196 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, [September i, 1885. 



Mr. Swettenham says it is a great mistake to suppose 

 that eooonut trees will not tiouris'i in any place over 50 

 miles from the sea, because he ha'' seen them everywhere. 



Kua'a Teiiiflin is not"d in Pahang for its earthen- 

 ware, which, owing to the remoteness from any mark- 

 et, is not manufactured in any large quantities. 

 The shapes of the jars obtained were considered good, 

 and the decoration even artistic. 



Though it would be absurd to say that there are no 

 mosquitoes in Pahang, there are certainly fewer there 

 than in Singapore or Malacca. Agriculture, including 

 the cultivation of rice and fruits, the rearing of cattle 

 (bufFiloes are very cheap), sheep and poultry, some gold 

 washing, and the manufcture of mats and silk cloth 

 are the chief industries of Pahang. 



This was Mr. Swettenham's fourth visit to Pahang, 

 and he eives a gloomy account of a country which 

 would, if placed under proper administration, not 

 only ameliorate the condit on of its people by en- 

 couraging tliem to utilize the valuable commodities 

 that lie within their reach, but also enrich immigrants 

 in various ways. "Without proceeding to details," 

 he says, "those whose experience of the Peninsula 

 has been confined to the Protected Native States 

 would be rather antnuished at the manners and cus- 

 toms still prevalent in the governing class in Pahang, 

 and if Europeans will risk their cipilal in any large 

 undertaking here, and can manage to comply with 

 their obligations, get business trinsao'ed, and obtain 

 justice and satisfaction in their deilingj with thosa 

 thev are brought in contact with, I think it will be a 

 little surprising." 



[It is time surely that Pahang were " protected" 

 into good government. There is thn niakiug of a great 

 and valuable Dependency in the Malay Peninsula, when 

 t is ruled as India is now ruled. — Ed.] 



♦ 



NETHERLANDS INDIA NEWS. 

 {Translated for the " Straits Times.") 



Batavia, 7th July. — We have received for notice in 

 our columns, a copy of a work entitled "A Hand- 

 book for Cocoa Planters," by E. J. Bartelink, a cocoa 

 planter in Surinam. The firm of J. H. Bussy at 

 Amsterdam has brought the book out. It is 

 handy and handsomely got up with every prospect 

 of becoming an oft consulted authority here. [Of 

 course in Dutch. — Ed] Cocoa has now come into 

 fashion in many districts in this quarter of the world. 

 When foffee proves disappointing, cocoa is often lookrd 

 forward to as a substitute in many lands. In Deli, 

 numerous experiments have been made with it on 

 land no longer suitable for tobacco. L»s9 extensively, 

 cocoa is a crop in which many landholders take an 

 interest. The work is written for West Indies peo- 

 ple, and is based on experieuee gained there. It is 

 none the less of importance here from iis showing 

 how growers go to work with cocoa in a country 

 where cultivating it has proved a success. In 

 the preface, the author states, on convincing evidence, 

 t\\''t, in .Surinam, the'e may be found cocoa estates each 

 yielding high profits which, p.xasing over from generation 

 to generation as abiding heirlooms, after a long series of 

 years of continual atteiit on and care, prove not only to 

 have lost nothing of their original value, but rather to 

 have risen in value. The difTeronce of soil and climate 

 brings on however questions which often cannot be 

 answered on the strength of experience acquired in 

 another soil and climate. Ttius it appears that, in the 

 West Indies, the evil so often besetting cocoa here 

 namelv, tiiat of the fruit on reachioi^ a certain stage of 

 growth turning black and rottine away, is not wide- 

 spread enough to be dealt with in this handbook. 

 Leaving it out is cerl^ainly not due to oversight, for the 

 description of all that bears upon cocoa growing is, in 

 his work, sot forth apparently very fully, neatly and 

 clearly,— JSa<fli)!a Daghlad. 



