February i, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



(,(, 



it and do jjretty well, I believe. I can't give you 

 any particuhu'S as to cost of cultivation, &o., as it 

 seems to vary a great deal according to the district 

 you are in, means of transport, &:c. , but every one 

 up the coast is at. pi-esent sugar-mad, and sajs nothing 

 can come up to it for good returns. 



At Mackay, I went over nearly every mill there, 

 and, as the crushing season was in, I saw all the pro- 

 ceases of sug.ir manufacture. The machinery required 

 is very complicated and the expense very great. With 

 the improved smashers good white sugar can be turned 

 out straight from the mill, aud no after-retining is 

 required. 



My own idea is that, in two or three years' time, 

 there will be a fall in sugar properties ; their present 

 value is quite fictitious. As to any other products, 

 not havint! been in the extreme north 1 can't say 

 if they would do there, but I am pretty well certain 

 that between Somerville and Mackay there is no 

 suitable land. Unfortuuately I did not see the 20-iicro 

 patch of cofiee at Mackay, but 1 saw the owner, wlio 

 was managing a sugar place for a man I was stay- 

 ing with. He said the beans did not till out properly. 

 My advice to any one is to have nothing to do with 

 cofTee ; it is too uncertain a crop altogether, and 

 requires too many congenial conditions. 



Coming down the coast, 1 called in at Eockhamp- 

 ton, Bunderberg, Maryborough, and saw whole fields of 

 cane ruined by forest. Mackay is the southern limit 

 of cane in my opinion. 



To sum up my impressions : — If a man is pre- 

 pared to start afresh and begin at the begin- 

 ning again, to leave all his side behind him, and 

 to a certain extent knuckle under to colonials — 

 a very hard thing to do, by the bye, — to work hard, 

 and pick up all he can, and to keep straight (liquor 

 is the curse of the country), I see no reason why he 

 should not in time work himself into a tolerable 

 position. Of course I am presuming he has health and 

 is pretty active. Let him work for other people first, 

 and, if he has the money, no doubt he will find an 

 opening for myself. Beginning aga'n at the boltom is 

 the hardest pill to swallow, but unless a man is pre- 

 pared to do that he had belter leave Auslralia alone. 

 Sydney. — Since writing the above, I have come 

 down here. I have also had two letters from 

 Ceylon giving doleful accounts of the prospects. 

 As to Queensland as a place to earn in, I won't now ex- 

 press au opinion. To do any good out here, colonial 

 experience must be got ; some men are utter fools ; 

 others pick up the ways of the country very quickly. 

 I leave here next week for Fiji aud return in time 

 for the steamer leaving here for San Francisco. 



Young Ceylon. 



TREE-PLANTING IN BENCOOLEN. 



Batavia, 16th Decemler. — Dining the month of Novem- 

 ber last the authorities at Bencooleu made praiseworthy 

 exertions in planting useful trees, the success of which 

 wUl gi'catly leuefit the population of that residency 

 now hi such a backward state. It is almost incredible 

 that the asam or tamaiind, so indispensable in Java- 

 cookery, is so scarce in Beucoolen that it has to be 

 imported from abroad for the consmnptiou of the people. 

 In the compoimd of the Resident's dwelling, thi-ee nurse- 

 ries of tamariud seedlings have been laid out, with 

 the object of planting them on the roadsides where now 

 either worthless trees or none at aU gi-ow. Thereby 

 glorious shade and charming laues mil he secm'cd. 

 About 1,000 Banda nutmeg seeds have been sown hitherto 

 with successful results. It is intended to distribute the 

 plants from them among the population to replace the 

 too old and dead trees in the mauy but sadly neglected 

 nutmeg plantations there, whereliy it is hoped to raise 

 rom its present declining state, the cultivation of that 



product which formerly was a soui-ce of ahuudaut profit 

 to the people. A similar experiment, says the oUioial 

 Java Vouraiif, will be made with seeds of the Banda 

 Kaaari trees from whose hard fruit eaten like hazel 

 nuts, a pleasant oil is extracted." — Java Bode. 



NILGIRI-GROWN CIKCHONA BARK. 



We recently gave details of the analysis of a consigument of 

 cinchona barlis collected ou the Ciovernment estates at Pykara, 

 Na^lavatam and Dodabetta. Particulai's have now been received 

 of furtller consignments from the same estates that had been for- 

 warded to the India office for the same purpose, wliich we give 

 below. The manufacturing chemists in the present instance were 

 Messrs. Howard & Co.: — 



(Pubesceus pruniiigs). 



The total quantities of alkaioid-s delivered by the mauufaclurers 

 were as ol lows : — 



39-24 

 5-50 

 2-04 

 2-15 

 816 



lb. 



Quiuine sulphate 

 Cinchouidiiie sulphate 

 Ciiichouiae sulphate 

 Mixed tartrates 

 Febrifuges 



The.se include 550 lb. of sulphate of einchonidine. which not 

 beinjj: in demand in the Indian Medical Department, wa-s taken 

 by Mt^-vsr:>. Howard and Suns in pari payment of their mauufac- 

 turiut^ cliar-fes at the rate of Is. 8d. per ounce, the cash payment 

 to them beiijg thus reduced to £2,9l-S 8-3 instead of £3,661-15-4, 

 their original total charges.— -l/at^ra.? Mail. 



TOBACCO IN NORTH BORNEO. 



According to a vSamarang paper, the Iiulischif Vader- 

 land of the ■20th December, the Neth' rlander from Deli 

 who has been inquiring into the suitableness of Noi-th 

 Borneo for tobacco-growing is Mr. L. F. Saunders, 

 who had been commissioned by the British North 

 Borneo Company to ascertain whether the tobacco 

 gi'owii by the nati\'es there would answer when planted 

 and prepared for the European market, ilr, Saunders 

 thus sets forth the result of his researches in the coast 

 district : — 



" I was rejoiced to find that the genuine tobacco 

 plant, and not the inferior wild variety, grew very 

 lu.xuriantly in 8abah, and that the product was of 

 such a nature that even under the careless manage- 

 ment of the natives the leaves reach each a length 

 of one foot. The seeds and hence also the tobacco 

 are indigenous, and may be considered as belongmg 

 to the ' Palemliang ' variety. The leaf terminates 

 where the midrib coinmeiices. the latter being bare 

 with the exception of a few small liaiis. In shape 



