August 14, 1891.J 



SCIENCE. 



93 



for July 31. In that portion of the report which is devoted to the 

 consideration of the agricultural development of the island, it is 

 stated that the chief agricultural products are sugar, coffee, cocoa, 

 vanilla, cloves, rice, potatoes, tamarinds, indigo, wine, oranges. 

 and lemons. Sugar cultivation was first commenced in l843; and 

 two factories were erected at Manangary. Good results were ob- 

 tained in the first two years ; but, dm'ing the third year, riots took 

 place among the workmen, and the plantations were destroyed. 

 ■ In 187S three new factories were established in the neighborhood 

 of Tamatave; and in 1383, on the outbreak of hostilities between 

 France and Madagascar, they were in full working. At the pres- 

 ent time, the number of plantations round Tamatave has greatly 

 increased ; and also in the south, towards Mahanoro and Vato- 

 mandry. The expenses of cultivating are greater near Tamatave. 

 by reason of the hij^li price of land and the scarcity of labor, than 

 in the south, towards Vatomandry and Manangary, where labor 

 and land are cheap. Leases are usually granted for twenty-five 

 years, renewable at option. They may even be granted for a pe- 

 riod of ninety-nine years. 



Coffee trees grow well in Madagascar; and it is stated to be by 

 no means an uncommon thing to see plantations that are forty- 

 five years old, and even more, vvhich have never ceased to yield 

 good results. European travellers, it is said, are fi-equenlly struck 

 by the healthy appearance and the quantity of berries in most of 

 the plantations made round the houses or in the villages inhabited 

 bj" the natives, even when tliese plantations appear to be aban- 

 doned and left to take care of themselves. A. large plantation has 

 recently been established in Imerina by h French company; it ex- 

 tends over an area of about 800 acres. Great results are expected 

 from the development of the coffee industry in Madagascar, as 

 the difference between the cost price and the price it realizes in 

 European markets allows of a considerable outlay on its cultiva- 

 tion and then leaves a large margin of profit. 



The cocoa tree was introduced into Madagascar by means of 

 seeds brought from the Mauritius and Reunion, in which places it 

 has been for a long time a source of considerable revenue. The 

 tree commences to bear at the end of three years, but it is only in 

 full bearing at the end of the fifth year, and it so remains for 

 thirty years. The cost of cultivation is le^s than that of coffee. 

 The cocoa tree is chiefly cultivated in the eastern portion of the 

 island, and it is only of recent years that the industry has assumed 

 any importance. In 1883 there were not less than five or six 

 thousand trees round the coast, and these were abandoned when 

 the war broke out. After the war it was found that, notwith- 

 standing the want of care and attention, the young cocoa planta- 

 tions were still flourishing, and this phenomenon encouraged the 

 planters to pay greater attention to the development of this culti- 

 vation. This development dates from the year 1888. Like cocoa, 

 vanUla is one of the agricultural products which has a great future 

 before it in Madagascar, and its cultivation is largely engaged in 

 in Vatomandry, Mahanoro, and Mahela. Vanilla plants com- 

 mence to yield after the third year, and in the fourth they are in 

 full bearing. 



The cultivation of rice, which is well-developed in the interior 

 of the island, is very much less so on the coasts, where the land 

 is more fertile. While in the latter districts the inhabitants are 

 content to sow the seed without any preparation of the ground 

 but the burning of the trees and grass, the Hovas and the Betsi- 

 leos, having a much poorer goil, take more pains to develop and 

 perfect their system of cultivation. In some instances, for ex- 

 ample, in the neighborhood of Antananarivo, they have trans- 

 formed immense tracts of marsh land into rice plantations. The 

 plains of Betsimitatatra, towards the west of the capital, which 

 are watered by the Ikopa. Andromba, and Sisaony rivers, now the 

 centre of the rice production in Imerina, have been drained and 

 cleared, irrigating canals have been pierced, and everything has 

 been done to favor the production. Similar well cultivated plains 

 are found in great number in the south of Imerina and in Betsileo. 

