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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[February i, 1883. 



thp soil is goocl, and frosts not severe, cinchona maj 

 be cultivated succeesfuUy from the crests of the 

 hi]i tops to the s. mi-tropical plateaus of WyDaad. 

 A ridi' from Ootacamund, via the Government plant- 

 ation at Iv'i dfliwuttam, down the Guddalur ghat, and 

 BO on 10 Devalah and Cherimbady, on the borders 

 of S. E. Wjnaad, would not only convince the most 

 sceptical of the advantages of cinchona growing, but 

 also prove a source of pure delight, from its con- 

 stant change of lovely scenery, flora, fauna, and ever- 

 hospitable planters. Local cause?, of course, afifent 

 tliH growl h of the best intentioned cinchona ; the 

 aspect, soil, and elevation may seem favourable, yet 

 a wind round an unsuspected corner, a want of cover, 

 or an access of frost, may destroy the best laid 

 pl.intations. The unfortunate victims cannot explain 

 til' ir sufferings ; so they die to allow their owners 

 to learn by experience. It is interesting at tlie 

 Government plan uitions at Neddiwuttam, atDeva Shola 

 a'ld other places where crown and red barUs are 

 growing side by side, to notice the points where one 

 deteriorates and the other improves ; the deterioration 

 and imprtement following upon elevation, prevailing 

 winds, and other climatic causes. Cinchona growing 

 is ceriHiidy our most paying industry, and unless 

 some wonderfully effective febrifuge be shortly dis- 

 covered, eva those who now begin to plant ought 

 to make a fortune from this tree of knowledge. The 

 quautiiy of bark how going to market must 

 in some measure affect prices, but allowing 

 for a fall of fifty per cent within the next ten years, 

 (which IS scarcely likely to occur) still an ample margin 

 of profit would be left to any one with sufficient 

 capital to pay out and not expect to bring in for 

 six years. The want of capital is the root of all evil 

 in all our hill induetries. Cinchona, gold, tea and coffee 

 alike suffer from want of funds; men believe they can 

 make their foi tunes by laying hidd of ihe rope, and 

 forget that they must go on pulling. And things are 

 not quite evenly balanced too ; the monied men prob- 

 ably have no application, the persevering men no 

 money. Hut to cease moralizing and give some statist- 

 ics will best please your readers, and I can speak 

 from most reliable data. Roughly speaking, to pur- 

 chase and bring under cultivation one hundred acret 

 of cinchona would cost from one lac to ii lac and 

 quarter of rupees to the end of the sixth ye.ar ; the 

 removal of bark can commence in the fifth year, and 

 extensive barlting during the sixth. All expenses, 

 including interest at six per cent on outlay, should, 

 ordinarily, have been paid, and half a lac profit, or 

 more, remain in addition. At the end of the sixth 

 year of famine, comes the plenty following the famine, 

 the lean planter will now become the fat planter, for 

 he will have an estate to shew worth from ten to twelve 

 thousand pounds, and his five thou3.and pounds gained 

 by sale of bark wherewith to enlarge his border. Is it 

 surprising that I place cinchona foremost among 

 mountaiu-money-making ?" 



PLANTING PROSPECTS IN BRAZIL. 



