S86 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[January i, 1883, 



were generally paid in labour, and in the products of the 

 soil. Feudal service existed already in Java when the 

 first Europeans lauded there. The payment of taxes in 

 natural, instead of in money, is, certainly, everywhere 

 an original form which will be abandoned as civilisation 

 and the development of the people and the country urge 

 to better legislation, and a desire arises for more fixity. 

 The rulers of the E. I. Archipelago were, however, not 

 contented with collecting the taxes in natural. When they 

 thought the productions of the country were desirable for 

 their commercial operations, they gradually mixed them- 

 selves more directly with the cultivation and exercised a 

 preponderant influence over them. Among the principal 

 produce that the Dutch found in the E. I. Archipelago 

 were Eice, Spices, Indigo and Cotton. They secured as 

 much as possible of these , as they could at the lowest 

 prices, and when a disturbance of the balance between 

 production and requirement threatened, the export was 

 prohibited according to circumstances, and they even re- 

 peatedly resorted to the destruction of costly plantations. 

 The market rates were always fixed arbitrarily, and 

 the Company and their servants caved little whether 

 the producers received proper payment for the forced 

 sale. 



Sugar planting was introduced in the western part of 

 Java at the commencement of the I7th century, and this 

 new source of revenue was also immediately pounced 

 upon. Permission was necessary for the erection of sugar 

 mills, and the planters were obliged to part with a certain 

 quantity of their manufacture at an arbitrarily fixed price. 

 If it was in the interest of the Company to have a large 

 quantity of Sugar, they compelled the producers — if neces- 

 sary, by force of arms — to give up their whole product ; 

 but if, on the contrary, they saw no advantage in a com- 

 mercial operation, they left the Sugar unnoticed, and 

 troubled themselves no further about the contracts they 

 had made. Cotfee cultivation was also introduced into 

 Java in the 17th century, and it has continued to be the 

 principal source of the Government revenue to the present 

 day. The extension and the spread of this culture took 

 place compulsorily, and with no other culture was this 

 compulsion carried on so incessantly or with more pertin- 

 acity. In ly30 when the financial distress of the mother 

 country forced them to do everything to increase the 

 revenue, the Governor-General van den Bosch introduced 

 the Culture System with the king's consent. In future 

 the Government would step in, not only as merchant, but 

 as planter and manufacturer also. 



The Culture System served as a reform of the old taxes. 

 The Sovereign— they reasoned thus — has a right of dis- 

 posal of a portion of the time and labour of the people. 

 If that people are not forced to work, their small wants 

 will not induce them to extraordinary exertion. If, on 

 the contrary, they are taught to accustom themselves to 

 regular labour under the superintendence of their chiefs, 

 and the guidance of officials, they will not only learn use- 

 ful agricultiu:e and the several branches of industry, but 

 their taste for labour will have a powerful stimulus. There 

 would be no necessity for actual compulsion. All that the 

 Government considered in their interest would mostly take 

 place by virtue of contracts to be made with the chitifs and 

 the people. The conditions of the contracts were fixed by 

 the Government. The consent of the contractors on the 

 other side was accepted a j^riori^ and care was especially 

 taken that the latter had no reason to complain of a too 

 luxurious remuneration. Van den Bosch's principles were 

 immediately fearfully abused in the application of the 

 same. The otficials and the native chiefs understood that 

 above all, money had to be made, and their co-operation 

 was not a little incited by a percentage. There were in 

 those days eminent statesmen who thought that the ap- 

 plication of the Culture System would result in a revolt. 

