568 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



[January i, 1883. 



to a country where no special legislative provisions 

 exist for their protection. I think, then, that on the 

 whole it will be founfl impossible to supply the Queens- 

 land labour raaik't with Indian coolies, from what- 

 ever quarler, by private speculation, in the absence 

 of a distinct undei-stauding with the Government of 

 India or the colonial Government concerned. 



Nor does it appear to meat all likely that the Go- 

 vernment of India will give its consent to any such 

 arrangement as tliat contemplated by the clause in- 

 tended to ensure the restriction of coolie labour to the 

 sugar industry only. It is to be remembered that the 

 welfare of the Indian ryot is the sole or principal ob- 

 ject which the Viceroy and his advisers have in view 

 m sanctioning emigration. Overpeopled as many dis- 

 tricts are, nevertheless the attitude of Indian autho- 

 rities towards emigration has never been one of en- 

 couragement, but rather of jealousy and dissuasion. 

 Such a severe provision as the clause referred to exists 

 in the emigration ordinances of no colony with which 

 I am acquainted, and in my humble opinion this 

 clause, if insisted on, must prove fatal to coolie 

 emigration to Queensland. » » * * 



NETHERLANDS INDIA: PLANTING COFFEE, 

 CINCHONA &c. 

 ( Translated from Dutch newspapers.) 

 "Coffee in Bencoolen. — A correspondent writes to 

 us as follows : — To affirm, and, as was done in the Java 

 Bode of the 20th October, that the soil of Bencoolen is 

 wholly unsuit.ible for coffee growing, is going rather too 

 far. It is true, the soil there is uot characlerized by 

 special fertillily, but, in former times, during the 

 British occupation or tempo In'jgrien, coffee cultivation 

 was so extensively carried ou in Bencoolen that several 

 merchants actually began to build brick storehouses 

 for that produet at the chief town. But here, too, the 

 Hollander did m t fail to assert himself. The coffee 

 culture had succeeded withoutauy interference from Gov- 

 ernment, yet the latter endeavoured to reap its fruits. 

 When coffee began to till the merchants' storehouses the 

 bright idea was hit upon that room for coffee might also be 

 found in the Government storehouses. The then assistant 

 Resident came forwards, with the terrible word )«OH.o;;o/^: 



Henceforth all coffee must be delivered to Government 



at a very low price. What was the result ? At first the 

 coffee was conveyed by dealers beyond the mountains 

 iuto PaUmbang territory, where that article was worth 

 30 to 35 ouiiders per picul, instead of to Beneoolen, 

 where, after submitting to the caprices of officials 

 high and low, they were at length paid 10 guilders 

 per picul fur their best quality coffee. When the 

 authorities Imjk measures to compel coffee to be con- 

 veyed to Bencoolen, three months afterwards all the 

 coffee trees there were cut down by their owners, 

 and naturally the supply nf coffee ceased. Bencoolen 

 was suitable for growing coffee m the tempo Imjtjrks, 

 but became unsuitable for it in the tempo Wolaiida or 

 Dutch period."— Java Bode, 4th Nov. 



"Netherlands authority will shortly extend over 

 additional territory in Siimutra, namely over several 

 B,itt;ik districts lying between the South shore of ths 

 Toba liike and the subdivision of Siliudong. Tbis 

 fcxteusion of authority has, however, not been obtained 

 by force of arms, but the chiefs of these districts 

 themselves have expressed a wish for it." — Mandelsblad. 

 Battavin Dcujbkui, 9th Nov. 



According to the report on the Government cin- 

 cliuiia culture in Java for the third quarter of 1882, 

 tiie bark collected during that period amounted to 

 170,000 Amsterdam lbs. Experiments in grafting dif- 

 terept varieties of Cinchona in tbe open air were pro- 

 ceeded with during the period under report with un- 

 satisfactory results. The crop of Leilgeriaiia seeds 

 proved so abundant that it became possible to supply 



all applicants for the same. 28,000 Cinchona trees 

 of inferior quality were uprooted and 8,000 Succirubras 

 planted instead. 



The coffee planters in Mid Java have petitioned the 

 Second Chamber of the States General for the remis- 

 sion of the export duty on coffee in Java, ou the 

 ground that, owing to the low prices now ruling for 

 that article, they cannot afford to pay it, amounting 

 as it does to 7 per cent, on the value. The Soura- 

 baya " Courant " of the 14th November states that 

 the price of coffee by last advices had fallen so low 

 at Buleling that the Captain China there had directed 

 bis coffee to be sent back thither from Singapore. 



The "Java Bode" states that the outlay ou State 

 railways in Java is estimated to amount to 43,400,000 

 guilders at the end of this year. They are expect- 

 ed, next year, to yield 3 per cent, on the cost of con- 

 struotiou ^Straits Times. 



CARTHAGENA BARK IN THE DARJEELING 

 CINCHONA 'PLANTATIONS. 

 We do not recollect a single allusion to insect 

 blights in reports of the Sikkhim Gardens until now. 

 And in Dr. King's report which apjiears in full 

 on page 552, there is still no mention of harm 

 done even to the delicate Ledgerianas by the 

 insect blights from which the Carthagena species has 

 suffered so "dreadfully" that only 30 plants are left, 

 although at first the propagation of this kind promised 

 so well. It is curious that nature should thus, ap- 

 parently, lay her ban on particular plants as iuthe 

 case of the Australian gums in some of the wetter 

 parts of Ceylon. We wish Dr. King had specified the 

 special insect : but it is probably helopeltts Antonii, 

 the Indian ' ' tea bug. " 



COCONUT PALM SUGAR AND SUGAR FROM 

 THE PALMIRAH AND KITTUL. 



Mr. Jayawardene, who has sent us a phial of very pure 

 and beautiful crystals, is quite correct (see page 573) in 

 asserting that, from time immemorial, the natives of 

 Ceylon have known how to produce crystallized sugar 

 from the inspissated juice of the coconut tree spathe. 

 About thirty years ago, in consequence of a letter 

 from the late Mr. J. Glanville Taylor of Batticaloa 

 asking for information as to the probable success of 

 attempiting to utilize coconut palms for sugar making, 

 we went fully into the matter, receiving considerable 

 assistance from Mr. D. C. Amesekere, a proctor who, 

 when we last heard of him was practising at Kuruue- 

 gala. On that occasion he sent us a quantity of 

 crystallized coconut tree sugar which, however, was 

 somewhat discoloured by smoke. The result of our 

 enquii-ies was that although the juice, when collected, 

 was rich in saccharine matter, yet the cost of col- 

 lection would render the euterprize unprofitable. What 

 pays natives on a small scale will not pay Europeans 

 when the matter is entered into on commercial jirin- 

 ciples. An experiment might be tried, however, 

 labour being economized by the use of ladders, per- 

 haps, and a much larger use than the natives make 

 in toddy drawing, of rope passages from tree to tree ? 

 Large quantities of sugar are made from the juice 

 of the pabiiirah pahn in the Jaffna peninsula, chiefly 

 in the neighbonrhood of Point Pedro, the agent used 

 to prevent fermentation by rising coral lime, a little of 

 which is put into each chatty. The coarse, black sugar 

 which results from evaporation over fire is poured into 

 minute olah baskets (made of plaited leaves of the 

 palmirah) and exported mainly to Pondicherry, where 

 it is refined and crystallized, — at least that was the 

 process in our day, — over forty years ago, alas I The 



