278 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



A great many ma hines are on the market for 

 the manufacture of cacao products, and every 

 manufacturer has some more or less personal 

 process, as the industry is still in a 6tate of de- 

 velopment. 



A German plant, with machinery of the latest 

 description and a capacity of J, 200 pounds 

 daily of dry cacao powder, would require the 

 following investment : — 



1 A cleaning and winnowing machine for 



breaking the beans and eliminating do). dol. 

 the skin 1 H. P. 357.00 

 Belting 4.76 

 Receiving pan 11.90 373.66 



2 Roasting mpxhines, two in number, with 



drums each of a capacity of 880 lb,, 



2 H,P. 404.60 



3 Crushing and cleaning machine, 2 11. P. 



Belting 

 Receiving pan 

 Connecting gearing 



4 Separating machine fur removing germs 



with three movable sieves and two iron 

 pans, output about 165 lb. per hour, 



3 H. P. 134.4V 



5 lYour triple roller mills. 5 



H.P., each dol. 785.40 

 Agitating apparatus pulleys 



3,141.60 

 7.14 



6 Three hydrostatic presses for extracting 



the butter, each dol. 833 2,499 00 



404.60 



060-88 



134.47 



2,490.4$ 



7 Accumulator with automatic pumping 

 apparatus for the three presses- 

 Accumulator 561 .SO 

 Pumping apparatus 124.95 386.76 



Automatic pulverizer fur the cacao cake, 

 consisting of one crushing machine, one 

 Pulverizer and one sifting machine, 

 about 6 H.P.; price of the complete 



machine 



1,487.50 1,487.50 



The total equipment will require about twenty 

 horae-power, and will cost, erected and ready 

 for operation, from dol, 8,806 to dol. 9.520.— New 

 York Oil Reporter, Dec 27. 



TOBACCO" IN RHODESIA. 



It is somewhat surprising that of the large 

 quantities of tobacco consumed annually in 

 Great Britain that more is not imported from 

 British possessions (a few years ago it was only 

 8 per cent, per annum.) It is of paramount 

 importance to the prosperity of agriculture in a 

 colony situated far inland as Rhodesia is that 

 an export trade should be developed in some 

 form or other, and tobacco is essentially suited 

 as being a produce that will stand the cost of 

 freight well. It has been shown that the climate, 

 the land, and the labour supply are all satis- 

 factory, and well-directed energy alone is 

 needed in addition to make the proposition a 

 certainty. A general tendency towards pro- 

 ducing a uniform quality of pipe and cigarette 

 leaf is now much in evidence on the farms, so 

 that time for the maturing of the leaf in the 

 warehouses and the organising of a regular mar- 

 ket is all that is required to establish this new 

 industry in one of the youngest of our colonies. 



During the last six years an increasing 

 amount of attention has been devoted to tobacco 

 growing and the experimental stages can now 

 safely be said to bo to a great extent passed, so 



far as the country south of the Zambesi River is 

 concerned. A serious effort has been made by 

 the Rhodesian farmers to produce a superior 

 type of tobacco to that which is generally known 

 as South African, or Boer tobacco. Seed has 

 been imported by the Government and by pri- 

 vate enterprise from all the renowned tobacco- 

 growing districts in the various tobacco coun- 

 tries of the world, and careful seed selection 

 is now practised by the farmers. Experts have 

 been procured from America to give advice and 

 generally assist the farmers who grow Virginian 

 tobaccos, while expert growers and curers of 

 the Turkish leaf have been procured from Bul- 

 garia, and are let out to farmers at stated salaries 

 bv the Government. Great care is necessary in 



THE SELECTION OF THE SOILS, 



which vary to a very great extent in Rho- 

 desia. Results have shown that on many 

 farms the best tobacco lands are on areas con- 

 sidered not good enough for maize (the staple 

 crop of the country) and other cereals. The 

 rich vegetable loams found in the valleys and 

 Hats are generally used for these, but the land 

 for tobacco is found in well-drained sandy 

 lands, generally situated higher in the granite 

 or diorite formations. As is the case with all 

 crops yet grown in Rhodesia, it is very seldom 

 that any artilicial manure is used, the difficulty, 

 indeed, being to hud a soil that is not too rich. 

 Many of the farmers (most of whom come direct 

 from Great Britain) have had no previous ex- 

 perience in the growing of this crop, and con- 

 sequently make a great many mistakes in the 

 first years. Plantations are sometimes started 

 in rich lands, and crops of tobacco are pro- 

 duced with leaves as thick as cabbage leaves, 

 and almost as dark a green, which when 

 manufactured are so strong as to be quite 

 unsmokable. The ideal leaf should be light in 

 colour and texture, and can only be produced on 

 light soils. Fields fifty acres in extent can now 

 be seen on some of the progressive farms of the 

 finest Virginian leaf — a beautiful sight when, 

 just at the ripening stage, it is of a bright 

 golden green. 

 September and October are the months when 



THE SEED BEDS 



are started so as to have plants ready for the 

 land at the time of the arrival of the rains in 

 December. Planting is done by hand, and the 

 native labourers are at their best at work of this 

 kind, the only difficulty being in keeping the 

 rows straight, which is done either by employing 

 lines or by making shallow furrows with a culti- 

 vator beforehand. With a crowd of niggers 

 properly in hand it is surprising how quickly 

 the field is planted. By far the best way to 

 get them to work well is by precept. The man 

 with an even temper, and who works hard 

 himself, will seldom have any difficulty in ob- 

 taining a good return for his money from these 

 people. One white man can easily supervise 

 a hundred natives. 



After a field is planted, if good weather is 

 experienced — that is, if the rains are continued 

 sufficiently to keep the land moist till the young 

 plants obtain root hold— there will generally be 

 very few gaps in the rows to fill up from the 

 seed beds. During tho next few months 



