September i, 1884.] T HE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



1S1 



Turn again to Ceylon which, so far as one hoars, turns 

 out more tea per acre from abandoned teelah coffee lands 

 than any Indian I Turn yet again to the latest 



"fad" — the low bheel lauds, now being opened out in 

 Sylbet and Oachar, and the question somewhat resembles 

 the story told of tho old woman who preferred the old 

 days of sts ;e coaches to the quicker locomotion of rail- 

 ways, because wheu you had an upset with the 

 coach the result was only an injured lirub or something 

 of the kind, whilst in the case of a collision on a rail- 

 way, the -.Id lady wisely said, " Wlikre The 

 question "f soils is one which puzzles any one who has 

 visited the tea gardens, and an analyses conveys nothing so 

 long as we are wandering in the dark, as we are now. It 

 has been satisfactorily proved that tea will grow any- 

 where from 20 feet above " dhan field level" to some 

 thousand feet above sea-level on the Bin slopes,* 

 and not ouly grown, in the actual sense of the word, 

 merely to exist, but what we mean is to be a profitable 

 speculation, but we should like to see Government take 

 a httlo more interest in the matter and appoint an 

 to go into tho matter. If wo had in tea the same inter- 

 ests represented that the "rice goods" line has in the 

 present Cabinet we would not only have the duty re- 

 pealed, which would boa doubtful benefit to the planter, 

 but we would have scientific experts of all kinds ap- 

 pointed in the interests of the industry, but clothed m 

 another robe, and assumed probably to be necessary in a 

 sanitary point of view. — Exhibitions of all sorts seem to 

 bo the rage now-a-days, would it not bo possible to get up 

 an Inter-District Exhibition, and educate the public taste 

 in pure Indian teas, and such as can find their way to the 

 consumer, and not such trumped up samples as were ex- 

 hibited at the Calcutta Exhibition/) 1 If ouly we can excite 

 sufficient interest and atteutionit would not be loug before 

 scientific knowledge would be brought to bear upon tea, 

 aud then would not have so much of the miserable fail- 

 ure of prospectuses as is to be but too readily met with 

 amongst the many tea plantations held out to speculat- 

 ors. It is, we suppose, natural for tea planters to take 

 shares in many of these tempting looking speculations, 

 but it is wonderful how few are carried out on their 

 original programmes, So far wo confess we could offer 

 no opinion on what soil is best suited to tea, as we have 

 seen it flourishing on such entirely different soils, that it 

 would appear to us as if much more depended on the 

 manager than the soil that the thing should lie a financial 

 i 1 the same time we are far from thinking 

 that a great deal is not yet to be learnt from science 

 being brought to bear upon tho subject. How many and 

 how varied are the opinions we leave our readers to record, 

 but every one in the tea districts knows that, until quite 

 lately, the tea plant was considered pre-eminently a tap- 

 root plant, and when one planter was asked by another 

 to explain certain deficiencies in yield, was answered that 

 it was entirely due to tho plant being unable to pene- 

 trate the bard sub-soil from being originally badly planted. 

 How rudely may we ask has the idea been dispelled by 

 tin 1 bheel planting, in which no tap-root exists || and yet 

 gives a magnificent yield per acre, aud the old woman's 

 question again affords an answer — " Where are you ? " — 

 Indigo '.'I' I Tt ! Planters' Gazette. 



THE SUGAR INDUSTRY , 



It may be said of the sugar industry at the present time 

 that it is on its trial in Queensland. The same might 1 ave 

 bi i and no doubt was, said of it some years ago, before 

 it emerged from i's experimental stage into one of appar- 

 ently well-established success. The remark was tine then, 

 but only in a li eal and limited sense. It is equally true now, 

 but its application has a wider— a national— character. 

 When the cultivation aud manufacture of sugar began to 



* In Ceylon over 6,000 feet.— Ed. 



i N.B.— Ed. 



