Nov. 2, 1885.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



361 



LEXTEBS FKOII JAMAICA.— NO. 8. 



SM.\T,r. COPFBB CBOPS BUT GOOD PBICES AND (!00D I'ROS- 

 PBCl'S— Mli. COIT.Am'.S CBITICISSIS— J.\M.4IC.V .\ND CKYLON 

 sySTEM?; OF CL'I.IIVMIOX — THE rUIIlT INDl'STllV AND 

 E4II.WAV E.VIKNSIO.V— THE I'ANAilA CANAr.. 



Ulue Mountain District, Jamaica, Aug. 18«;j. 



Our 151«e Mountain crops have, as I led .vou 

 to expect, turned out small : but I am glad 

 to say that prices so far as tlie coffee has yet 

 been sold in the Liverpool nnuket have been very 

 satisfactory, Clifton Mount, Newton, Sherwood 

 Forest, Clydesdale, Chestcrvale and Kadnor produce 

 has sold at prices ranging from ISDs. to lids. 

 per cwt. ; the first-named continues to bear the 

 imhii. Tlie season has again been very dry, tlie 

 lowlying colfee must have suffered from tlie 

 drought, but it lias been very suitable weatlua- for 

 the top muuniaiii properties. The blossoms liave 

 as yet been good ; there is another very good one on 

 the eve of coming out, so that, unless unforseen 

 bad weather comes, we may look for a "bumper" 

 next year. Tlie old experienced planters say it 

 will be a very good season from all present signs. 



The remarks of your old correspondent, Mr. 

 Cottam, relative to Blue Mountain cotfee estates, 

 which appeared in your Waehlii Ohserrrr of 

 2Stli April last, are somewhat too trcneliaiit, and 

 the remarks upon the overseer of Sherwood 

 Forest estate anything but polite. As to Jamaica 

 coffee estates, everyone admits they are not as 

 well or expensively cultivated, as was the rule 

 in the good old Ceylon days when planters 

 could spend £12 an acre, in cultivation, 

 manuring, supervision, etc., and yet make profits 

 of £8 to £12 an acre. Jamaica planters say 

 they •' must cut their coats according to tiie 

 cloth " ; they cannot afford high cultivation, and 

 they " must make both ends meet." Of course the 

 question remains, whether, if they weeded and 

 pruned more frequently, the result would not be a 

 success. 1 myself think it would ; but the soil and 

 climate jvre so good for coffee, that the trees do 

 not seem to suffer as they would in Ceylon from 

 being weeded only 8 or 4 times a .year, and it 

 certainly saves •• wash," which is a consideration. 

 Had Mr. Cottam had an opportunity of going 

 over some of the properties he names he would 

 have found cultivation better attended to than he 

 supposes, some of the estates being added to by 

 new clearings ; and as to Sherwood Forest, be 

 would have found it a very fine property of about 

 200 acres coffee, kept very fairly clean, trees in 

 decent order, and the most compact of all the Hlue 

 Mountain properties. It is therefore not just or 

 correct to state that " there is no extension of 

 coffee cultivation in the Blue Mountains," as Abbey 

 Green, Clevelands, ArnkuUy, Corner Post and 

 Whitfield Hall are all being extended, and we 

 also hear of some projected estates on the Northern 

 slopes. 



I send you a Jamaica paper which contains 

 interesting articles on our I'ruit Industry, and also 

 about the present state of the Panama Canal 

 works. As regards the former it is much to be 

 regretted that the finances of the island do not 

 admit of the extension of our present railway 

 system to connect the northern ports with the 

 capital, for I am sure it would be a success; 

 and not to go on, is as bad as stopping the 

 Ceylon line at Nanuoya, and not pushing on all 

 these years to Haputale and BaduUa. It would 

 help to revive the agricultural iirospccts of the 

 island, and confer benelits not only on sugar plant- 

 ers and fruit-growers but on the general public. 