Blue Gdm,— It is generally supposed that the blue 

 gum is not a good timber tree. Of course there are no 

 trees over 20 years old on these hil's— but one I had 

 cut; down about 14 or 15 years old, when the sap was 

 6uppo>.ed to be in the ground, was cut into scantlings, 

 large and small, and planks 13 ft. long, 1 ft. broad, and 

 IJ inch thick, and although these were exposed for 

 months from the day they were sawn, they did not 

 perceptibly warp or crack. Blue gum is an exceed- 

 ingly tough wood, Bnd hardens very rapidly after 

 being cut down, and unless wrought immediately is 

 very hard on carpenter's tools. — CW., M. Mail. 



Majoe General R. Morgan writes from Ootaoa- 

 mund, under date 17th instant :—" Mr. Piedmond, in 

 writing to you about a wire tramway from Coonoor 

 to Mettapolliuni, observes regarding the Eucalyptus 

 Globulus or Blue Gum : ' Of course there are no trees 

 over twenty years old on these Hills.' The Blue 

 Gum was introduced by me to these Hills as far 

 back as 1855, and I planted many thousands of them 

 in that ye:ir. These trees may be found at Tudor 

 Hall, and all over the Hills, and are now not 20 but 

 30 years old. One cut down lately at Tudor Hall, 

 was found to be 200 feet long. Many have 151 cubic 

 feet of timber iu them. I fear Mr. Redmond takes 

 too sanguine a view vi their value when delivered at 

 the foot vf the HiMs."— Madras Mail. 



SflENTIFIO A.SSISTANCE IS TeA WITHERING — 

 Tlia Indian Planters' Gazette writes: — " What wewi-h 

 to impress upon tei owners is the necessity of a 

 little )!ractical scientific ass stance At the present 

 niomtut the chemistry cf tea is unknown, beyond a 

 few broad gaieralisma. At pnsent, for instance, 

 the want of withering machine so as to prepare 

 leaf in wet weather, is one of the great requirements 

 of the industry, and vith some knowledge of tlie 

 different grades of teinperature and cheniic..! change 

 at wljich the diff'er.;rit stages of manufacture set in, 

 would probably enable some planter to solve the diffic- 

 ulty and relieve his brother plau'ers of a great deal 

 of anxiety in the height of the manufacturing season. 



I In the meatime it is a much disputed point whether 

 to keep over improperly withered leaf, or to roll it 



I ofl. By the former process ti.e sppearance of the 



' tea is improved at the expense of the I quor, and 

 by the latter process the opposite is achieved. There 

 is one established fact, andihat is, that cool wither, 

 ing houses are preferred aud no doubt they answer 

 th>-ir pu'pose in fine weather, but in wet weather 



! what is to be done ? Ijome sort of forcing is necess- 

 ary to make a way for the incoming leaf, and to 



I p.-tvcnt putrid fermentation set ing in the already 

 phiclud leaf. In former years the ohl style of cAoo/oAs 

 was used .ind the waste heat from them utilized, 

 but, as a rule, the tea m;;de in le:if so treated was 

 far from good, au I invariably in outtuin came out a 

 dirty green, no doubt due to some chemical change 

 ciused by the heit generated by the choohihs. In 

 making namooiia teas in former years it was customary 

 to put the rolled mass on to the fire before ferment- 

 ation sent in, and perhaps we may not be wrong in 

 believing that leaf withered by hot air gives some 

 hybrid between namoona and 'green' teas, as some 

 of the stages of fermentation have been set agoing 

 by the high tempeiature of the house. We do not 

 say that this is correct ; we merely put it for- 

 ward as some silution of the (utturn; and we 

 think this is one of the most important points on 

 whidi a chemist could be of greit use to the planter. 

 If the 'Fathers of Tea' will give practical men 

 practical hints on tea making tluy will confer a 

 lastiug binefit on the industry." As regards wither- 

 ing we cannot h'dp rep- ating our impression in favour 

 of the use of BlacUman's Air Propeller to send 

 currents through tea-houses. 