 It has not come so far, although there has been much 

 suffering and much abuse. In a few years 800.000 families 

 were connected with the Government cultures. Coffee, 

 Sugar, Tea, Tobacco, Indigo, Pepper, Cotton, Cinnamon, 

 Cochineal and Silk were cultivated by order of the Go- 

 vernment, and although the feudal services weighed heavily 

 on the people, they nevertheless had to pay their ground 

 rents and indirect taxes. Java had become a gigantic farm 

 where time and labour were not to be taken into consider- 

 ation, but where the question how to procure the greatest 



possible quantity of produce for the European market had 

 to be solved. The co-operating officials were splendidly 

 paid and promoted. The interests of the native chiefs 

 were united to those of the Government, Van den Bosch 

 knew that if he could reckon on those chiefs, there need 

 be no fear of opposition on the part of the people. The 

 Java war had just ended. The Dutch had left the field 

 as conquerors after a five years' struggle. Peace was longed 

 for in Central Java, and the jirestUje of the strongest was 

 again strong enough for the time all over the island to 

 suppress all idea of resistance. 



The Culture System may have proved the creative genius 

 of the founder, and his great desh-e to help his king and 

 his country out of their financial dilemma, but the appli- 

 cation of it has not been able to bear criticism ; and it 

 has given to the Javanese people a real history of great 

 suffering. 



If we except the cultivation of Coffee and Sugar, it 

 would be difficult to prove that all the other cultures put 

 together did really bring the Government any profit. It 

 is on the other hand not possible to say now what a 

 flight the development of Java would have taken had the 

 forced cultures not sui>planted and obstructed former in- 

 dustries. We have progressed. The Culture System has 

 been legally condemned. Of all the old cultures " by 

 command," only that of Coffee and Sugar remains. Go- 

 vernment intervention in the cultivation of Sugar will end 

 in 1890, and as regards the Government Cotfee cultiv- 

 ation, for many years it has been said that the utmost 

 must be done to make that a popular one. Measures 

 have been taken for the rescission of taxes and the re- 

 moval of burdens for the improvement of agriculture, and 

 as an inducement to free cultivation. Exteriorly there 

 would seem to be great improvement, and much has been 

 conceded ; but the inward sense, however, remains " com- 

 pulsion " at too niggai-dly a remuneration. There is no 

 doubt that in a few years hence a trial will be made 

 with the radical means of restoration which offers. That 

 can be found in a i^roiier payment of the produce. 



A quarter of a century ago all cultivation was under 

 Government control. All has since been abandoned, with 

 the exception of that of Coffee and Sugar. The Uandong 

 or forest labour has also been abohshed, and we may 

 gratefully acknowledge that the Government cultures have 

 lost a great deal of their original oppression, and that 

 in this direction also another spirit on the part of the 

 Government has caused its powerful influence to be felt. — 

 Batavia " Telegraaf" 



WHAT AILS OUR COFFEE TREES (IN CEYLON 



AND SOUTHERN INDIA). , 



[This question is of so much interest to our readers 

 that we copy from the local Colombo " Times " the fol- 

 lowing very sensible letter. We fear there Is no doubt 

 of the correctness of the conclusion that repeated attacks 

 of hemUeia vastatrix lead to serious constitutional dis- 

 turbance in all the functions of the tree. To the summing- 

 up in the final paragraph, the writer miglit have added, 

 as one of the worst effects of the debilitating effects of 

 the leaf fungus, the inability of the coffee tree to elabor- 

 ate good feeding rootlets in proper quantity. — Ed.] 



SiK, — "AV." holds as facts many things which others ai-e 

 not disposed to admit as such, and hence the unsoundness of 

 some of his reasonings and inferences. To begin with, he 

 states : " //. Vastatruv affects the leaves only of the coffee 

 tree," and that " the trees after several attacks manifest 

 the highest vigour of growth by the production of profuse 

 flushes of new foliage." Neither of these are admitted 

 facts. The fungus has also been seen, if not feeding, ex- 

 isting on, or as " W." puts it "besetting" the pulp or 

 skin of the fruit, the bark and the rootlets, not in its 

 germinal, but in a semi-developed state. Its action on 

 the berry or fruit, either directly or by debilitating the 

 tree through its leaves, though not in every case sufficient 

 to prevent the development of the fruit, yet affects the 

 bean in it. In the coffee curing stores, not only has there 

 been detected a decrease in the weight of the beans, more 

 being needed to the cwt. than formerly, but the propor- 

 tion of unsound beans has been noticed to increase year 



