iC4 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [September i, 1885. 



stood his business. Profitable, too, would be the breeding 

 of horses aud ponies on a well-watered estate with plenty 

 of fodder. It is for want of fodder, which is want of 

 iriigation, which is want of capital, that horse-breeding 

 speculations in India generally fail. 



It would be utterly absurd and useless for any syndic- 

 ate or inividual to undertake the adventure I advocate 

 upon a small scale or with a small capital. The ryots 

 are all poor, but the zemindars are all rich. VeiJi. sip. 

 Tlie bigger the estate, aud the greater the capital to 

 expend upon it, the better the chances of making a 

 Maharajah's income from it. And such is India and its 

 inhabitants, that if an est.ate of 10,000 acres was to 

 return 20 i)er cent, I should expect one of 20,000 acres 

 to return 40 per cent, always supposing that the capital 

 eicpended was in proportion with the increase of the 

 acreage. In short, I believe that there are greater gains 

 to be made out of Indian land than out of American, 

 Australian or other cultivated lands; but that to make 

 :tny gain at all tlie land must be cultivated on a large 

 scale, aud a considerable capital put into it. It may be 

 urged, " Why don't the natives form syndicates them- 

 selves if the scheme is so profitable?" but a sufficient 

 reason is that they distrust one another. They would 

 certainly try to rob one another all round, aud a syndic- 

 ate of that kind would not hold together. One word 

 more. I believe that tlie Government would encourage 

 enterprize of this description for its own advantage, for 

 great undertakings would benefit Government, whereas 

 pmall ones would only trouble them. And with Govern- 

 ment, capital, aud knowledge on its side, an English 

 Farmmg Syndicate for India ought to succeed.— F. E. W. 

 '-^(j rapliic. 



PLANTING IH JOHORE. 



There are now fully 2,000 acres under Liberian coffee, 

 I am told, and I am certain this quantity will be greatly 

 increased during the next season. A small shipment of 

 clean Liberian coffee has been sent home from the 

 Batu Pahat district, and we are anxiously waiting to 

 learn the result of the sale in London. The coffee 

 was cured under many disadvantages, but was, on the 

 whole, a very good sample of this product. 



Tea. — As yet there are only two gardens in Johore; one 

 belonging to H. H. the Maharajah, about 2 miles from 

 the town, has been handed over to a gentleman who 

 has a coffee estate near by for 3 years, so that he 

 may carry out experiments as to cost of cultivation and 

 manufacture of tea with the labor at present available, 

 I am told he has got down Chinese tea-makers from 

 Amoy, and he is now making tea in the same fashion 

 as that in use in Formosa. He expects to find a good 

 market for it in America and Eussia, I believe. The 

 other garden belongs to the .Johore Tea Company, and 

 is situated at Tanah Jlerah, 8 miles from Johore 

 Bahru, on the bank of the Scudai river. There are 

 about 70 acres planted, from 3 years to a few months 

 old, and about .30 acres cleared and ready for planting. 

 About 30 acres at 3 years olil is very good indeed, 

 aud would compare favorably with great deal of Ceylon 

 tea I have seen of the same age. The balance, al- 

 though not bad, is not so good, having been planted 

 in poor soil. This garden has had many disadvantages 

 to labor under from the fir,st, through frequent chauges 

 of superintendents tluou<,'h ill-health ; but great difficulty 

 has been labor. I understand that only Ohine,se and 

 Javanese coolies have been available, and such labor is 

 costly indeed compircd with Indian labor, such as you 

 have in Ceylon. That the tea will flush well here, and 

 give tea of excellent quality, has been already demon- 

 strated, so al! that is wanted to make tea a success 

 in Johore is cheap labor, aud, while on this subject, I 

 may mention that we are now almost certain to get it 

 from India, as His Highness has just goue home, aud 

 we expect to hear very shortly that the negotiations 

 which have been going on for some time have been 

 conqjietfil. 



