Dec. I, 1885.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



431 



I am informed that Mr. Howard recently brought up j 

 all the leaves iu the market at three shilling's the ■ 

 poiuui ; anil, as a cmsigiimont of 30,001) lb. is on tho ' 

 way for Xew York.' Oo.-many and London the pric 

 is e.tpectcd shortly to fall to six pence the pound. 



It is brought to tliis country in bags, in which the 

 leaves are found much broken. 1 



At present, about ten grains of the cocaine alkaloid 

 are obtained from one pound of the leaves ; and, on the 

 26tli June, .Messrs. lisU Ji; Co. were selling it lo medical 

 men at one shilling the grain, and a retail price of ono 

 sliil!iu<{ and three pence the grain. • 



4 IJ-sides thu use of the cocaine alkaloid as an 

 Rn:eslhetic in ophthalmic surgery, and during oper- 

 ations on the nuiath, ear, and throat, pharniacoiitists 

 have alreadv prepared from tho leaves a medicinal wine 

 an.l an ixtr.-.ct, and I think it possible, even probable, 

 that the leaves may take their place as a tea plant, or 

 as a valuable addition to the tea and coffee of cotn- 

 tucrec. 



5. Also, it is yet to be ascertained whi'ther the species 

 Ei-iithiori/luii growing in the East Indies* may possess 

 properties identical with that of the Enithroxiiton coca. 

 "When this view occurred to me, I asked Surgeon-General 

 Sbortt to ascertain its importance. I meant that the 

 leaves mi^'ht be rh-.ved as a masticatory, in the manner : 

 that thev were use.l by Weston the pedestrian ; but 'I 

 Dr. Shortt has not informed me if he tried that nioilo. 

 He iStnt, however, to Mr. Edmund Blyth, the Analyst 

 for the .Marylebone district, twenty pounds of the leaves 

 of the E. muHOi/i/iinm. That quantity was too small for 

 exiierimonting with, but Jlr. JJlyth authoritatively as- 

 eertaini'd the presence of an alkaloid. There wodM 

 be a valuable addition to the food plants of the whole 

 human race, if it be a.scertained that the Indian specie-S 

 of Kii/tliioji/lun possess, like tho E. coca, the staying 

 properties ol" tea and coif ee. 



C. The institution of inquiries of this kind has over 

 formed a pomineut feature in the British adminstration 

 of India, and I 1 hink that this is one meriting investig- 

 ation. But under the headings •• Coca " and '• Ery- 

 throxylon " in my " ('yclupiedia of India," just ))\ib- 

 Hslie<!. where I h;ive noted the alkaloid and the species 

 of genus, it was necessarily only with the brevity ri;- 

 quired for keeping eacli article in the due subordin- 

 ation to the other 3"),Ui)U which the book eoutain.s. 

 -Vnd, if the suggested inquiry be undertaken, it seems 

 disiriihlc that it be cou<lucted, as regards the verific- 

 ation of tho plants, under the superintendence of Sir 

 Joseph Hooker, in onler to make certain that the 

 proper plants ha\e been gathered from, as the species 

 of tins genus have presenteil difiicidties to botanists, 

 and tbe plants and their species, as they now stand, 

 have been slotted to other genera and other species. 



PL.VNTING IX FIJI': AH'H.\ TAVILNI. 



<jil.i and Alpha are by no means twin brothers as 

 the erne was called into c.xister.co long before the other 

 and both are carried on indei>eudont of one another as 

 far as nnu and capital are concerned; nevertheless, 

 Ihey iirr closely connected, not only because the pro- 

 prietor is the same, but because Qila is the seaport 

 of .V'pha. Here supplies are lanced and taken inland, 

 and from hence the tea. coffee, and other produce is 

 shipp (1. 



• E. B rmauicum, Oriff., of tbe Eastern Peninsula, 

 And iin 11 », and Tcnaesarini, is E. retusura, Bauer. 



E. Kuithianuni, 'Wall. Oat., of Eastern Bcni;al and 

 Khas-'a. 



!■;. lai ceolatum, AVright's 111, AVeste-n Penin'^nla, it) 

 So'.'ria h nceolata, Thw. an.l S, erytbroxyloides, AVight. 



K. lue dum, Moon'^Cat of Ceylon, is Seltria acumin- 

 a' a, ,Vri', Wight, Thw. 



K. mnr.ogynura, Jlo.xb. Cor. I'l. of Oeylon .ind Wch'- 

 ern I'lrinsula, is E. Indiea, Dedd. and Sjeltria ludica, 

 D. C. 



K. ohlu? foriim, Thw. Kn.. is of Ceylon. 



E fideroxyloides, Fani. is of Mauritius. 



