780 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [May r, 1890. 
acre resulting from the application of manure besides 
the estates being kept in better heart and condition. 
The acreages mentioned comprise the total acreages 
that have produced crop on their respectine Estates, and 
not the finest portions. Planting 7' 6" x 7' 6" is too 
close, 9' x 9' give equally good results, and is a much 
preferable distance. Your correspondent gives 12 to 15 
years as his limit of time for such crops. We have coffee 
10 years old, and it looks better than formerly and pro- 
mises an equally good crop next year. 
The progress made in the Native States in the ex- 
tension of Roads, Railways, and the free influx of Tamils 
have materially helped to obtain the large and pro- 
gressive results mentioned by your correspondent. The 
places in which the Estates mentioned are situated 
have been selected during the course of the last ten 
years, and every effort has been made to select good soil 
and suitable localities. I would refer your correspon- 
dent to the North Borneo Herald of July 1st, as shew- 
THE DIGESTION OP FATS. 
Whether in the polar regions where the Bole 
occupation is fishing, or in the tropical lands of the 
floating pine, oil is found to be an indispensable 
food; In the former case it is far more largely 
consumed than in the latter, but its complete 
Withdrawal, under any ciroumstanoes, is disastrous 
to health. The cereals contain more or less oil ; 
olives are particularly rioh in it, and many fruits 
oontain it, suoh as the coconut, &o. The first food 
taken by the infant, that is, milk, is abundant in 
cream or fat. Wherever tissue, ohange, and growth 
are found, fat is absolutely essential to the change, 
and moreover, we find that the more important and 
highly developed a tissue is, the more fat or oil 
does it contain. The brain and spinal cord oontain 
proportionately more fat than any other tissue in 
the body. Another point is, that when the supply 
of food is insufficient and the body is wasting away, 
the brain and spinal cord show a proportionately 
smaller loss of fat than do any other organs in the 
system. We thus see that fat is in some mysterious 
way connected with the vital functions and with 
the most vital parts. 
When fat is taken as we take it at our meals, 
mixed intimately with other food, it is very accept- 
able, makes digestion more pleasant, and imparts 
a sense of satisfaction and a degree of strength that 
would otherwise be wanting. If, on the other hand, 
it be taken in bulk, and on an empty stomach, 
then acidity occurs, heart-burn comes on, eructations 
of fatty aoids ensue, and a general sense of distress, 
of nausea, and even vomiting is felt. We see then 
that if the fullest benefit from cod liver oil is to 
be derived in wasting conditions of disease, the oil 
should be taken as it is always taken in health, as 
a food. In other words, it should be taken with 
the food, in the food, and at the time of eating. 
Physiologists and leading physicians pronounce it 
one of the foremost advances of our time, and to 
have revolutionized the old mode of giving cod 
liver oil. Our forefathers were wont to administer 
it in bulk, half an hour or so after meals. 
The wise physician recognizes the fact that cod 
liver oil is a food, and that it should be taken the 
same as all other fatty food is taken, at meal-times 
with other foods. Pharmacists have been parti- 
cularly happy in carrying out this scientific idea, 
and have combined cod liver oil with that most 
delicious and assimilable of foods, extract of malt, 
prominent among which may be mentioned one 
made by the Kepler process. The Kepler Solution 
of Cod Liver Oil oontains a goodly quantity of the 
oil, agrees well with the stomach, is agreeable to 
take, and its administration is generally followed by 
increased weight and improved health, within even 
a fortnight's treatment. — "Health," London. 
!ng him the principles that guide our actions in the 
cultivation of Liberian coffee. — Yours truly, — A. B. 
Rathborne. 
Sir, — The letter you have published on the subject of 
Liberian Coffee Cultivation in the Straits giving, as 
proof of the adaptability of the soil and climate to its 
success, a statement showing the splendid results Messrs. 
Hill and Rathborne have obtained from four of their 
Estates, is certainly most encouraging to those who 
would prefer investing their money in Agricultural en- 
terprises to speculations in Tin and other mines. But, 
such large and progressive results must surely be the 
effects of heavy manuring, unless the soils on the four 
Estates, viz : — Linsum, and S'lian, in Sungei Ujong ; 
and Weld's and Batu Caves Estate in Selangor, are 
exceptionally rich ; in fact ' perfect.' As the out-turns 
of these plantations, being published, are now publio 
property, one is naturally inclined to ask a few questions 
on the subject, but as they might be considered imper- 
tinent and uncalled for, I shall refrain from doing 
so. On the other hand, however, unless some further 
information is given to the public as to the cause of 
their Liberian Coffee yielding such handsome crops, 
those proprietors whose Estates do not yield the same 
or an equivalent, allowing for any disadvantages, might 
fancy that there was something radically wrong some- 
where, or that their own land was no Goshen to them, 
or that they had incompetent men looking after them. 
Such being, I should say, the ideas of many, I would 
ventuie to hint that the 65, 45, 55 and 12 acres of the 
four named Estates may be only the finest portions of 
the respective places. It must be borne in mind we 
are not informed that the above represent the total 
of the Estates' acreages. To judge fairly the out-turn 
of coffee, good, bad, and indifferent should be taken into 
aooount. Again, I cannot but think that Messrs. Hill 
and Rathborne manure their places heavily. Closely 
planted coffee, say 7' 6" by 7' 6" apart, and heavily 
manured would and will give successive crops of from 
8 to 12 cwts. per acre up to a certain age. By doing so 
you are simply forcing the trees, overstimulating them, 
and should you for one year cease the usual refresher 
you may then think of giving up planting and put 
your estate down as a non-paying concern. 
We are told that such and such an Estate gives so 
much and so much per acre but we are not informed 
whether this is actually the results of the soil itself 
or whether it is the outcome of a highly manured 
ground. The cost of production is vastly different in 
these two cases. A man may say to you "Yes, I get 
my $10 per acre," but, does he tell you what it 
costs him to put that on the trees ? Does it pay 
to manure up to a yield of 10 to 12 cwt. per acre ? Is 
it a wise and judicious plan to risk the lives of 
your plants, your Capital really, to do so? If a 
Liberian Coffee Estate is properly attended to, and 
liberally treated with manure every third year, in a 
soil not overflowing with the " milk and honey" of 
the essential properties of the earth conducive to 
the well-being of a coffee tree, and it gives its owner 
5 cwt. per acre regularly it will pay him, and will 
do eo for years. As far as my knowledge goes Li- 
berian Coffee, under the above circumstances, is a 
safe and profitable investment for 12 to 15 years. 
In conclusion I beg you will not for a moment 
imagine I am in any way criticising the information 
Messrs. Hill & Rathborne have been so good as to 
let us have. On the contrary I wish them all luck 
and prosperity, and can only hope that the wave of 
plenty they are experiencing on their Selangor and 
Sungie Ujong properties may yet pass over our Johore 
lands. Parchment. 
ORANGE CULTURE IN FLORIDA. 
[We have had of late so many inquiries upon this 
subject, that we are glad to be able to print tbe 
following letter. The majority of those who consult 
us have no knowledge at all of the subject, but still 
expect to succeed in the business ! Ed]. 
People from the Northern States often ask if a 
frost may not some time come and destroy the busi- 
ness of Orange culture. Certainly, it may, and so 
