6.(2 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[Fkiikuakv 2, j 88s, 



we have so far escaped much wash. I have from time to 

 time, as we had spare labor, made stouo terraces replaced 

 as much as possible, Boil in the steeper places, which have 

 suffered during former years. 



Buildings— axe all iu good repair. 



Gooly Lines— axe also iu good condition. 



J/«c-/!Mcn/-hns all worked well. The engine purchased 

 from Mr. Scott is a very powerful one, and gives satis- 

 faction. 



Manufacture and Outturn.— This year's crop has suffered 

 much through the extraordinary short rainfall we have so 

 far met with. 



The season open with a long drought, and we have 

 since been gradually dropping more and more behind 

 everi the scanty rainfall of last year. The fall here tins 

 year up to August 2nd is 88-82 as compared with 92'02 of last 

 year, and 32 inches below the average fall of the past 

 eight years. AVe suffered a good deal from Ked 

 Spider early in the season, but this is now leaving us. 

 A good deal of rain had fallen during the last few days, 

 and the weather has been favourable.— Ind'ujo and. Tea 

 Planters' Gazette. 



BRITISH NORTH BORNEO. 



[llY A CEYLON PLANTKIt.] 



r paid a visit to the Government Agricultural Gardens 

 At Sllam, and reported on them to Government. Silam 

 is a small village of a few houses situated at the foot of 

 a fine hill 8,000 feet high that is called Bude Silam, aud 

 It is here that the gardens are opened. The soil is quite 

 different from anything I have yet seen in Borneo, and 

 is a rich, black, friable earth, rather mixed wito sand. 

 Contrary to what one sees elsewhere, here there are large 

 quantities of stone in and about the beds of streams, some 

 of which look very much as if they had experienced 

 volcauic action at some period; in fact, an island within 

 sight, called Pulu Gaya is marked in the Admiralty charts 

 as being volcanic. The streams are very good, with fine 

 clear water, while Darvel Bay, as regards beauty, is one 

 of the most beautiful pieces of water one could wish to 

 see, with its surface dotted with little islands, and here 

 and there a "prow" with its particolored sails skimming 

 along before the wind. Ooral is abundant in the bay, 

 which adds a peculiar blue to the water, which appears 

 to be as clear as if it was distilled. 



The Gardens contain cocoa, Liberian, Java, and Ooorg 

 coffee, as well as our old love of Arabia. Further on 

 we find cardamoms, rubber, tea, sugar, palms, cinnamon, 

 cloves, nutmegs, sapan, pepper, croton, and many other 

 economic plants. Cinchona has proved to be a failure, 

 due, I believe, to the elevation being too low. Oeylon 

 cocoa— from Pallakellie, I believe— was growing most 

 healthily, while the Liberian coffee, excepting its inequality 

 beforementioned was fine both iu fruit as well as blossom. 

 Tea was a failure, even though the hybrid species had 

 been introduced. Oroton was growing most^ luxuriantly, 

 likewise pepper and citronella grass, Speaking of grass 

 reminds mo and I noticed our wellkuowu Mauritius grass 

 in flower— a sight I have never seen in Oeytou, though 

 I have ecnu hundreds of acres of this plant. The gardens 

 remind one much in their general appearance of a Ceylon 

 coffee estate, with its well laid-outvoadsaud evenly traced 

 drains, all of whieh reflects the utmost credit on the 

 Ceylon planter who did the work, from the Very selection 

 of the land to the planting of tile same, and, with 

 uneducated labor, tho trouble of transporting Seed, not 

 to say Importing it, must all be considered as difficulties 

 Unknown in this country. So far the Experimental Gardens 

 have answered the question of what will grow and what 

 will not grow, though it is a pity small gardens of a 

 similar nature are not started at the various stations to 

 test the problem with different soil conditions. The question 

 as to the "paying" of theSa products can, of course, 

 only be solved by time, labor and money! but for the 

 present the cost is much in the way, and other systems 

 of working would have to be employed in order to bring 

 it within reasonable bounds. At the time I was there, 

 there was no European in Silam, owing possibly to the 

 inulllMM of the station, but this appears to me to be a 



pity, as H needs development, and, with each i soil as 

 the iilas» 'fiQiium, more might be done, 



Later I visited a small plantation near Sandakau on 

 the Sabooga river, where Liberian, cocoa, and Manilla 

 hemp were flourishing. The area was too small and the 

 planting of too recent a date for me to pass an opinion 

 beyond that great praise is due to the managers for the 

 careful way in which the property had been opened, 

 especially as there was, I believe, some difficulty at first 

 to procure good water, which had caused sickness among 

 the coolies. The Manilla hemp appeared to be thriving 

 most healthily, each stock having already sent up shoots 

 in true plantain-tree style. — " Local Times." 



