392 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



among a people very liable to fever at certain 

 seasons. Opium is often taken to mitigate 

 the effects of fever ; but it is never the 

 cure or prophylactic that quinine is, and 

 very often demonstrates how tuo remedy may 

 be worse than the disease. If the produc- 

 tion and import of opium could be altogether 

 stopped in China, there can be no doubt that 

 that country would require an immense quant- 

 ity of quinine to the great benefit of the mass 

 of its people, who would then substitute the 

 bark tonic for the insidious poppy-product. 

 *Long, therefore, may the cinchona industry 

 in Java flourish. 



The next planting industry in which the old 

 Ceylon resident visiting Java should feel a 

 special interest is coffee; for, again owing to 

 the aid of science and experimental gardens, 

 in Java coffee has now been established as :t 

 permanently safe pursuit for the intelligent 

 tropical planter, who has the suitable climate 

 as well as land tor this product. The fungus 

 which ravaged coffee in Ceylon, Travancore and 

 other parts of Southern India, between 1869 

 and 1885, leading to the absolute extinction of 

 a great industry, did not fail to reach Java, and 

 from 1883 onwards for some years, there was 

 a steady falling-off in production; but experi- 

 ments with different species have resulted— not 

 only in the experience that coffee robusta, though 

 liable to hemileia vastatrix, does not perma- 

 nently suffer from its invasion when grown 

 under shade— -but in the discovery of a hybrid 

 coffee that in respect of this fungus is practic- 

 ally immune. Java, therefore — although it will 

 never approach Brazil — has recovered its posi- 

 tion as a producer of coffee, its annual crops 

 running up to close on 1,500,000 cwt. of late 

 years. Nevertheless, terrible blunders have 

 been made in Java in planting coffee where it 

 could not be profitably grown ; and that, too, 

 by a group of planter-proprietors which in- 

 cluded some among the ablest and shrewdest 

 of colonists who ever came to Ceylon. It is a 

 matter of notoriety how, some years back, a 

 district in East Java was invaded by ex-Ceylon 

 men, who took up land for coffee and spent 

 their money liberally — with very inadequate, not 

 to say unsatisfactory, results. Had it chanced 

 that tea or rubber had instead been exploited 

 in suitable situations, in those years, how 

 different would have been the return for the 

 capital invested ! But how much more often 

 has the same lesson been taught in Ceylon 

 itself, of land being planted with a product for 

 which it was quite unsuited ? Again, in the 

 case of East Java, it is probable that by degrees, 

 rubber and other products may take the place 

 of coffee : indeed, this transition has already 

 been effected over a considerable area. 



Of far greater interest to Ceylon at present 

 is it to learn of Tea cultivation and production 

 in Java ; for, gradually but surely, there is the 

 likelihood here of a rivalry that may to some 

 extent affect markets now occupied by Indian 

 and Ceylon teas. Tea planters in Java have, 

 so far, not been indebted so much to their 

 scientific department as have their brethren 

 interested in Cinchona and Coffee. In many 

 cases, the cultivation of tea and cinchona go 

 together. But they have learned much from 



the experience gained in India and Ceylon in 

 respect of jat, modes of planting, pruning and 

 preparation. There are many exceptionally 

 large plantations with first-class factories 

 thoroughly well-equipped ; and though there is 

 only one "Malabar " — a uniquely rich undulat- 

 ing plateau at 5,000 feet — yet there are many 

 luxuriant gardens yielding fairly good teas up 

 to the best average crops per acre that are 

 gathered in Ceylon, from 500 to 800 lb. per 

 acre. A finer cover or better jat of tea in many 

 cases one could not wish to see. The exten- 

 sion of this cultivation must come chiefly from 

 the planting of reserves already in private 

 hands ; and, indeed, there is at present a good 

 deal of young tea yet to come into bearing. 

 With these facts in view, it is not surprising 

 that a steady increase in the total crop of 

 Java tea is expected for some years to come, 

 and that there should be the prospect of a 

 growing export to the Australian Colonies in 

 return for an import trade in stock, provisions, 

 cold storage, &c, which is growing up, through 

 the establishment of a direct line of steamers 

 between Melbourne and Sydney and Soerabaya 

 and Batavia. 



RUBBER PLANTING IN SAMOA. 



The large results which have been attained 

 with hevea culture in Ceylon, the Malay States, 

 and the Straits Settlements, have induced the 

 planters of Samoa to turn their attention to 

 rubber planting, and it is expected that within 

 a few months 300,000 hevea trees will be planted 

 out in the island. The importation of 100,000 

 hevea plants into Samoa from Ceylon as so- 

 called " stumps" has been a complete success. 

 The difficulty in obtaining hevea plants has been 

 solved. How it will stand as regards disease, 

 especially the Limumea, and what yield the rub- 

 ber will give in Samoa, cannot be forecasted. 

 According to the report of Mr. Acting Vice- 

 Consul Trood on the trade of Samoa, just issued 

 (No. 4017, Annual Series) there are throe, large 

 rubber plantations now in existence in Samoa. 

 The first has several thousand acres, the second 

 S00 acres, of which half are cultivated; and 

 the third, 350 acres in rubber and cacao, 

 and 100 acres in rubber solely. All promise 

 excellent results when the trees are ready for 

 tapping. The great advantage which Samoa en- 

 joys over the adjacent islands is that it is sub- 

 ject to hurricanes only at extremely long inter- 

 vals. There has been no severe storm since 1889, 

 and even if a hurricane should take place within 

 the next few years, it is pretty certain to be 

 followed by a period, varying from 25 to 30 

 years or more, during which there will be no 

 gale worth mentioning. The rubber troe has no 

 very great power of resistance against storms, 

 and Dr. Preuss, who has been making a study of 

 the question of rubber-growing in Samoa, sug- 

 gests that the plantations should be provided 

 with wind breaks, for which purpose the Ficus 

 elastica is best suited. This treo grows quickly, 

 spreads out widely, and forms a full thick crown. 

 It has great resisting powers against wind, and, 

 besides, gives a yield of first-class caoutchouc. — 

 Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, July 17. 



