January 2, 1888.] THE TROPICAL -AGRICULTURIST, 
461 
device is a stale one, and has regularly lowered the 
London quotation for [dan I at ion coffee for many years 
past during November and December; it meets, how- 
ever, with unvarying success. The fact that Indian 
and Ceylon planters who are able to sell their crops 
locally, u sually do ho about now, may be a mere coin- 
cidence. As to cultivation being extended, no doubt 
those planters who have the means at hand have en- 
larged their borders ; labour is, however, very scarce, 
and at the best the new estates cannot come into bear- 
ing for some years. 
An article contributed by Mr. Wells, lately a 
resident in Brazil, to the Chamber of Commerce 
Journal- is valuablo in connection with the sub- 
ject ot coffee. He poiuts out that the difficulty 
of obtaining an idea of how things are going on 
arises from the vast size of Brazil. Merchants in differ- 
ent seaports form their opinions according to their 
individual local experience, and from their good or 
bad fortune in their own business ; hence a traveller 
who had not been over the whole Empir is unable to 
give a trustworthy account of it. This is true of 
India as well as of Brazil. The emancipation of the 
slaves is proceeding rapidly. Less than a million 
slaves are now in bondage, as against three millions 
a few years ago. Tho general opinion amongst Eng- 
lish residents is, that the extinction of slavery " will 
be the death-blow to the profitable cultivation of 
coffeo, an articlo that at preseut constitutes the main 
strength and wealth of the country." Mr. Wells does 
not believe this. The collapse that overtook tho indus- 
try in Jamaica, was, ho thinks, owing to the sudden 
manner in which emancipation was carried out, the 
planters thero having had no time to substitute other 
labourers. The movement in Brazil has been very 
gradual, aud time has been given to prepare 
for its completion, and to cuable owners to make 
other arrangements ; possibly they have done so, but to 
outsiders it seems as if the only steps taken had been 
to throw obstacles in the way of the slaves obtaining 
their freedom, and to wring tho last ounce of work 
from them. Tho writer has moreover a very high 
opinion of the character of the free negro in Brazil. 
In the interior he found all the best work as navvies or 
muleteers was done by this class. But it must be re- 
membered that however good workmen the negroes may 
become when freed, it is improbable that they will 
work for the low rate of wages that planters pay them 
during bondage. We are not told what is usually 
given for work of this kind; but from what happened 
in the West Indies when the cutting of the Panama 
Canal was commenced we can gather that planters th are 
cannot compete for labour in tho open market. In 
some cases planters in Brazil are doiug all in their 
powr r to make their slaves comfortable on their estates, 
paying them for overtimes, aud putting them up com- 
fortable houses, in the hope that they will remain on 
after they aro freed. Mr. Wells, however, admits that 
it is only adopted in a few instances, and owners are 
generally unwilling, or unable, to undertake the risk. 
In the northern parte of Brazil, where the emancipation 
hns made greatest progress, the sugar planters have 
managed to dispense with slave-.; t'n.' sugar industry 
is however not flourishing just now, and tho number of 
properties thrown out of cultivation has no doubt en- 
abled owners whu have gone on working to make better 
terms for themselves. With coffee it would be differ- 
ent, and planters would be forced to go on raising 
rates till the competition bi came ruinous. 
While, then, Mr. Wells "does not endorse the pessi J 
mist's view of the di-astrous consequences to I5raz.il 
of the extinction of slavery " he is obliged to 
admit that the future prosperity of the country 
depends very much upon Iviropean immigration, 
and — for ho is nn engineer aud there is nothing 
like leather— upon tbe opening up of the interior 
by railway*. That being so, two questions arise. 
In the Brazilian climate suitable for the Euro- 
pean labourer, and aro the Government aud inhabitants 
ready to welcuu.- lino when lu> arrives ? Tho first 
DU6SU0D our informant utweri by saying that the 
climate is a much m.il gn. d one, and th it the de- 
generation and failure of immigrants hitherto i* duo 
to the ill-effects of slavery in destroying " the dignity 
of manual labour." How far tho improvement has 
proceeded may be gathered from the fact that Mr. 
