286 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [October i, 1885. 



needful information and guidance will be lacking 

 upon which the cultivation of new products can 

 be started in this settlement ; from the few ex- 

 periments in growing different crops taken by the 

 I)eh Company and several private individuals hav- 

 ing led to unsatisfactory results, so that, when 

 the time comes, no produce article sure to be in 

 great demand can be pointed out as a culture 

 suitable for future plantation enterprise here. The 

 indigenous nutmeg cultivation has, within the 

 last few years, whoUy come to nought from the 

 trees dying out and other products such as 

 coffee, cocoa, and rameh, experiments with which 

 have been tried, have only been slightly success- 

 ful. As crop for 1884, about 400 piculs of coffee 

 were recently forwarded from here to Holland. 

 Eegarding the Mariendal estate, where the Deli 

 Company cultivates this article on the largest 

 scale, it is stated in the latest Official Colonial Be- 

 port that one imijortant subsidiary crop grown on 

 the same is common and Liberian coffee with 

 every prospect of further extension. According to 

 available particulars the number of trees increased 

 there in 1883 to 215,000 including 200,000 of the 

 common kind which in general presented a very 

 promising appearance, of which the older portion, 

 numbering about 50,000 trees were beginning to 

 be more and more productive, so that in 1883, 

 one hundred piculs of berry were gathered against 

 35 inl882. This product brought 40 cents per 

 half kilogramme in the Netherland market. The 

 15,000 Liberian coffee trees looked less promising. 

 They suffered severely from leaf disease and died 

 in great numbers. Eegarding the Petanic estate 

 worked by the same company it is reported that 

 an experiment with Liberian coffee wholly failed 

 from the young plants all dying out within a 

 few weeks! Kespeotiug the St. Cyr estate, we read 

 that of the coffee trees under cultivation, the 

 Liberian ones only looked flourishing but that the 

 remainder presented a stunted appearance. Thus, 

 while so far as coffee is concerned the outlook is 

 unsatisfactory, matters with regard to cocoa are not 

 one whit better. The Deli Company report about 

 it that the cultivation of the same will be extended, 

 but it is still uncertain whether success would be 

 achieved, though the crop growing on the St. Cyr 

 estate appears to promise well for the future. The 

 rameh regarding which, at one time, great ex- 

 pectations were entertained, has of late years, been 

 shoved more in the background owing to the 

 expensive and wholly unsuccessful trials with it in 

 Java. The Deli Company which made experiments 

 in growing this article on a large scale, reported 

 that trials in cultivating it were being continued 

 with regard to the kinds styled virca and utilix. 

 The crops looked well in the fields and several 

 times yielded fair crops. Samples forwarded to 

 Holland did not, however, answer expectations from 

 the machinery used proving unsuitable for separat- 

 ing the rameh from the stalks. Shortly, how- 

 ever, improved machinery will assuredly become 

 available. Without regarding the cultivation of the 

 three abovemeutioned produce articles as having 

 proved a failure, everyone will agree with us that 

 they cannot be looked upon as future products for 

 Deli, and that it is worth while to look round 

 for something else wherever there is anything 

 to learn on tliis point. Would it not be worth 

 while, for instance, to try jute, the cultivation of 

 which has proved so successful in Bengal ? — J)eli 

 Courant, 8th August. 



♦ 



CATARRH OF THE BLADDER. 



Stinging irritation, inflamatiou, all Kiadoy and similar 

 Oomplaiuts, cured byl"Buchu-paiba." W. E. Smith & 

 Co., Madras, Sole Agents. 



COFFEE AND GOLD IN SOUTHEKN INDIA. 



The annual statements of the quantities and official 

 valuation of coffee shipments from India begins 

 to show the declining jirosperity of the enterprise of 

 coffee planting, and the decreasing area of cultiv- 

 ation. The wonder is that the statistics have taken 

 so long to reflect the melancholy change that has 

 come over the position and prospects of planters. 

 The figures we refer to are as follows for the last 

 twelve years, it being premised that we have re- 

 converted the pounds sterling in the othcial state- 

 ments into rupees, at par of exchange : — 



Year. Quarterly. Official Value. 



cwt. E. 



It thus appears that the quantity of coSee ex- 

 ported fell between the beginning and the end of 

 the period, to the extent of 38,805 cwt. or by about 

 lOJ per cent, and the value by 1125,39,900, or by 

 17 per cent. This is serious, but not nearly so much 

 as one might look for from the actual state of 

 affairs in the coffee districts of this Presidency. 

 The explanation of that state of things is not far 

 to seek. Planters have been <lisappointed of season- 

 able weather, and have been victimised liy borer, 

 leaf-disease, and maistries ; but their chief cause, 

 for complaint is that the coffee that they have suc- 

 ceeded in sending to market has fetched unremuner- 

 ative prices. The consumption does not increase 

 with the supply, or with the increase of population, 

 and the cheapening of the article. Compare, for 

 example, the consumjrtion per lb. per head of popul- 

 ation, in the United Kingdom, of coffee, tea, and 

 cocoa, for twelve years : — 



year.. Coffee. Tea. Cocoa. 



1872 ... 1-00 5-047 0-25 



1873 ... rOl 5-502 0-26 



1874 ... 0-99 5-940 0-28 



1875 ... 1-01 6-517 0-31 



1876 ... 1-02 5-l^39 0-32 



1877 ... 0-99 5-666 0-30 



1878 ... l-Oll 0-097 0-30 



1879 ... 1-04 6-113 0-30 



1880 ... 0-96 6-233 0-31 



1881 . . 0-90 6-277 0-31 



1882 ... 0-89 6-230 0-34 



1883 ... 0-90 6-636 0-36 



Taking, as before, the first with the last year 

 of the period under notice, and the consumption 

 of coffee is found to have declined 10 per cent, 

 while that of tea has increased 31J jier cent, and 

 that of cocoa 35 per cent. A glance at the official 

 average of the price of coffee in the United Kingdom 

 in the latest ten years of which statistics are yet 

 available, show the real cause of the distress now 

 prevailing in the planting districts of this Presid- 

 ency. 



1874 £5-03 per cwt. 1879 £4-44 per cwt. 



1875 4-73 „ 1880 4-44 „ 



1876 4-68 ,, 1881 3-87 



1877 4-83 „ 1882 3-81 „ 



1878 4-66 „ 1883 3-51 „ 

 "0, Hamlet, what a falling off is here !" 



