October i, 1884.] 



THF. TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 



297 



the destructivem'ss of white ants. 3. They have loirs that 

 the rainfall, though sufficient ill quantity, falls within too 

 short a time. 4. Hiving been informed that Delissaville 

 was some of the best land in the Territory, and finding 

 that the crop was a failure there every year, they have 

 naturally coucluded that there is no hind which can be 

 depended upon to grow sugar ata profit. I will take these 

 four points seriatim: I. I have accounted for the failure 

 at Delissaville; it is not white ants, nor insufficient rain- 

 fall, but a had selection of barren land. 2. The white 

 ants have never damaged the cine at the Government 

 gardens, a". .Messrs. Oloppenbnrg and Erickson's, at Messrs, 

 Harris k. Head's, at M-. Brandt's at Mr. Owston's on the 

 Daly; or at Mr. Sergison's on the Adelaide. 3. The crop 



of eane at the gardens and at the three first-mentio 1 



places this year demonstrates that even in a dry year 

 like the present, sugarcane will thrive ml mature to the 

 extent of a thoroughly remunerative crop. 4. That there 

 are large areas of land suited and available for sugar- 

 growing on a large scale 1 will now show. On in v arrival 

 in Palmerston, and learning the actual position oi agri- 

 cultural operations, 1 felt it was my first duty to ascer- 

 tain, by actual examination* whether or not the land on 

 the banks of the Adelaide and other rivers is suitable 

 for the growth of sugar and other tropical and sub-trop- 

 ical plants. In Palmerston itself conflicting rumours were 

 current, and in order that the Government might have 

 the information necessary to determine their policy, I ar- 

 ranged with Mr. Holtze, the Government Gardener : Mr. 

 BSddles, the Manager of Delissaville; and Mr. Brandt 

 the proprietor of the plantation at Shoal Bay to accom- 

 pany me on a tour of inspection. I have already for- 

 warded a full account of the expedition, and also the 

 reports of the gentlemen mentioned, anil I respectfully 

 recommend that their reports should be printed as an 

 appendix to this report. [They appear in this connec- 

 tion.] The rough sketch plan which accompanies Mr. 

 Holtze's report shows the points at which we landed. 

 In each case we took with us a pick and spade and dug 

 through the soil and deep into the subsoil. We walked 

 over many miles and dug holes at irregular intervals, 

 and where there were different su-face appearances, t'he 

 top soil is dark, and plentifully bearing roots and veget- 

 able matter. The subsoil is a heavy bluish cl»y or marl, 

 which has also a considerable quantity of vegetable fibres. 

 The natural vegetation is chiefly the "bladey" grass. 

 Tli.- plains are of great extent, and give ample room 

 for a large number of plantations. The ground would 

 require deep ploughing and through breaking up aid 

 working, for which steam-ploughs would probably be the 

 most economical, as there is .no timber to clear. Ex- 

 perience has proved tint the heavy clay after being ex- 

 posed to the air, sun, and rain, becomes friable. At 

 Manton's Hills, where Mr. Sergison had planted, the 

 canes, though almost smothered with grass, were still 

 growing, and so were the bananas and pineapples. At 

 Beatrice Hills Messrs. Fisher & Lyons have planted about 

 7,000 coffee plauts, the whole of which were in vigorous 

 condition. They had been brought by blacks fromPoett's 

 Rum Jungle Nursery, and wex*e out of the ground for 

 four days. There hive been only about 2 per cent 

 of misses. There has been no rain since March 

 and no artificial watering. I forward by the same 

 steamer two of the plants indiscriminately selected. 

 Beatrice Hills are very stouv, and there is a large 

 quantity of similar country in the Territory. Ten acre* of 

 iudiaruhber-trees have also been planted, which are doing 

 well. The verdict of the whole party is that there is a 

 large area of hue agricultural laud on the A. lelai le River. 

 On our return we called at Escape Oliff. Nothing renaius 

 there but the brick floor of a verandah, a well, some iron 

 tanks, aheap of bombshells, and a few poles driven in the 

 sea at the foot of the cliff. I may add that the Adelaide 

 is a deep-water tidal river, navigable for seventy miles, and 

 the blacks are harmless. 