J T! of the enterprizc in Ceylon seems to 



prove that climate is about as important a factor as 

 soil. — Ed. 



|j This is new to lis. Is the j'l" : , s tnp- 



rooi. or do< i it lot oil' in [1 

 - Eft 



bo successfully conducted, thero was no difficulty to contend 

 with ou the scoro of labour. Coloured labour could be pro- 



Voui the Pacific Islands without any great trouble: 

 there was no uncertainty about it, because there were quite 



i men who were willing to come over, aud the cost of 

 obtaining and placing them on tho plantations was moderate. 

 So completely successful, indeed, had the planters' oper- 

 ations become that capitalists in the Southern colonies, 

 who were just then beginning to feel the difficulty of in- 

 vesting their accumulating wealth at reasonable rates of 

 interest, began to turn their attention to this new field for en- 

 terprising speculation. No sooner, however, had the rush for 

 sugar lands fairly set in than the labour question presented 

 a new aspect. The number of recruits who were wanted to 

 carry on tho work, consequent upon this extension of cultiv- 



could not be obtained, and the cost of procuring 

 field hands rose in a proportionate degree to the obstacles 

 which had to be surmounted before they could be secured. 

 Kidnapping and other illegal means were more frequently 

 resorted to, aud the regulations were made more stringent. 

 Then came the general elections; the Liberal party advocat- 

 total abolition of black labour ; and it was tho Liberal 

 party who gained the victory. Coloured labour has not been 

 abolished ; but the conditions under which it may be obtained 

 and used are such that many persons who have carefully 

 watched the course of events do not hesitate to affirm that 

 it must shortly die a natural death. Le that as it may it 

 is plain to everyone that sugar can only be made at a much 

 greater cost now than a few years ago. And when, in 

 addition to these circumstances, we find that the value of 

 the commodity has declined, and that no solutiou of the 

 labour difficulty has even been attempted, the truth of our 

 contention must be admitted— the sugar industry is indeed 

 on its trial. 



* * * 



Amongst the causes which are likely to encourage beet 

 growing, must be quoted the following — " It is said for 

 example, that the intensive cultivation necessary for grow- 

 ing beet so improves the soil in Germany that for four years 

 afterwards all the crops raised are greatly improved. 'Con- 

 sequently the cultivation is much in favour with good farmers 

 And, besides, the pulp of Uie root, after the juice is ex- 

 pressed, is used in the feeding of cattle. For these reasons 

 beet cultivation will probably continue to extend upon the 

 Continent for some years yet, even if the price remains 

 low, and will increase rapidly if the price rises ; while here 

 at home a movement is just now being set on foot to intro- 

 duce the cultivation in England. 



Euough has been said to show to what degree ;i 

 tension of sugar-growing in Queensland is affected by the 

 condition of the industry in Europe and elsewhere. It has 

 been admitted ou all hands that the interests of the colony 

 have been already, and may be further, advanced by the 

 expansion of the sugar trade. We would ask then— Is this 

 a tinio to make what may become a great industry, which 

 will greatly enrich the colony, subservient to the exigencies 

 oi party polities? Should not everyone rather devote him- 

 self to its encouragement by every legitimate meaus, instead 

 of allowing it to languish— perhaps almost to perish— while 

 politicians squable over questions of black and white and 

 while the labour question is really finding, for good or for 

 evil, its own solution ?—Queenslander. 



W iy Plants.— Mr. T. Darwin in 



■e (May 1, p. 7), on the " Absorption of 

 Water by Plants," shows that the rate of absorption is iu- 

 ampnessor drynessof theair, being more 

 rapid in dry air, owing to the more rapid evaporation from 

 the leaves, and more rapid in sunlight than in shade !(•- 

 also confirms Baranetzky's statement that a small disturb- 

 ance, such as a slight shake, by increasing the transpir- 

 ation from the leaves increases the rate of absorption, while 

 cutting off a twig rapidly diminishes if. 

 ever, found 

 moval of le;r i did not altei 



"'Ht oi i vaporation in the least; and even 

 I ■ re removed from 



tnt of evaporatii a ■ 



1 to tha 

 L ' '• P'aut ' | m. Hoc, xlvi., C27),— 1 



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