The overproduction of coffee in Brazil and the bane- 

 ful eft'ecis of slavery on the interests of the Empire are 

 thus noticed in the Hio News : — 



The address of Barao do Rio Bonito at the coffee 

 exhibition on the 30th ultimo, while it is filled with 

 many practical suggestions and conclusions and is (Us- 

 tinguished for what agiicultmists Uke to call common- 

 seuse, is nevertheless something disappointing. It is to 

 be noted, however, that the report from which our 

 abstract was taken was neither faithfid nor full ; the 

 speaker talked much more plainly and to the point 

 thau the JoriniVs report gives him credit for. And yet, 

 aftej- all, what practical conclusions can we draw ? Every- 

 body can see that the coffee planting industry of Brazil 



has actually entered upon a crisis whose end no one 

 can foresee. Everyone can see that the competition of 

 other and new jiroducing countries has been rapidly in- 

 creasing, that production has considerably over-lapped 

 consumption, and that prices have suffered a natural 

 decline, Aud, furthermore, every good observer cannot 

 faU to see that these prices have actually fallen below 

 the proJit line in Brazilian production, and that the 

 planter is not reducing the costs of production to meet 

 the emergency. In view of the fact that Bar.ao do Rio 

 Bonito is mdely known to be one of the foremost coffee 

 planters in Brazil , it was reasonably expected that some 

 practical remedy would be proposed for the iUs afflict- 

 ing this iudustiy. He rendered good service, however, 

 in pointing out some of the causes which have led to 

 this result : high taxes, high transportation tariffs, the 

 loss of credit and capital, and the labor diflicidties caused 

 by the emancipation law of 1871 and the scarcity of 

 free labor. When however he pleads for the system now 

 in vogue, and calls upon the government for aid, he 

 certainly fails to meet the real exigencies of the ques- 

 tion. It is not ignorance of the climate of Brazil — as 

 inferred by Dr AveUaneda and supported by Barao do 

 Bio Bonito — that carries the stream of foreign emigra- 

 tion past Brazilian doors to those of the Argentine Re- 

 public. It is nothing less than the knowledge that the 

 immi.gi-ant stands no chance in this counti-y for better- 

 ing his condition, and that the laws aud usages are all 

 against him. Explain it as we may, the impleasant fact 

 BtUl remains that the ciu'se of slavery has so tainted this 

 land aud its people that foreign emigi'ation turns away 

 from them unconsciously. So it was in the southei-n 

 section of the United States in the days of slaveiy ; so 

 it is and must be here. The vice of slaveiy leads men 

 to look upon manual labor as degi-ading, and upon all 

 who engage in it as servile. The emigi-ant knows this, 

 however poor and ignorant he may be. And then, too, 

 the unhappy experiences iu years past are perfectly weU- 

 known to emigi-ants, and they are little likely to follow 

 in the footsteps of those who have suffered so much 

 hardship aud indignity in the years past. It will be years 

 before the English will attempt another Oanauea, or the 

 Memnonites -nill reclaim then- worthless campos iu Parani. 



In closing tlie General Assembly on the 28th the 

 Emperor made the customary address from the tlu'one, 

 announcing the existence of unbroken peaceful rela- 

 tions with foreign powers, the promulgation of the 

 new commercial treaty with China, the consular con- 

 vention concluded with Germany, the continuation of 

 hostilities on the West Coast, unbroken tranquility 

 iu all parts of the empii-e, the appearance of smallpox 

 in several jirovinces and the jjurpose of tlie Government 

 to check it. He thanked parliament for voting the 

 necessaiy funds for carrying on the government, and ad- 

 vised a consideration of the provincial question at the 

 next session. The measures adopted relating to patents, 

 joint-stock companies, and the registration of voters, 

 meet his cordial approval, as also the special 

 appropriations for the navy, and the aids extended to 

 the construction of railways and other improvements 

 contributing to the grandeur and prosperity of the em- 

 pire. The session was then declared closed. 



The new additional tax of 10 per cent on imports, 

 together with the increase in warehouse charges and 

 the reduction of 2 per cent in the export duties on 

 coffee, sugar, cotton and mat6, are to go into execu- 

 tion on the 9th inst. On and after that date the 

 additional tax on the schedule rates will be 60 instead 

 of 5U per cent. The new rates for the customs ware- 

 houses will be i per cent for the first month, which 

 will be collected on all entries whether they remain 

 iu the custom house or not. For two months the tax 

 will be 1 per cent per month; for three months IJ 

 per cent per month ; and for periods exceeding three 

 months 2 per cent per month, or 24 jjer cent per an- 

 num — the tax being levied upon the duties imposed 