Having found the Adelaide so much better than was 

 anticipated, I thought it well to visit to Daly River, which 

 lies about 100 miles'to the westward. The '-'Palmer I oh" 

 steamed to the mouth, and vre ascended in the launch lb raf 

 sixty-five miles. At the place where Mr. Owsrnn planted, 

 the sugarcane crop had been destroyed by fire; but the 

 charred cane showed that it had thriven well, and tie' young 



38 



cane was again sprouting. Here, too, the bananas, pappias, 

 aud pinnapples were in full growth. In our examination 

 of the soil we adopted the sime nlau of digging down 

 through the soil into the subsoil. We found wide and d >ep 

 plains covered with " blady" grass, with patches of jungle, 

 with rich loamy soil and subsoil. The experts of oiir party 

 pronounced the land to be superior to that on the Adelaide, 

 and adapted specially for sugar where richest, for indigo 

 where »aud shows, aud for rice on the plains towards the 

 sea. The banks of the upper river are high, covered 

 with thick jungle; but those of the lower river are 

 mostly bare, and constantly washing away with the 

 flool waters of the wet seasons. The Daly is more 

 difficult to navigate than the Adelaide. The report 

 of Mr. Holtze. with which Mr. Biddies concurred, would 

 give, if printed, some valuable and reliable information of 

 the Dalv River, which I feel satisfied will shortly b the 

 scene of extensive agricultural operations. The blacks, 

 though less familiar with Europeans than ou the Adelaide, 

 were friendly. We landed among about 150 of them, visited 

 their camps; gave them tobacco and flour, and parted from 

 them with expressions of goodwill. The promising chaiac- 

 ter of the lands on these rivers gives reason to expect that 

 similar conditions exist on the Victoria, the East and West 

 Alligators, the Hutchinson, the Govder. and other rivers 

 which flow into the Arafura Sea. This will be ascertained 

 bv the trip of exploration on which the Palmerston will 

 shortly proceed. If the results accord with the anticipa- 

 tions, which may reasonably he entertained the Indian 

 Immigration Bill will soon be in operation, ami the Northern 

 Territory, with its virgin soil and freedom from the labour 

 difficulties and locusts of Queensland, will take a foremost 

 place as a sugar-producing country. — S.A. Register. 



PEARLSHELL FISHING. 



The rush of a small fleet of pearling boats to Port Darwin 

 Harbour has not resulted in a large export of pearlshell. 

 It is, indeed, useless to ignore the fact that up to the 

 present the results have been disappointing About 

 fifteen tons of pearlshell have been shipped during 

 the quarter, the declared value of which is £2,032. 

 The two complaints made by the pearlers is that the 

 shell is in too deep water, and that the water is too muddy 

 for the divers to be able to see. There is, no doubt, some 

 force in both allegations. The divers have been work- 

 ing in from ten to twenty fathoms but very little in the 

 latter depth. Diving apparatus is now made which en- 

 ables a man to work freely at thirty-five fathoms ; and 

 the Manager of the Queensland Pearl-shelling Company 

 informs me that his Company, notwithstanding the re- 

 ported ill-success of the Thursday Island pearlers, have 

 determined to bring rouud some boats provided with the 

 deep-diving apparatus, aud thoroughly test, the harbour 

 and the eoast. One reason which accounts for poor 

 getting is that the majority of the divers which have 

 come here have been indulging in a prolonged debauch, 

 and have been, of course, unfitted for their work. I was 

 informed by a gentleman, who learnt the particulars 

 from one of the crew, that their boat was outside for 

 some time, and when they came back they all said " no 

 luck, no findee shell." But the fact was one diver had 

 only been down three times, and that bjt for a few 

 minutes. The best proof of the confidence eutertained 

 is that the local Companies . will carry on their oper- 

 ations, and a boat with an entirely local crew is starting 

 off on a prospecting trip round to the west next week. 

 The Manager of the Queensland Company states that 

 his Company attach no importance to the opinions ex- 

 pressed by these divers. Every one agrees that the 

 pe/iod of the north-west monsoous will be much more 

 favourable than that of the south-east now blowing, as 

 the water will be much clearer. Pearlshell beds exist 

 to the eastward of us in Torres Straits, and have been 

 worked for years. They exist also to the westward on 

 the Westeni Australian coast, where there have been rich 

 an I continuous yields. Pearlshell to the extent of about 

 twenty tons have been taken from the bed of Port 

 Darwin Harbour during the past few months. It is in- 

 credible, therefore, that our great stretch of eoast, with 

 its num rous islands, is a total and blank exception. — 

 South Australian Register, 