Alpha is about foiu- miles inland from Qila. There 

 is a Government road rumnng f om the beach to the 

 estate autl thence on to tjaleci. I was surprised to 

 find it so clean, and in such an excellenl condition as 

 most of the public roads on Taviuni are overgrown 

 with wee:'-. This was, however, explained by the 

 fact that tuu r'Jid is kept clean by men iroin the Alpha 

 f'^tate. It is a pleasant ride from QUn to .Vlpha. The 

 \ i .V to seawanl is magnificent, but I have so much 

 to say about the cultivation of tea that I cannot stay 

 to give a dcscriptiou of it. The road rises gradually 

 until it reiichcs an altitude of 1,100 feet from the sea 

 levi 1 when it enters the Alpha cstato which is uml- 

 ulating table land protected by adjacent hills. 



It was only when cotton failed that the Hon, iMr. 

 Mason turnnd his attention to coffee and from lliu 

 cultivation of the bean he hoped to win the fortune 

 which the snowy ami fleecy cotton refused to give him. 

 Operations were ecnnmeueed in 1875 by felling the 

 bush and forming the imrsery. Mr. Lanyon, who had 

 considerable experience in the culti\'ation of coJfee in 

 Ceylon had the honor of opening up, what I suppose 

 must be regarded as, the first coffee estate in Fiji. 

 Small patches of the bean had been cultivated on 

 Wakaya and some other places, but, as the name 

 indicates, this was the first estate that was opened 

 out for the planting of coffee on a largo scale. If 

 Mr. Lanyon may be judged by his diary ho was an 

 iotelligent cultivator of the soil. This document., which 

 is still in the hands of tbe proprietor, contains nuich 

 usefid information, and many shrewd and valuable 

 remarks on the climate, the soil, the uatmo of the 

 country cleared as well as the kind aiul quality uf the 

 timber felled to make the nursery. As soou as this 

 was planted, clearing connneuced in right good eiiruest, 

 and day after day tho axe gleanined in the sunlight 

 and the crash of falling trees was heard as the 

 woodman felled them. Eventually the young coffee 

 plants were taken from the nurseries ami trausplantetl 

 on the plantation, but three long anil weary years had 

 to elapse before the covered fruit could hi; gathered. 

 It can be imagiaed how carefully tho * developnu-nl 

 of the young plants would be watclied ; but palience. 

 and industry had their reward in the appearance of the 

 first blossom which was soon followed by the fruit; 

 and the maiden ci'op was ready to he picki'd. It was 

 a magnificent one, s.itisfactory both to manager and 

 proprietor, .Vbout this tinie Mr. .Stephens, the present 

 manager of Alpha, appeared on the scene. He came 

 from Ceylon, where he managed several large estates 

 atul had considerable experience iu the cultivation of 

 coffee and tea, Mr, Stephens, like many others, was 

 not sati.stied with making money slowly, hejice he 

 threw up a good position and came to Fiji where he 

 hoped to make a rapid fortune, and when lie saw the 

 maiden cnffee crop at .\lpba he thought he had found 

 an cldor.-ido. There was a rapid fortune in coll'ie if 

 crops such as these' could be grown. iSIore laiul was 

 obtaiuod and the Alpha estate enlarged. The confid- 

 ence, which Mr. Stephens, a practical coffee planter, 

 felt in the ultimate success of coffee inspired the UoJi, 

 Mr, Mason with renewed conHdeuce, More c.-ipilal was 

 invested and another 200 acres of laud were cleared 

 and planted which made 400 acres altogether and when 

 this point was reached the results were patiently waited 

 for, but no future crop was equal to the first, and 

 eventually leaf disease, and black leaf made their ap- 

 pearance and played such liavock among the trees that 

 coffee ctiltivatiou had to be abandoned and ten has 

 taken its place. 



Mr. Stephens brought some tea seeds with him when 

 he came from Ceylon, and jilanted ihem at Alpha and 

 the seeds from these plants have been carefully pre- 

 served and plantid in nurseries. Tea is rapidly taking 

 the place of coffee. Already more than 200 acres 

 are planted ; 100 acres more will be plnnted by the ■ nd 

 of this year, and nnother 100 acres will be ready for 

 planting Ui xtyear, while there are nearly 30(1 acres of 

 virgin forest suitable for further extension. There ari! 

 five nurseries of tea seedlings on the estate which are 

 looking remarkably well and which contain jdaids 

 for 1,000 acres extension it uecctaary, or for sale to 



