544 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[January i, 1883. 



of production of obtaining them, agreeably with the de- 

 mands of the market, has ever been the island of Bauda 

 and probably other islands, among or near the Moluccas, 

 while the island of Pcnang and the Sti-aits Settlements 

 furnished also their quota, the quantity increasing gradually. 

 The nutmeg thrives well also with a httle care on certain 

 parts of the peninsula, and if the Colonial Government 

 had given hitherto a little more fostering care to its cul- 

 tivation, a much larger quantity might have been produced. 

 In Deli, Sumatra, nearly opposite Penaug, where the to- 

 bacco planters labour under the idea that their rich soil, 

 after having produced one crop of tobacco will not pro- 

 duce a second sufficiently good to pay, and that the land 

 must lie fallow for si.x years (grow up in jungle again), 

 some of them a few years ago became happily possessed of 

 the idea whether during those six long years the tobacco 

 lands might not possibly produce something else " that 

 would pay," and a few of these intelligent tropical hus- 

 bandmen concluded to plant nutmegs. Six good coolies, 

 at 20 cents wages per day each, with a hand cart, could 

 soon plant a large piece of fallow tobacco land in nut- 

 megs. In the meantime, the tobacco planters who looked 

 upon this as au experiment that would not cost them 

 much, and paying little attention to it, went on tobacco 

 planting, looking upon that as their object and actual 

 source of profit, as it takes about five years until the 

 nutmeg trees commenced to bear. Some of the plauters 

 had crops of fine nutmeg.s to send to market at the end 

 of that time, in addition to all the tobacco they pro- 

 duced and shipped during the same period. The nutmegs 

 being good and large could enter the market as " Peaang 

 nutmegs " — au innocent, cheap enterprise that turned out 

 well, the nutmegs being worth about 70 dollars per picul, 

 unselected, and mace, if slowly and neatly dried, not 

 scorched, about from 40 dollars to 50 dollars per picul. 

 It takes 110 fair-sized nutmegs to make one pound (1 

 picul=1333 pounds at 80 dollars) worth GO cents; and 

 since a go'od full-grown nutmeg tree in full hearing can 

 produce several bushels of nuts with the hulls on, rt can 

 be easily seen that the " experiment " turned out well. 

 Such of the planters as had their wits about them, the 

 price of Deli tobacco having fallen during the last two 

 or three years nearly 50 per cent against former years, 

 and yielding little or no profit at the present time, can 

 now stop tobacco planting and find old tobacco prices in 

 their nutmeg groves until the price of tobacco rises again. 

 The number of the " successful," however, is not large, 

 but will, after such a demonstration, become larger, it is 

 supposed. The nutmeg tree will grow well on the coast 

 of Borneo and adjaceut islands, as well as in the Malayan 

 States on the peninsula, imder British and Siamese rule ; 

 and as we have very ailvantageous treaties with both 

 countries, the United States buying more nutmegs than 

 the whole of Europe taken together, some of out enter- 

 prising young men might perhaps spend some time pro- 

 fitably in reflecting upon this. — Weekh/ Biiig N'ews. 



Queensland Cinchona,— We were in error in speaking 

 of the so-called Queensland quinine-tree as a Cinchona. 

 Mr. Bailey, F.L.S., informs us we have no true Cinchona 

 in the colony. — I'laiitei- and Fai-mer. 



LicacER Teee of Jap.\n. — In a report to the Foreign 

 Office, which has just been issued, our Consul at Hako- 

 dadi gives a full and interesting account of the lacquer 

 industry of Japan. From this it appears that vast pl.-nit- 

 ations of the lacquer trei-, Ntar/jiini-ia vcrnicifna, are grown 

 for the express purpose of extracting their sap, which is 

 usually done wheu the trees have attained the age of 

 ten years. One province alone sends out no fewer than 

 1 500 workmen, whose business it is to tap the trees and 

 collect the sap which exudes from them ; and when it is 

 borne in mind that this process is going on all over the 

 mainland, it will at once l>e seen that the industry is very 

 extensive. Each tree yields sufficient juice to fill a three- 

 ounce bottle, and each workman, during a season of about 

 four months, is expected to bleed about 1,000 trees, the 

 total yield of sap amounting to between 120,000 and 140,000 

 gallons. For his services during the season a first-rate 

 workman is paid ihe munificent sum of £13, though in- 

 ferior men get considerably less. — Journal of Foresti-y. 



NEILGHERRY COFFEE IN AUSTRALIA. 



TO THE EDITOB OF THE QUEENSLAND " PLANTER 

 AND FARMER." 



Sir, — I am sending you about a pound weight of coffee 

 seed by post. * * * * The seeds were specially selected 

 from healthy Neilgherry plants, growing at considerable 

 elevation, and robust enough to stand considerable ex- 

 tremes of temperature. It ought to do in the Queensland 

 climate exceedingly well, wherever there is moisture and 

 requisite elevation. I should say on the northern rivers 

 it would thrive well. We are trying it here on Mount 

 Wilson, on the Murrumbidgee, on the Clarence, Richmond, 

 and in New England. The seed soon loses its vitality, 

 and should be plauted without delay. 



I am planting, as I would any tree seeds that I in- 

 tended to prick out by and bye. I have used a very rich 

 manured loam, crumbly and well worked, about two parts, 

 leaf mould about three parts, and sand about one part. 

 I have planted just like scarlet runners or French beans, 

 putting the beans singly and about four inches apart, 

 and covered very lightly up. As soon as germination 

 begins I water judiciously, and keep the ground moist 

 and prevent it caking. 



I will be glad to hear the success of the experiment, 

 and remain, dear sir, yours truly, Jas. Inglis. 



AN IMMENSE ORCHARD. 

 The following account of a large orchard in America 

 will he read with interest : — " Subjoined is an outline of 

 a report given to the Ohico Enterprise by G. M. Gray, 

 the Superintendent of the famous Bancho Chico of Gen. 

 Bidwell. The following are the amounts of fruit and the 

 number of trees in bearing : — 



Total yield ... ...2,076,695 



Besides the above number of trees here enumerated, 

 there are 3,000 youug peach, 1,000 plum, 1,000 apples, 300 

 apricot, aud 250 pears not bearing. One cherry-tree yielded 

 9*^0 lb. One car-load of pUims sent to San Francisco 

 weighed (gross) 15 tons IriO lb. Fully half of the nuts 

 and raisins sold at Sau Francisco were sent by boats, as 

 it was impossible to get cars. K. S. Middleham, the fruit 

 dealer of Chico. handled a large portion of the green fruit 

 in about the following proportion: — Peaches ^, plums §, 

 giapes ^, apples J, apricots ^, pears ^, cherries f, and 

 strawberries %. Ten thousand grape cuttings have been sent 

 out this season to various parts of the State. — Australasian. 



TEA MANURES. 



In oiu" last issue we called attention to ihe importance 

 of this subject, and referred particularly to fertilizing 

 compounds prejwred by two well-known manufacturers. 

 We have since, however, been reminded that we ought 

 not to liave omitted mention of Messrs. Arnott Brothers 

 and Co., amongst llie makers of chemical manui'cs, who 

 have devoted special attention to tea ; indeed, they are, 

 we believe, the original manufacturers of special fertil- 

 izers for tropical cultures anil pioneers in this branch of 

 the trade. In the year 1877, after careful investigation 

 of soils, the tea plant, i^tc. they brought over their .spe- 

 cial tea manure, which has been much used in the in- 

 terval, and is said to have given great satisfaction. 



As regards their Special Tea Manui-e, Messrs. Axnott 