Wells' assistants cut him for showing some brick- 
layers how he wanted their work done, and that ho 
considers it a hopeful sign that a gentleman will now 
sometimes venture to carry a parcel in tho streets of 
Rio. Be this as it may, there is no doubt that in other 
countries between the equator and the twenty-fifth 
degree of latitude, white men have seldom found hard 
work in the opeu air dignified enough for them. 
Northern Queensland is a case in point, thoujh slavery 
does not exist there. As to the second question, im- 
migration is certainly encouraged in a sort of way. 
The Government has spent several millions in establish- 
ing colonies in the interior ; the colonists were pushed 
up through trackless wilds, presented with a pieco of 
laud, and left to shift for themselves. Being without 
means to keep alive till their crops grew, and without 
a road to remove them when harvested, they found 
that they might appreciate the dignity of labour till 
a Oarlyle would have burst with envy, and yet starve 
— which they did. The lands near the coast, or con- 
nected with it by rail, are in the hands of great 
proprietors ; they are very glad to employ all the 
labour they can get, and even in some cases to admit 
the co-operative principle into their contracts ; this is, 
however, not the sort of work to attract Europeaus. 
A new feature in the colonisation of Brazil is the 
purchase by an English Company of a vast tract in 
Parana from one of these landowners. Mr. Wells is 
very hopeful of the success of tbis enterprise, which 
is to introduce capital aud colonists where both are 
badly wanted. In latent wealth of gold, silver, and 
diamonds Brazil is perhaps second to no country in 
the world, and British capital may be profitably em- 
ployed in bringing these to the surface. But can 
agriculture with imported white labour be made to 
pay in the tropics? It could not do so in Natal, which 
is hardly in them, nor in Queensland, nor in the Upper 
Transvaal. The " unaided European " has seldom or 
never succeeded in the attempt. — Madras Mail, Dec. 2nd. 
SUNFLOWER CULTURE. 
You favoured me in August of last year with some 
valuable information about the cultivation of Sun- 
flowers. My project for the reclamation of Aboukir 
(30,000 acres) is in course of execution aud will he 
completed next year, when it is my intention to cult- 
ivate Sunflowers largely. The flower^ is cultivated 
here as a garden ornamont, and reaches dimensions 
exceeding a foot in diameter. But the Fgyptian 
gardener has water on the brain, and, believing one 
cannot have too much of a good thing, he deluges 
the soil with water. The result is, that, in our rich 
soil and hot sun, the plant reaches maturity in two 
to three and a half months; and being thus prema- 
turely developed most of the seeds are barren, al- 
though externally they preseut all the appearance of 
being full. In order to study the cultivation of the 
oil-yielding flower on tho spot, I lately made a tour 
in Little Russia up to the frontier of Bessarabia, 
where it is an important local industry. Thero aro 
two kinds, the edible and oil-yielding seed. The 
former, of which I enclose a small sample, is, as you 
gee, somewhat elongated ; and at Odessa aud neighbour- 
ing provinces, wherever a few peasants are sitting 
together, the ground is strewn with the husks of the 
seeds, which are eaten the same as ground nuts, or 
Hazel-nuts are eaten elsewhere. This description 
coutains a small proportion of oil. Tho latter, which 
is grown at Orol, Saratov, and all tho way up to 
the neighbourhood of Mo-cow, is shorter aud thicker 
than th" edible seed, and 1 expect presently to got 
a hag of this year's crop, which was reported every- 
where to ho light. I enclose ropy of an nrticlo on tho 
cultivation of .Sunflowers tint was translated for mo 
at Odessa- It mny be of some interest to you. I 
have received from Sutton k Sous a small supplv of 
their (iiiint Sunflower, with which, a* well m with 
oil-yielding seed from Russia, I intend to carry out 
exhaustive ixperuu- inta on my lauil this coming ie«- 
