Planting in Papua 81 



capital outlay considerably ; these crops can be 

 chosen from among the following : maize, 

 Liberian or better still robusta coffee, pepper, 

 ramie, murva fibre, tapioca or cassava, citronella 

 and lemon grass, tobacco, sarsaparilla, ipecacu- 

 anha, bananas, soya-beans, cayenne pepper, 

 ground nuts, vanilla, coca, sweet potatoes, yams, 

 Manila or sisal hemp, 1 ginger, arrowroot, 

 cotton, &c. 



For large plantations, where the capital 

 available allows, ploughs drawn by traction 

 engines have proved very successful for break- 

 ing up the soil, provided the same has been 

 freed of logs and stumps, and the conditions 

 are otherwise suitable. In one of the British 

 South Sea Islands, a case is reported where a 

 planter with a traction engine, costing ^865, 

 and five four-furrow, stump-jump Australian 

 disc-ploughs, costing ^210, has been able to 

 plough twenty-five acres per day, in good 

 weather, to a depth of 15 in., his best day 

 amounting to thirty-five acres. Excellent' 

 work was done at a moderate cost. We will 

 conclude this section with the following extract 

 from an article published by the manager of 

 one of the largest coco-nut plantations in 

 Papua, which appeared in the Tropical 

 Agriculturist, of Ceylon, for October, 1908: 

 " The Territory is situated outside the 



1 Full estimates are given for planting sisal hemp in 

 the Handbook. The Philippines recommended Manila 

 hemp in the same way. 



6 