Cacoa.—Ol this product I am sorry to say I cannot 

 give a satisfactory account, as from all I have seen 

 and heard it seems to have proved anything but a 

 success. At first, I was inclined to think the dying- 



I out of the cacao I saw, was caused by neglect, but I 

 I am now convinced such was hot the case, as I hear 

 I that fields of cacao which have had from the first all 

 j attention possible in the way of cultivation have begun 

 to go out just the same. For the first year or two it 

 I looks flourishing, but after that the branches begin to 

 get black at the tips, and this soon extends all over 

 ' the tree, which dies down to near the ground. A sucker 

 may then grow up which survives, for, say, another 

 year, aud then dies off in the same way. I hear of 

 one or two fields of cacao which are still looking 

 I flourishing, but as a whole, I think there can be no 

 doubt that cacao has not proved a success over here. 

 Cinchona. — The first thing weich struck me here on 

 vLsiting some of the coffee estates was the absence of 

 cinchonas — all the more so as there were mauy parts 

 of the said estates admirably adapted for the growth 

 of this product, which could have been grown without 

 detriment to the coffee ah'eady planted. I only know 

 of one estate in Johore where cinchona is being tried, 

 and I am told it is growing splendidly. One or two 

 nurseries of good seed are being put in this year, and 

 I yet hope to a good acreage under this cultivation, 

 as I am convinced both the climate and soil are well- 

 suited for it. Writing of cinchona reminds me that I 

 heard from a gentleman planting in Sarawak, the other 

 day, aud he mentions that his Ledgeriana and Succirubra 

 of 2 years old have given most satisfactory analysis, 

 viz, 6 per cent, quiuine from the former and 3 per 

 cent, for the latter. Liberian coffee of which he has 

 a few .acres is doing vi.-ry well, but cacao is vtri/ ?(h- 

 ."latisfactori/, ceara rubber is growing luxuriantly and he 

 has also a field of cardamoms, which promises to give 

 a good crop this year. Tea is to be tried this year. 

 Areca-nitts. — I see this cultivation is beginning to 

 attract attention in Ceylon, aud it may interest you to 

 know that a large tract of laud is planted with this 

 product in coujuuction with cocoanut and other fruit 

 trees in Johore. About 110 miles up the west coast of 

 the Peninsula, the Moar river j ins the sea, and a few 

 years a^^o for miles ou each side of this river there 

 was nothing so to speak but mangrove swamp. H, H. 

 the Maharajah, who is always doing something to deve- 

 lope his country aud improve the condition of his 

 subjects, induced a number of Jaranese and others to 

 settle near the mouth of the river, and gave them 

 every help aud encouragement in reclaiming the swamp 

 land ; and the consequence is that what was once a 

 mangrove swamp is now a splendid plantation or rather 

 plantations, of cocoanut, arecanut, duriau, duker, man- 

 gosteen, mango, and other fruit trees too numerous to 

 mention. There are, I am told, about 50 square miles 

 so cultivated along the south of the river Moar. Near 

 the mouth there is a rising little town named in honor 

 of the Maharaue *' Bandar Maharane" where there is a 

 Resident, an intelligent Malay gentleman, a relation of 

 H. H., who does everything in his power to encourage 

 and extend cultivation aud improve the settlement. 



Health of the Country. — A few years ago there can 

 be no doubt that the country was very unhealthly and 

 every planter who came here suffered more or less from 

 malarial fever, but now, and for some time back I am 

 glad to say, there is great change for the better, and 

 you now seldom hear of anyone getting a bail aitack. 

 Many get a touch of fever now aud again, but uothmg 

 more than one gets in Ceylon, and I think the best 

 proof that the country is now much more hcalthj' is 

 that new comers seems to sutt'er as little as those who 

 have been here sopie time. Before, it was just the 

 opposite, the newcomer generally suffering most. As 

 far as personal experience is concerne I, I can only say 

 that I have never enjoyed such good health anywhere 

 else as I have since I have been in Johore. f tiaresay 

 you saw a letter which appeared in the Straits Times 

 some time ago, giving an accent of a visit to the 

 Ohasseriau estate in the island of Singapore. The 

 writer (who, as most people over here now think, 

 describes himself very correctly by saying that he is 

 deficient both of practical knowledge aud conimonsense) 

 gives, to say the least of it, a verj- inqierfect description 

 of the system of cultivation rnrried out by Mr. 

 Chasseriau. To begin with, I need hardly say that thp 



