190 
Economic PLANTS. 
As to the particular capes: plants which it is most ceria i 
blunt, and the produce whieh would most probably 
staple articles of export in the fior it will be well to pria bey v Sia 
is now being done in the way of agricultural enterprise. 
offee is "t principal staple at present, and over 30 estates have 
opened up, and, for the most part, planted with the ordinary C. arabica. 
This will no den t be the principal cultivation, so long as leaf disease 
can be kept out of the country. C. liberica is also established in the 
Shiré Highlands; over 100 plants were raised from the seed I brought 
from Zanzibar, and these are now in full bearing. The Messrs. 
Buchanan also had several trees of it previous to this. It is more suited 
for the lower-lying districts than for the hills. Mr. Buchanan is besides 
eins ting several other varieties of C. arabica, and has also introduced 
small-berried native one called * Quilimane coffee." Shiré Highlands 
codes sold in Mincing Lane the other day at from 4/. 16s. to 5/.,* and 
it has now become a speciality i in the London market, where it is in 
great demand. The natives, in some instances, have been induced to 
cultivate coffee on their own account, and I have no doubt they will do 
and more as the ey become more and more intelligent and 
enterprising. - 
' Tobacco has ‘Been extonsively cultivated by the Messrs. Buchanan 
for some years, both at Blantyre and Zomba. They have now a large 
local sale for their cut tobaccos stri cigars, which are excellent. They 
have also obtained remunerative prices for thei t kear in the London 
feel sure will be of benefit, not only to the Messrs. Buchanan, 
but also to the ae at large. There is unlimited scope for the 
cultivation of this promising product. In Ceylon and many other 
ritish possessions this industry has made no headway, Md to the 
exe of labour and the scarcity of suitable land. Here the one is 
perhaps the bed poti in the world, and the other almost boundless, The 
natives have grown tobacco for their own use for many y 
Cane sugar has been manufactured for years by Mr. "Büdliuin = 
Zomba for pae E E The climate and soil of the Upper Shir 
are, however, more suited for the cultivation of sugar. The Messrs. 
Buchanan have therefore decided se extend their ears on the 
Central Africa, even were the railway ee The sugar-cane 
ing a thoroughly tropical plant matures sooner on the hot steamy 
banks s on the Shiré than it does in the Shiré Highlands. 
ea of good varieties, Assam and China, has been introduced, but is 
not as yet cultivated to any extent. It grows luxuriantly, and ought to 
do well in some districts. Our long "dry season would prevent its 
flushin ng so freely as it does in Ceylon or Assam, but against this we 
i have to put the abnormally low price of labour at from 9d. to 1s. per lb. 
..* Some samples commanded a price as high as 5/. 5s.—H. H. J. 