 I am sure the lands along the line would soon be 

 4« 



taken up for banana and coca growing, as well as 

 other tropical products ; any scheme that helped 

 tlio iilauteis ami ])en-keepers in cheapness an(' cert- 

 iliuty of transport, and enabled tlioiii to get up 

 manure at a cheap rate, would be beneficial. 1 trust 

 therefore the day is not tar iifl' when tlie (iovenior 

 will see bis way to sanctioning the expenses of a 

 survey to select the best and clie!ip:'sl. route ; there 

 should be no diltieulty in raising a guaranteed loan 

 at liouie for the construction. Mr. Espeul points 

 out the delicacy of fruit, and that it cannot bear 

 to be kept long ; if therefore the railway jn'oves 

 the fastest feeder to the several shipping jnnts, 

 there is no doubt it would be well supported hy 

 the growers both F.uroiieaii and creolc. .\s to the 

 Panama Canal, if affairs are as it is stated, 

 matters seem to be in a very bad state for the present 

 bondholders; neither will the work be aeconiplished 

 as cjuickly as was promi.sed. Where has all the money 

 gone to? Echo answers where. Indirectly it has 

 been a tine tiling for (he Jaiiiaica Inliourer, who has 

 found well-paid employment, and as so many sugar 

 properties have suffered from the low prices, and 

 lia\e not been able to employ so many hands as 

 of yore, the work so near at hand must have been 

 a Godsend to the Jamaica creole. Here, on our 

 side of the island, owing to the drought and 

 people being short of provisions we liave not suffered 

 from want of labor. We hear ninreover of several 

 win have gone to Colon in search of work until 

 better seasons return. Felling and topping, pruning 

 and all job works have been done cheaper on many 

 esi.ites owing to the above causes. The prices for 

 felling, topping and clearing up ready for planting 

 are dearer than in Ceylon, though the Jamaica 

 fove^l as a rule is not nearly so heavy : the custom 

 has been to pay -Is per square chain, or .t'2 an acre for 

 the simjile felling. W. S. 



TRA PLANTING ON THE HILLS OF 

 CEYLON. 



TEA PEUNtNG — EfFECr Of liOBVIHG patJSINO-i AND 

 WEEDS — LDXURIAST FLUSH— TIIH TE.\-LEAI' JIOTl! — 

 VSK OF SPIDEliS — TWIN AND THINE TEA l.KAVES — 

 "WIT.D tea" — OLD KING COFFEE IN HIS DOTAIIK — A 

 " SPUING CHOP " IN DIMBULA — A .MAlfKET FOIi "COFFEE 

 tea" WANTED. 



Tea pruning and the burying in longitudinal 

 holes of tlieprunings, weeds and rotten timber debris 

 are going briskly forward and wonderfully trim and 

 clean the ground looks where the processes have been 

 completed, while the tea bushes are scarcely cut down 

 when they begin to put forth a fresh wealth of buds 

 and W'Ood. The mechanical as well as the manurial 

 effect of the burying process must be most bene- 

 ficial to the soil as weU as to the plant, as is 

 shown in the luxuriant Hush on (lie trees pruned some 

 months ago. 



Yesterday I wrote that the moth pre- 

 valent in Dikoya had not reached this locality. 

 That is still true of the higher fields, but on the 

 lower, evidences of the presence of the insect were 

 this morning seen in curled-up leaves. The con- 

 solation is that this pest chooses not fiusli but 

 mature leaves whereon to lay its eggs, — eggs whence 

 the maggot escapes, sucks the juices of the leaf 

 and is gone (as a moth ?) in a time so incred- 

 ibly short that it is but rarely the (laterpillar can 

 be seen. It is now Unit the value of spiders and 

 their beautifully ingenious webs of all shapes, 

 sizies and designs can be appreciated. The spider 

 I has not heard of I he theory of the balance of 

 I animal life, but he works diligently on its lines, 

 as the tea moths experience. 



