February 2, 18S5.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



613 



PLANTING IN THE STRAITS. 



TO THE EDITOR OF THE SINGAPORE FREE PRESS. 



Batu Pahat, Johore, 21st November, 1884. 



g IB , — In your issue of the 15th instant I notice that 

 a comparison is drawn between Mr. Ohasseriau : s Liberian 

 coffee estate and the Johore estates, which, in my opinion 

 is calculated to injure the latter. Without wishing for 

 one moment to detract from the merits of Mr. Ohasseriau's 

 plantation, I confidently assert that no finer Liberian coffee 

 can be seen in the Straits Settlements than that growing 

 on several estates at Batu Pahat, Johore. There are over 

 500 acres planted with Liberian coffee, 200 acres of which 

 are now giving their maiden crop, which is good, both as 

 regards quantity and quality. Two estates here have pulpers 

 at work, and stores are in csurse of erection. In fact, 

 instead of the Johore estates being a failure, as you would 

 insinuate. Planters here consider them a decided success. 



Light-Step. 



[We are obliged to our correspondent for his correction, 

 but it was the Coffee Arabica the article mentioned as 

 not having prospered as was anticipated. — Ed. S. F. P.~\ 



COONOOR. 



(From our Correspondent.) 

 Coffee. — There can be no shadow of doubt that the 

 present era in the history of coffee planting so far as 

 concerns the industry in Southern India, and more part- 

 icularly as applied to the Nilgiris, is one which will not 

 easily be forgotteD. On all sides we hear nothing but 

 regret at the investment of capital in an enterprize which 

 has ultimately proved noi only unprofitable, but in numer- 

 ous cases, ruinous. Planters are not wanting who will tell 

 you how they wish they had speculated otherwise than in 

 coffee-plantiug ; how they had invested thousands of pounds 

 in the fondly cherished hope of turning them to good 

 account; how they had formed golden visions of future 

 wealth and prosperity ; and how, alas ! all their hopes and; 

 expectations had met with signal failure and disappoint- 

 ment. And, to gain a practical illustration of this, one 

 has only to visit some of the plantations, not only in 

 Coonoor, but in various other localities on the Nilgiris, and 

 what is the picture ? The eye does not catch sight of 

 any " new clearing," there are no signs of any extensions 

 on existing estates, and the number of coolies to be seen 

 at work is visibly and miserably small. Everything seems 

 to have passed from the stage of noticeable advancement 

 to one of palpable retrogression, and in many instances 

 to what is worse — complete abandonment. Short crops 

 are still the cry of owners, age .ts, and superintendents, 

 who have in addition the unsatisfactory prospect of not 

 being able to obtain any profitable return for their pro- 

 duce (already short in itself owing to bad seasons), on 

 account of the glut in the London market. 



In a back number of the Lancet I see a reference made 

 to a plant which it may perhaps be worth the enterprize 

 of some of our friends to experiment in cultivating ; and, 

 at the present time when coffee-planting is not only over- 

 done but offers so little encouragement, it would doubtless 

 be of some value in assisting planting science to introduce 

 something new. The Kola seeds, called also Ombeme nuts, 

 are the produce of Stercidia acuminata, and have become 

 known to west African travellers, who state that when 

 chewed or sucked they possess the power of rendering 

 the flavour of water, even when half putrid, agreeable, 

 and are believed to contain caffeine. The Kola seeds were 

 recently made the subject of analysis, and, according to 

 the Lancet have been found to contain actually more 

 caffeine than the best samples of coffee produced under a 

 similar experiment. 



