2o4 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



APPOINTMENTS TO EASTERN RUB- 

 BER PLANTATIONS. 



The following notes about the conditions of 

 employment on Eastern rubber plantations may 

 be useful to those whose ambitions lie in that 

 direction. 



The type of man most desired as a beginner 

 is the public schoolboy who has led an active 

 outdoor life. Some knowledge of agriculture is 

 an advantage, but chief importance is attached 

 to personal qualities. As regards age, the 

 minimum limit is about twenty years, and the 

 maximum about twenty-five years. Men beyond 

 the latter age are not very willingly appointed. 

 The disadvantages below the lower limit are 

 unsettled physique and a smaller capability for 

 maintaining discipline, while above the upper 

 limit there is not only less possibility of success- 

 ful acclimatisation, but difficulty in arranging 

 the gradation of ages according to position, on 

 which partly depends good feeling among the 

 members of the staff. 



There is no need to pay a premium for learning 

 plantation work. During the first year of the 

 engagement a rubber company pays to its assis- 

 tants a salary that is sufficient, without extra- 

 vagance, to maintain them in comfort. It may 

 be £200 a year or a little less, with quarters 

 and a native servant. The engagement will 

 perhaps be for three years, with advances of, 

 maybe, £25 in the second and third years. 

 Looking to the fact that the young planter 

 is really serving an apprenticeship, and is pro- 

 bably entering upon his duties in a state of 

 almost absolute ignorance as to their nature, 

 these terms must be counted fair. Bonuses 

 are sometimes granted at the end of the finan- 

 cial year. Should the three-year period be 

 objected to, a premium must be paid to a private 

 planter. Holidays and home leave are given, 

 medical attention is provided, and on large 

 estates there are various facilities for recreation. 



The tropical colonies differ in their relative 

 advantages. Ceylon has long been under control 

 by Europeans, and its reputation for methods 

 of cultivation stands high. Further, the learner 

 meets more often than in Malaya with a variety 

 of products on the one estate or in the same 

 district. Frequently tea is planted among the 

 rubber, sometimes cocoa. Coconuts, for which 

 the future is very promising, are found on many 

 estates. Coffee has disappeared from Ceylon. 

 In the Malay Peninsula rubber is more often 

 found alone on an estate and covering large 

 districts, and though coconuts, sugar, coffee, 

 &c, are cultivated it is seldom that more than 

 one of these accompanies the rubber. Many 

 English companies have estates in Java and 

 Sumatra, where there are openings for young 

 Englishmen. Java resembles Ceylon in often 

 having varied cultivations on an estate. Much 

 coffee and tea are to be seen on the island. 

 Sumatra largely resembles Malaya. Tobacco is 

 a favourite product, and coffee also accompanies 

 the rubber on some estates. 



An important question is that of the main- 

 tenance of health. What are the chances of re- 

 turning home in good health on retirement ? A 

 look at the numerous men living in London 

 after years of planting in the Middle East is 



reassuring. Yet it must be pointed out that it 

 is dangerous to be careless, for carelessness in 

 matters of health is heavily punished in the 

 tropics. No man who is not fit to begin with is 

 allowed to go out to take up an appointment. 

 The rubber company that pays his passage 

 money naturally has an inspection made by a 

 doctor with tropical experience. 



To get a post as assistant, application should 

 be made to one of the houses in London, 

 Edinburgh, or Glasgow that have to do with 

 the management of plantations. A letter ^may 

 be efficacious if superior qualifications are 

 possessed ; but a call on one of the principals, 

 even shou'd the applicant get no further at first 

 than his private secretary, is much more 

 likely to give satisfactory results. Employing 

 an agent or advertising is absolutely unnecessary. 

 —Field July 27. 



TOBACCO INDUSTRY IN RHODESIA. 



According to Mr. Stewart Richardson— says 

 the " Empire review " — who superintends the 

 operations of several tobacco-growing estates in 

 Southern Rhodesia, the culture of tobacco in 

 Rhodesia, which most people thought to be al- 

 ready a large and flourishing industry, is really 

 only in its infancy. The rich low-lying portions of 

 the country are expected, as soon as railway com- 

 munication is opened up with the markets, to fur- 

 nish doubleand even treblecrops with a minimum 

 of trouble. Down on the low veldt, in the great 

 sandstone belts that traverse the country from 

 Wankiesto Lomagundi, are valleys where tobacco 

 can be grown under ideal conditions. The soil for 

 many years running will, in places, produce crops 

 ranging from 900 to 1,500 lb. per acre, without 

 any fertiliser whatever. Eventually, no doubt, as 

 settlement proceeds, the low veldt will be tap- 

 ped by one or more railways, and when that oc- 

 curs the industry should make giant strides. 

 Tobacco is now being successfully grown in the 

 Phillipines, parts of Japan, Korea, Java and 

 the Celebes. Ceylon rates very low in its 

 cultivation owing largely to the sameness of 

 climate. 



PAPAYA OR PAWPAW. 



I notice in the Journal of March 1st that Sir 

 George Bird wood has written a short paragraph 

 on the Papaya or Pawpaw. It is very largely 

 grown in moet gardens in this province, and 

 many natives are now cultivating it. It is 

 generally known here also a3 Pawpaw, though 

 1 have endeavoured to induce people to call it 

 Papaya, but without success. 



Where fruit, except bananas, and vegetables 

 are scarce, we look upon the fruit as delicious, 

 and it is a great digestive. 



It may not be generally known, and perhaps 

 Sir George Birdwood may not be aware of the 

 fact, that by wrapping up a joint of meat in 

 the leaves of the Papaya for two or three hours, 

 the toughest becomes very tender. 



The African kuku (chicken) even a champion 

 sprinter of many years' standing, can be made 

 in this way as tender as a spring chicken. 



R. C. R. Owbn, 

 Governor, Mongalla Province, Sudan. 

 — Journal of the Royal Society of Arts. 