 In the mountain districts the rice grounds are laid out in terraces 

 on the slopes of the mountains and hills, and rice grounds are 

 frequently met with rising tier upon tier up to the very summit 

 of the high mountains. 



The following is the method of cultivation employed by the 



Hovas and Betsileos. The rice is first of all sown, then, when it 

 has attained a height of fifteen centimetres, it is plucked up and 

 replanted. The preparation of the ground is an operation bo 

 which considerable attention is devoted; it is first of all heavily 

 manured, and when the seed is sown and commences to shoot up, 

 it is subjected alternately to the action of the sun and moisture. 

 In the transplatnting, the same system is followed as in other rice- 

 growing countries, care being taken to choose a wet season of the 

 year. The ground must, first of all, have been subjected to vari- 

 ous treatments, which would have the effect of transforming it 

 into a kind of mud. In many districts this is effected by tramp- 

 ling over the inundated lands, already softened by driving herds 

 of oxen over them. An improvement in the methods of cultiva- 

 tion practised by the natives of the coast, and of the means of 

 transport, would, it is said, give to this industry its old importance. 

 As regards the future of rice cultivation in the interior, it would 

 never rise beyond the needs of local consumption, as it would be 

 impossible for a low-priced product such as this to bear the heavy 

 expenses of transport by land. Its cultivation, however, would 

 prove remunerative to farmers and others if they would establish 

 factories for the distillation of the alcohol obtained from the rice. 

 At the present time, in the interior of the island, a tenth part of 

 the rice lands only are cultivated, and this suffices for the require- 

 ments of home consumption. 



Potatoes are largely cultivated in the districts round Ankaratra, 

 and considerable quantities are placed upon the neighboring mar- 

 kets and at Antananarivo, principally for the consumption of the 

 natives. Tamarinds are common all over the west coast, where 

 the plants form immense thickets. The Sakalaves distil spirits 

 from the fruit. Peaches grow almost wild all over the island, and 

 the same may be said of the indigo plant. 



As regards vines, there are different species in Madagascar. 

 One variety vpas originally imported from Portugal; another va- 

 riety appears to be indigenous to the soil. In Imerina attempts 

 have been made in recent years to acclimatize vines, but some 

 which were brought from Bordeaux have not succeeded. On the 

 other hand, American vines have prospered, but the grapes are 

 not of a superior kind, and the wine made from them is very 

 poor. Orange and lemon trees are found all over the island, 

 growing in a wild state on the coasts, and cultivated in the inte- 

 rior. 



As regards textiles, ramie, flax, cotton, and hemp are grown. 

 Plantations of the former were made at Vatomandry, in 1882, 

 which have since increased. The want, however, of decorticating 

 machines has caused this cultivation to be abandoned. Hemp is 

 cultivated in Imerina and Betsileo. Cotton was formerly an im- 

 portant cultivation in Madagascar. The natives gathered it, and 

 themselves manufactured the fabrics, which served them for 

 clothing. Since the importation, however, of American and 

 English cottons, the local industry has been almost killed. M. 

 d'Anthouard says that in view of the fact that cottcn grows so 

 easily and quickly in Madagascar, more particularly in the terri- 

 tories bordering on the west coast, where it may be found almost 

 in a wild state, it seems extraordinary that no one, up to the 

 present, has thought of making cotton plantations, either for the 

 export of the raw material, for working it up on the spot, and 

 selling the yarn to the natives, or even for making fabrics which, 

 seeing the heavy expenses of freight and transport which bear 

 upon foi'eign products, would compete very favorably with similar 

 American goods. 



IS THE MARINER'S COMPASS A CHINESE INVENTION? 



A WEITEE in the North China Herald of Shanghai devotes a 

 learned article to detailing and discussing the facts regarding the 

 claim of the Chinese to have invented the mariners compass. 

 They did not learn the properties of the magnetized needle from 

 any other country. They found it out for themselves, though it 

 is impossible to point to the man by name who first observed that 

 a magnetized needle points north and south. He suggests that it 

 came about in this way. The Chinese have in their country 

 boundless tracts of ironstone, and among these no small portion is 

 magnetic Every woman needs a needle, and ii'on early took the 



