g 5 8 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[May 



and in about ten days or a fortnight the kiln rises to a 

 height of 8 or 10 feet from the ground, circular in shape. 

 The women contract to break the limestone for 3d per 

 barrel, and 200 barrels can be placed on the kiln, present- 

 ing the appearance of a huge wedding cake frosted with white 

 sugar. When firing the kiln, men should be in attend, 

 ance to regulate the fire, so as to get a uniform sample 

 of lime and little " drunken stone," as the Jamaica man 

 calls limestone that does not burn well. The cost of a lime- 

 kiln of this kind is from £10 to £15, and should not ex- 

 ceed £20, or the lime can be purchased cheaper ready made 

 in the town. 



I have confined this No. 7 letter to agricultural subjects 

 connected with banana cultivation in particular, and in my 

 next will make a general report on the product of the 

 whole island of Jamaica to enable you to put both No. 

 7 and No. 8 letters into your Tropical Agriculturist. 



IS BRAZIL A FERTILE COUNTRY ! 



There is a very generally received opinion, in the 

 United States and Europe, that Brazil is a wonder- 

 fully fertile region ; many persons, well-informed ones 

 too, probably regard it as the richest land in the 

 world. There are plenty of authorities to support 

 this idea. Scores of travellers have described its 

 exuberauce in glowing terms : cyclopaedias and 

 school-geographies have pictured the unbounded lux- 

 uriance of its forests and prairies ; it is known to 

 be the great coffee-producing country of the world, 

 and its sugar, cotton and tobacco have long figured 

 in commerce ; the Brazilians themselves are thoroughly 

 convinced that the agricultural resources of the em- 

 pire are boundless, only needing an influx of foreign 

 labour to develop them. In venturing a somewhat 

 diverse opinion I shall be regarded as a heretic, 

 unfriendly to the country and unworthy of attention. 

 But let us look at the facts. 



At present agriculture in Brazil ia nearly confined 

 to a comparatively narrow belt extending along the 

 coast from Cape St. Roque southwards. This region 

 is, in the main, very fertile ; the decomposition of 

 the gneiss rocks, which form most of the mountains 

 and hills, has given rise to a rich reddish soil, generally 

 deep and affording excellent crops of coffee, cane and 

 other products even with the miserable no-cultivation 

 which is in vogue. There ure, however, considerable 

 tracts of stony or badly-watered land which, col- 

 lectively, are of great importance, but must practically 

 be subtracted from the agricultural lands of the coast 

 region. 



The Amazon valley is a vast steaming forest, 

 generally (in Para at least) with the poorest possible 

 soil: luxuriant as the vege'able growth is, it covers 

 a ground composed of sharp white sand, or at best 

 of a poor clay, almost devoid of the elements which 

 nourish forests In other parts of the world. Most of 

 the few plant itions ar* on the alluvial iron-bottoms, 

 or tracts of terra preta (black land), which was 

 formed centdrlea ago by the rubbish and rotting palm 

 thatches of Indian villages. Nevertheless, the Amazon 

 Village is well adapted for certain crops, aud with the 

 introduction of improved agricultural implements it 

 will give good returns to th<> farmer. The forest is 

 nou'ished, not from the grourd, hut by the air, which 

 is always snrchirgrd with moisture; some kinds of 

 trees will tlour.sh for weeks after they are cut. This 

 cxiesi of moisture al^o tends to support the growth 

 of certain cultivated plaut*, especially sugar-cane, 

 coffee and tobacco. Aud if the ground, even this 

 poor clay and land, were p.operly prepared to receive 

 the roots of 'he plants, good crops could be obtained 

 iilmost anywhere. As it is, comparatively little of 

 the laud is regarded as lit for plantations, and these 

 are generally abandoned after a few years, 



All the great interior region, comprehending the 

 Brazilian table-land, is oovered with campo, inter- 

 rupted here and there by little patches of forest on 

 hillsides and along the banks of streams. Botanists 

 who have travelled through the sertdto have been 

 struck with the immense variety of families and 

 species to be found among the campo plants, and they 

 have naturally fallen into the error of regarding it 

 as remarkably adapted for plant growth. The truth 

 is that nearly all of the Brazilian table-laud is a 

 howling sandy desert with a wonderfully rich desert 

 vegetation. The botanist may find a thousand species 

 of plants on a square league of land ; but I doubt 

 if the same land would produce a thousand bushels 

 of corn or of potatoes. Much of the country is 

 adapted for pasturage, but only in the wet season ; 

 during the dry months cattle muBt be driven away 

 to the lowlands. The little strips of forest-land can 

 be used for planting and in some places they give 

 good crops : but they form only a small part of the 

 whole. A large district comprising parts of Ceara, 

 Piauhy, Rio Grande do Norte, Pernambuco and Bahia, 

 are subject to periodical droughts, which destroy the 

 cattle and plantations and reduce the entire population 

 to the utmost poverty — ofteu to starvation. 



Two elements which go far to determine the fertility 

 of Europe and the United States are almost or quite 

 wanting in Brazil : the winters and the action of 

 earth-worms. Our northern winters are of immense 

 assistance in the formation of vegetable mould. The 

 herbs, grass and forest leavss die away in the autumn 

 and lie in thick beds on the ground, where they are 

 speedily covered with snow ; successions of thaws, 

 and finally the spring rains, reduce these leaves to 

 sudden masses ; as the sun returns they decay slowly, 

 forming a rich, dark soil, replete with the elements 

 of new plant-growth. In the tropice, the leaves and 

 herbs fall singly, are baked in the sun, broken by 

 the wind, and finally pass away almost entirely in 

 the form of gases, hardly anything being added to 

 the soil. Add to this fact the iufluence of frosts in 

 breaking up and disintegrating rocks, and the im- 

 portance of winter cold in the formation of soils will 

 readily be seen. 



The elaborate studies of Mr, Darwin have shown 

 that the despised earth-worms are the preservers of 

 our farms and gardens ; unseen workers, they are 

 ever bringing up the rich sub-soil and strewing it 

 over the surface : boring the grouud in all directions, 

 they keep it loose and soft, and fit it for the roots 

 of even tender plants. Now, earth-worms arc by no 

 means common in Brazil : they are altogether wanting 

 in the compos and even in the forest they are rarely 

 seen except along the banks of streams. Probably 

 the sandy soils so prevalent in Brazil are ill-adapted 

 to them ; very likely, too, they would be of less use 

 in grouud which, by its nature, is friable and easily 

 pierced by roots. At all events they are an element, 

 of greater or less importance, which is nearly wanting 

 in Biazil. 



I have written all this in no harsh spirit; rather 

 as a friend of Brazil. I wish to point out a mistake 

 which might, in the future, lead to grave troubles. 

 The first element of success in the individual, or in 

 a new country, is a thorough knowledge of the re- 

 sources, or weak points which must determine success 

 or fadure. Brazil has great resources ; it has elements 

 of agricultural wealth which are far from unimportant ; 

 but by overrating its own riches it may be tempted 

 to waste them ; by resting too securely on agricultural 

 industries it may neglect the no less important ends 

 of manufactures, mining, grazing aud commerce. 

 Brazil is far too large and imporoant a country to 

 be content with ona element of success She should 

 seek for all. Herb&bx H. Smith. 



Rio de Janeiro, Feb. 19th, 18S5.— Bio Newt, 



