October i, 1885.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



241 



have all gone iu for statiouary heat, ami carcLunoms 

 and cacao mildew at a very high tt-mpcratiiit; where 

 tliere is no draught or ih-ying current. Tboy have a 

 room similar to a laundry-maid's drying room with a 

 stove. They only want a chair and a loijy ot 

 the Fiivnly Herald and the perspiring, portliness 

 and rounded outlines ol a buxom lauudrymaid to 

 complete the picture. Ius.t.;ad of liuen, there are 

 tiers upon tiers of shelves, and iu this stationary 

 heat they complain that their capsules split. But 

 I am ofi' to cardamoms before the time. 



The vulgarly known " common red" oacso is by 

 far the fiuest and most delicate in the world. 

 The new yellow variety is a coarse robust kind 

 and is said to resist disease. That has an ominous 

 yet familiar sound in Ceylon. Something is sorely 

 wanted to resist disease, but it is the conditions 

 rather than the coaiseness of te.vture or quality 

 that should be looked to. 



Cacao is eminently a plant that resists artificial 

 pressure. It sulks, it sheds its blossom, it fur- 

 nishes foliage to make up for undue exposure to 

 the sun. In fact, is not this the case with coffee ? 

 Cacao is an elephant not a horse. Force an 

 immature elephant to do a mature horse's woi'k, 

 it will do it but for a time. Men in Ceylon pre- 

 ferred to get experience at their own cost instead 

 of gaining by looking at 200 years' experience in 

 a cacao country. Experience is a lamp that only 

 hangs astern ; but often thit l.^nlp is ignored and 

 difficulties which have been alreaily sately passed 

 by the beacon-carrying vessel ahead are rnu against 

 through inattention to the warning light. "Cacao 

 is another myth " was a remark the other day. 

 Aye, only so far that it is not the golden-fruit- 

 bearing tiee that was supposed, but not a myth 

 in the sense of a paying industr}- if carefully studied. 



I am thoroughly ot opinion that Hehpeltis 

 Antonii is a plague bred and fosttred by the 

 sweetened juices of a weakened tree, and the only 

 remedy is to return to the wise, plain, simple 

 rules that guided your fathers. Yeu know the 

 old story of the sons whose opinion if their 

 father changed as they grew older until they 

 confessed as old men that the old man himself was 

 right after all. 



♦ 



CHINESE SABAH LAND FARMIXG COMPANY. 



[Report of the Directors for the half-year ended 

 31st December 1S84.] 



The reports of Mr. Gibson, the Manager of the 

 Snanamber Tobacco Estate, continue satisfactory. 

 His last letter, dated the 21st June, 1SS5, stated :— 



" The tobacco is really growing beautifully just 

 now, and everything at present looks to promise 

 a favourable result. I hope by the end of .July to 

 have finished planting with 2,000,000 trees. Immedi- 

 ately this year's tobacco crop comes aS the ground 

 I shall hole before undergnwth omes tip, and 

 plant out all this clearing with Libcrian coffco. We 

 shall then at a very small extra exfnie have 

 about .'iOO acres of cnfFee, which I am certain will 

 be very valuable. I am busy now holing for coffee, 

 and in a few days shall commpnce planting out the 

 fine nurseries which I am going to bring over 

 from the Sibooga." 



The Chairman (Mr. V. Maj^r) stated that the 

 first call of Tls. 7 per share, h.id b?cn paid on 2,052 

 shares, and the second call, of Tis. 2 50 per 

 share, had bsen paid on 1,027 shares. In ad Ution 

 to that, ti;ere were many foreign shareholders, 

 some of them in England, whom they cxi ected 

 to pay the calls by-and-bye. They had made these 

 calls to carry on the tobacco cop of I8&.5 ; and he 

 was glad to say that this was coing on as success- 

 fully as they conld wieb. They had all read tb« 



SI 



report, which contained -an extract from a letter 

 of Mr. Gibson's dated the 21st June, and since 

 then they had received another letter from Mr. 

 Gibson, dated the 3rd July iu which he said : — 



" I am g'ad to be able to report; well of our 

 progress here. The tobacco commences to grow 

 very well, and the weather is all I could desire. 

 We have planted out up to date 950,000, nud are 

 still busy planting. It is now July, and in a month 

 more we shall start on jungle-felling for next crop." 



Continuing, the Chairman said the prospects of 

 the Company, if course, depended entirely upon 

 the success of the tobacco. They had received- 

 altogether about Tls. 87,000, of which they had 

 written off Tls. 34,000. This Tls. 34,000 included 

 all preliminary expenses and evcrythinr;, to that 

 they started their tobacco estate clear. Tlio bal- 

 ance of about Tls. 51,000, included the value of 

 all the land, and the survey fees expended upon 

 it. Their only difficulty ahead seemed to he about 

 going on next year, and this they would have to 

 discuss later on. .Mr. Gil son's letter said that in 

 another month it would be necessary to cnmmence 

 felling for next year's crop, but beyond that he be- 

 lieved the expenses of the 1880 tobacco crop would 

 not commence till aljout February, telling would 

 cost .§1,500, so it would be uecetsary for them to 

 decide whether they would spend this ljl,500 or 

 wait two or three months, aud see whether tho 

 present crop turned cut favourably enough to en- 

 courage them to do so. 



The Chairman mov'd : — " That the Directors' 

 report, and accounts for the half-year endiug the 

 Slat Dec. 1884, be passed as presented." 



Mr. Rivington seconded the motion, aud it was 

 carried. 



The Chairman remarked that they were doing 

 all they could to make the present tol^acco crop 

 a succes.« ; and it was generally acknowledged that 

 they had in Mr. Gibson about the best man they 

 could get. If any shareholders had any question to 

 ask he would ba happy to answer them. — Hongkong 

 Daily Press. 



The Maeiawattk Tea Factory is tho sub- 

 ject of a graphic liescripti^ n by our correspondent 

 " Peppercorn " on another page (2.'?.") to which we 

 attract attention. With reference to Mr. Jackson's 

 movements, we may mention that ire is not yet leav- 



I ing us, hut means (now that he has got a good deal 

 of responsil'ility about machinery off his shoulders) 

 to make a trip round the tea districts, after which 

 our readers will learn some more of the opinions 

 of this piact C!il and experienced visitor in reference 



I to the condition aud prospects of tea in Ceylon. — 

 We are glad to see that the 3Iaekeliya Planters' 



I Association have secured the services of Mr. C. S, 

 Armstrong to read a paper on Tea Machinery and 



j Preparation at their next meeting. This is sura 

 to bo interesting, 

 The latest novelty in paper productions is 



' a pianoforte. Wood is discarded in favour of com- 

 pressed pulp, which takes a high poli'h and, without 

 staining, shows a cream-white colour. It is said 

 that the " short broken character of the sounds 

 emitted by the ordinary pianofortes" is replaced by 

 "soft, full, quasi-contiguous tone ro.iemblirg that 

 of the organ." If this ba true, another horror has 

 been added to the noisy ttn'ors of I fo iu teaming 

 cities. It 's difficult enough now to try and live at 

 peace with one's neighbours with the ordinary 

 pianoforte of commerce tinkling maddeningly and 

 persistently through the livelong day. What exis- 

 tence woulel be like with the solemn swell of 

 miniature organs booming every hour it is imposaiblo 

 to realize,— //owe Nevja, 



