to any considerable extent, then no crop is 

 better for laird and tejiant. No douLit flax is presci'iljed 

 in many leases, hut landlords should in these times be the 

 last to interfere with au expeiiment like this. The manu- 

 facture of paper seems to be even yet hut in its begin- 

 nings. Bags of paper, strong as hessian, and far more 

 perfect for seeds or other produce, wouW be used iffibre 

 could be got at a reasonable price. Flooring and furniture, 

 decorations for walls, panels for carriages, and a thousand 

 articles can be made from paper. Surely an experiment 

 so likely to lead to the relief ot the farmer, and to benefit 

 the whole country, is well worth trying; and, as this 

 is the very season for sowing, no farmer could be far 

 wrong in risking an acre or two acres. In every case 

 care should be taken to measure the ground, and exact 

 notes should he made as guidance for future cropping. 

 There is this crowning advantage in a flax crop to be used 

 for paper, that even if not harvested in perfect condition, 

 or divcolonred by rain in harvest, it would not be alto- 

 gether useless. From every point of view this thing is 

 worth a trial." 



In Continental India, curiously enough, flax is grown 

 solely for the sake of the oil-yielding seed, the str.aw 

 not being utilized for any economic purpose. Now 

 we know from personal experiment, that fla.x will 

 grow well in our Ceylon hill region. It is an ex- 

 hausting crop, but the cake is a valuable feed for 

 cattle and the resulting manure, would help to com- 

 pensate the soil for the fertilizing substances ex- 

 tracted from it. But exhaustion of the soil could 

 be minimized by reversing the Indian process : grow- 

 ing flax only for the straw, which could be pulled 

 just before the flowering season, dried and sent direct 

 to the paper-mill, if one is erected, as it ought to 

 be in Colombo. It is a new and a most important 

 fact that, for paper-making purposes the preliminary 

 steeping of the flax can be dispensed with ; and, if 

 in the case of flax no steeping is required, other 

 fibres more or less plentiful in our forests and jungles 

 or which can be easily gi-own, could, doubtless, be 

 used in a similar manner. The questions as regards 

 flax are what return per acre might be expected, 

 and whether a price of £4 10/ per ton at the mill 

 would pay. Will some of our readers try experi- 

 ments with flax, rheea and similar substances with 

 refereuce to paper-making ? The resulting paper would 

 probably be stout enought to make an admii-able cover 

 for shaved cinchona plants. 



TRINIDAD. 

 A few days of good showers followed by more of 

 fair weather, and da capo has been the prevailing 

 character of the weather for the last two or three 

 weeks. ThoUf;h it might seem the rainfall has been 

 rather short for a plant like the sugarcane, we hear 

 generally the latter looks well in the chief quarters ; 

 while as to cacao, tue crop now commencing to be 

 gathered pronvises to be the biggest yet reaped in the 

 colony. Th" quantity shipped in the early months of 

 the year having been unusually large (after short 

 shipment in the fall of 1881 due to peculiarities ot 

 weather at curing time), nearly 11 million pounds 

 weight was exported to Sept. 30th, and it need sur- 

 prize no one if the weight at Dec. 31st be 14 or 15 

 million pounds. The total shipment of the last calendar 

 year has been exceeded by ihat of the nine mouths 

 just expired ; it was 10,495,!)45 lb. The largest 

 shipment effected from the colony in any calendar 

 year was 12,1GS,092 lb.— in 1879. The trees are 

 loaded down to the foot of the trunk, we hear — a 

 grand sight for the fortunate cacaguero, — picking has 

 commenced, and it will not be long before the new 

 crop begins to come in by rail, crook and boat. 

 Asphalt is also being shipped in somewhat largei 



quantity, nearly 4,500 tons more to date than hist 

 year, which was the largest asphalt year hitherto. 

 It is a trade in which we must be thankful for 

 small mercies and exercise the virtue of patience. In 

 coconuts also there is promise of improvement on 

 1881, when a much larger export was made than in 

 any former year. It is reported also from the out 

 settlements that the small coolie and Creole proprie- 

 tors look to reap a very large crop of Rice ; the 

 quality of native-grown rice is superior, but the diffi- 

 culty of hulling and the cost of citriage (by donkey, 

 much of the way along tracks and clay roads) to the 

 towns makes it clear, and restricts its use to the out- 

 districts in which it is grown. Sume one interested 

 should send to Deinerara for a specimen of the simple 

 invention by which the Chinamen get over the hull- 

 ing difficulty there. It is .said to be quite effective, 

 simple and cheap, and that it dues the work with 

 much less labor than mortar and pestle. — Trinidad 

 Chronicle, Oct. 7th. 



NORTH BORNEO NEWS. 



Elopura, 1st November, 1882. — The planting in 

 torest in Sabah is now taking a fair start, applica- 

 tions fur land continue to come in freely and in ad- 

 dition to the Beatiice, Piilo Buy and other small 

 matters of that kind already in existence, operations 

 on a large scale will shortly be commenced in two 

 or three fresh directions, notably up the Sapa Gaya 

 river, where already felling for the Government ex- 

 perimental Garden is being proceeded with vigorously. 



The advantages for tropical planting in Sabah ^re 

 indeed great, unrivalled pr>d3ably by any other country 

 in which British sway is paramount, and it cannot be 

 too often impressed upon its Government that, far 

 ahead of prissible mineral or other natural resources 

 undoubtedly great, such .as Guiti, Birdsnests, and the 

 like, of its position, whereby the trade of all the sur- 

 rounding islands will in time be forced to centre there ; 

 farahe;ul of all these natural advantages, the soil is the 

 true source of wealth of this country. It is the rich 

 lowlands of the tropics which yield really paying 

 growths, not the poorer and colder uplands, and these 

 rich lowlands are possessed by Sabah by the hundreds 

 of thousands of acres. In very few countries, how- 

 ever, can these loiylauds be cultivated without great 

 danger to the health of the planter, and tliis is why 

 the poorer but healthier highlands, such as the coffee 

 districts in Ceylon, are reported to ; strange ot 

 say, however, our Ceylon friends generally have 

 got so used to regarding coffee as the one end and aim 

 of planting, that even when they have the cliance 

 of cultivating the more paying lowland products to 

 the best advantage and with little or no risk of health, 

 they neglect other things to try and raise an un- 

 willing crop of their beloved coffee. 



It is a strange thing, that, if calculating profits o£ 

 any lowland product, the results shown are so enor- 

 mously favorable that one is really afraid to bring 

 them forward. Take th.at gay and festive romance, 

 " Tropical Agriculture "' for instance, and work out 

 Sago as set forth there, £342 17s. 6d. per annum per 

 acre is the astonishing result arrived at whtn the 

 Sago eomes into bearing. Wise men always divide 

 their profits by half when making these sort of cal- 

 culation, but even £171 8». tld. must be allowed as a 

 very good result, especially when the initial outlay is so 

 trifling as that involved by .Sago planting. Aijain, 

 pepper, the outlay calcul.ated on as liberal a scale as 

 can be, and all possible deductions provided for, 



* "Tropical Agriculture" refers of course to Mr. P. L. 

 Simmond's volume compiled under that heading and not 

 to our monthly periodical. — Ed. 