Tea. — The cultivation of tea is fast gaining the prefer- 

 ence over coffee, and, though perhaps, the return yielded 

 by the former does not compare so favourably with that 

 (uutil recently) obtained from the latter, yet, there is this 

 advantage in tea ; it is not forced out of the London 

 market by a large surplus in the produce of other com- 

 petitive countries. The demand for Nilgiri produce is es- 

 pecially encouraging, and in this respect tea planters are 

 to be congratulated that their efforts have not been in 

 vain. Among the gardens in the Coonoor settlement, those 

 which have gained special prominence are "Glendale," 



" Brooklands," " The Highlands," and the " Coonoor Tea 

 Estate." These properties are in the most flourishing con- 

 dition, and can show plants of magnificent and unapproach- 

 able calibre. This is not surprising, since, in connection 

 with the properties are associated the names of such vet- 

 eran planters as Messrs. Stanes, Kirby, and Reilly. More- 

 over, the various properties named are more extensive than 

 what is ordinarily the limit of a so-called "estate." Then, 

 the produce of these plantations is so well-known in the 

 tea market, the very names being a guarantee in them- 

 selves of excellence in quality. I must not omit to men- 

 tion here that thriving little tea estate in Coonoor known 

 as " Glaisdale." It has no pretensions to being a " large 

 property," but is undoubtedly second to none in its ap- 

 pearance and the general character of its management, 

 and is not to be beaten any where on these hills as a 

 paying little property. Glaisdale tea, moreover, is in high 

 favor, and can hold its own as regards flavour and aroma, 

 and is, in fact, preferred to many other teas in conse- 

 quence of its unvariableness in quality. The demand for 

 it is far over the supply. — Planters' Review. 



DROUGHT. 



BY B. PURVEAR, LI..D., PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY IN 

 RICHMOND COLLEGE. 



Have we any remedy against droughts? To no incon- 

 siderable extent we have, and that remedy is deep plow- 

 ing. 



1. Deeply plowed lands receive, when rains are abundant, 

 into their substance all or nearly all the water that falls; 

 none or little runs off from the surface. Such lands have 

 therefore a larger storehouse of water, from which plants 

 may draw their supplies — crops will stand a drought better 

 for this reason. But the farther the water siuks into the 

 substance of the soil, the smaller is the amount which the 

 hot sun of summer will evaporate. Twelve inches beneath 

 the surface, the soil is many degrees cooler in summer 

 than the surface, and hence if the soil be once saturated 

 to that depth, much less water is dissipated and lost by 

 solar heat. Deeply plowed lands, therefore, not only receive 

 iuto their substance more water, when rains are copious, 

 but hold this water with greater grip and tenacity. 



2. A deeply pulverized soil is permeable by the atmo- 

 sphere, and the atmosphere, how dry soever, always con- 

 tains some aqueous vapor. In a perfectly dry atmosphere 

 our bodies would shrivel in a very few hours into mummies; 

 all plants would wilt and die in a day. "When the atmo- 

 sphere can descend deeply into the soil, the cool soil 

 deprives the aqueous vapor of heat, and so converts into 

 water and deposits it just where it is most needed, about 

 the rootlets of plants. In other words, in deeply plowed 

 lands dew is being deposited in varying quantities all the 

 time about the roots. Here is another reason why crops 

 stand droughts better in deeply plowed lands. 



3. Water is always rising from below by the capillarity 

 of the soil, but it rises slowly through a hard and compact 

 soil — with ease through a deeply pulverized soil. Hence 

 the more deeply the soil is plowed, the larger will be the 

 amount of water drawn up from below by capillary attraction. 



Can philosophy draw comfort from a drought? Winn 

 the fields are dry and parched, when the water courses 

 are failing, and our domestic animals are pinched both for 

 food and water, and the farmers' hopes are blasted — are 

 there no compensating advantages? "We think there are, 

 and we give them for the comfort of the despairing and 

 despondent. During a-drought the soil is collecting its 

 forces and recuperating its energies for better work in the 

 ensuing season. Let us see. 



If from a damp cellar we take a cube of cut sugar and 

 touch a point to water, the water will strike slowly through 

 the mass of sugar. But if we take a cube of cut sugar 

 made perfectly dry by exposure to the hot sun, anil touch 

 it to water, the water in a moment flashes through the 

 lump. The difference with which the two lumps receive 

 water is striking and obvious. The dry lump in a tenth 

 of the time will receive ten times as much water into its 

 substance as tbe moist lump. It is just so with the earth — 

 the dry lump of sugar represents the earth in drought; 

 the drier the soil, the stronger is the tendency of water 

 to rise from below to the surface, where it is evaporated. 