CHINA TEA PLANTATIONS. 



The Home and Colonial Mail says:— The Consular re- 

 ports from China just issued by the Foreign Office refer to 

 the state of suspense existing iu China when the war 

 question with France and the adverse effect of this on 

 trade has been considerably affected by the probabilities 

 of war. There are, however, other influences at work, 

 which may greatly alter the conditions of the trade iu 

 the course of a few years. It is asserted, for example, 

 that a general deterioration is going on in the China tea 

 plantations, which are year by year wearing out, the 

 soil and the shrubs alike becoming exhausted. Mr. 

 Alabaster, of Hankow, Consul, notices this allegation, 

 and is inclined to doubt its truth. So far as we can 

 learn, the system iu use is the same that has prevailed 

 for centuries, and though, of course, individual plant- 

 ations, and even districts, may become exhausted, he sees 

 no reason to think that there has been any sudden and 

 general failure. Still, old teamen declare that it is so, and 

 that they never see now such teas as used to be produced 

 twenty years ago. AVhether as good tea is to be had 

 as formerly or not may be an open question, but it is 

 certain that we do not buy for use in England even the 

 best that can be bought. The highest price given 

 during the last seasou was 2s. Gj'/., but, according to Mr. 

 Alabaster, no native gentleman would think of asking 

 his guests to drink tea at less than double that price, 

 and a wealthy host would probably offer an article of 

 much higher value. 



Mr. Alabaster's opinion is that if we would only pay 

 the price we might obtain a much better quality of tea 

 under the modern conditions of transit than was formerly 

 available. Just as wines ajre made up in Spain for Eng- 

 lish consumption — to stand the sea voyage and to suit 

 the supposed taste of Englishmen — so teas are made up 

 in China. The article is prepared to endure a possibly 

 six months' voyage by "heavy firing," a process which 

 makes the leaf utterly unacceptable to native consumers, 

 Now, however, that the transit can be made iu thirty 

 or forty days, there is no reason why teas cured in the 

 Chinese fashion, for the drinking of Chinamen, might 

 not be brought to England. Mr. Alabaster anticipates 

 that the public would look at them askance at first, 

 but (says he) "they are so infinitely better than the charred, 

 perspiration-saturated faced and doctored teas they have 

 got used to, that there can be little doubt they soon 

 would be preferred, as they are here, where natives senru 

 the very thought of drinking U e spoilt produce they sell 

 to foreigners." The haste to buy, which has long pre. 

 vailed in the tea trade, is disappearing except in certain 

 ports. Foochow is oue of these. Although the market 

 only opened on June il, there was such a rush thattfithlit 

 three weeks, by July 1, eight steamers, conveying 

 -1,600,0001b. of tea, had left for London. This haste to 

 be home first is clearly, however, more a matter of habit 

 than of necessity in these days; 



All the consular reports Indicate that the success 

 of Indian Tea in the home and other markets is having 

 a seoious effect on the Chinese trade. "The duty quest- 

 ion," says Mr. Sinclair, reporting from Foochow, "hand- 

 icaps all transactions terribly in competition with India. 

 The equivalent of 1W. a pound export duty, imposed by 

 treaty, aud improved on to the extent of ItZ. a pound 

 by the Chinese Government for inland and li-kin duties, 

 becomes yearly more and more difficult to be borne, and 

 that alone "must tend to throw the production of tea 

 into India within a frw years." The same Consul reports 



that during U " the Calcutta Tea Syndicate "ruined'' 

 the Melbourne market -so tfut the A«JtK«ll«U TOOldnoi 



