?26 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST \Mav i, 1888. 
as not to frighten planters of cinchona bark. Would 
it not have been better for planters — and especially for 
those in Oeylon — if Messrs. Brooks & Green had laid 
full stress upon the fact of Java being able to produce 
bark up to 15 per cent, sulphate of quinine? They 
might have realised also that where one tree grew bark 
producing 15 por cent, more trees of the same richness 
may grow ; and they might have known that multi- 
plying by grafting and budding is done successfully in 
cinchona plantations. 
Oinchona-growing requires a large outlay of capital 
for years before the first crop worth mentioning is 
harvested, and even when, after the eight years, regular 
harvesting is possible, the yearly expenses amount 
to 1.500Z. to 2,00(W. on a middle-sized estate, say of 
three to four hundred acres. 
How many thousands might have been saved if 
brokers like Messrs. Brookes & Green, instead of treat- 
ing the high tests of the Java samples as a matter of 
small significance, had fully forewarned planters of the 
danger they vvere running in continuing or extending 
plantations from which merely low-graded bark could 
reasonably be expected ! 
In Amsterdam the analysis of every lot of bark is 
published. Iu London this custom does not exist, and 
it can, therefore, not be stated, with official precision, 
how much quinine was contained in the Oeylon bark 
sold in London last year. According to Messrs. Bbhr- 
inger's annual report the average was 2J per cent, of 
sulphate in 1887, or higher than in former years, owing 
to the fact of low-graded bark and twigs not having 
been shipped for Europe. Java, on the other hand, 
ships all its bark ; and although there are still cinchona 
estates in Java where the owners have been unlucky 
iu the choice of seed when they began growing six or 
eight years ago, and which, consequently, produce low- 
graded bark, the average percentage of Java bark for 
manufacturers' use sold iu Amsterdam on January 
19th was 4"2 per cent., and in February 47 per cent., 
and a steady increase may be expected in proportion 
as the poor trees are harvested and replaced by rich 
ones. — Yours very truly, Gustav Bbiegleb. 
—Chemist and Druggist, March 3rd. 
♦ 
PLANTING IN DELI. 
(Translated for the Straits Times.) 
New tobacco estates, so says the Deli Cowan t, are 
being opened out on all sides, m the coast districts 
adjacent. Siak in particular turns out to be the land of 
promise for pioneering efforts. About fourteen estates 
have already been started. A greater number of land 
contracts havo been entered into. In Assahan and 
Pagurawan, affairs have taken the same turn. The 
Government, however, lajs behind so far as regards 
the departments of police and justice. Nothing has 
been done in the direction of ensuring the safety of 
life and property. Tho planters themselves must see 
to their own protection and the sife-guarding of their 
coolies. In case of disturbances among the latter, they 
are obliged to rely upon mutual help. They know that 
such proceedings are contrary to law, but cannot help 
it. The police force on the coast hardly meets the 
requirements of Deli. The few policemen in the neigh- 
bouring districts are powerless to cope with the law- 
lessness and turbulence sure to follow the starting of 
numerous estates. Finding a remedy for this unsatis- 
factory state of things is the bounden duty of the Gov- 
ernment, which can no longer defer taking action on 
the matter. The planters otherwise will have no choice 
but that of taking the law into their own hands on the 
plea of necessity, 
CULTIVATION OP TEOPIOAL PEODUCE 
IN SAMOA. 
We had no idea, until we had read an account 
of a visit by Rev. Joseph King, of the extensive 
scale on which tho Germans in Samoa have en- 
gaged in the culture of tropical products. We 
quote as follows : — 
Some things have very much changed, and nothing 
surprised me more than the extensive cultivation of 
the land by German enterprise. I rode through 
thousands of acres of well-kept plantations, which 
were covered with dense tropical forest when I left 
Samoa 15 years ago. The German overseers of these 
plant itions with much courtesy, allowed us to inspect 
everj thing. A most interesting visit Mr. and Mrs. 
Spicer and the British consul and myself, paid to 
Otumapu, a plantation of about 5,000 acres, situated 
on the slopes of the mountain at the back of the 
port, the harbour of Apia. In this plantation six 
different articles of commerce are being cultivated, 
and, by a strange coincidence, the name of each arti- 
cle begins with a 0 — Oopra, cotton, coffee, castor oil, 
cinnamon, and cocoa. The growth and treatment of 
each plant was described to us by Mr. Goldberg, the 
overseer. We saw the machinery used in preparing 
some of these articles for the market turned by a 
waterwheel, which was fed by a most beautiful moun- 
tain stream. All the work ou those plantations is doue 
by imported labourers. We were taken to see a gang 
of Solomon Islanders clearing a valley in which cinna- 
mon was to be planted. We went also to their sleep- 
ing quarters, and gleaned much information about 
their treatment and their habits. The Samoans cannot 
be induced to work in the plantations. Their in- 
stincts are too aristocratic to allow them to le:id them- 
selves to the work of field labourers. It is entirely 
by imported labour that the Germans are working. 
In connection with these plantations, which are beauti- 
fully kept, good roads have been made. Iu some 
parts we rode through hedges of citron and avenues 
of mango trees. Business men will ask does it pay Y 
It is a pity we can't get away from such a sordid 
idea, aud enjoy the poetry of palm groves and citron 
blossom without being; plagued by thoughts of mate- 
rial profit. If I am obliged to answer this question, 
I should say it doesn't pay. Not yet. The outlay 
has been tremendous. It coasts 200 dol. to clear an acre 
and plant it. The firm of Goddefroy & Sons, by 
whom the enterprise was commenced in Samoa more 
than 30 years ago, failed some years since for £130,000. 
The present trading company which bought the 
estate, seem to have plenty of money, accounted 
for probably by the fact that Bismarck, the Ger- 
man Chancellor, is officially or otherwise con- 
nected with this scheme to develop Samoan resources. 
I have referred to the labour trade, and I feel bound 
to say that I saw nothing and heard nothing of cruel 
treatment, but what I saw convinced me that this 
system, unless supervised with infinite care, is fraught 
with immense harm to the hired labourers. It may be 
managed by a right-spirited man with undoubted 
advantage to all concerned. I met in Samoa Mr. 
Arundel, of the firm of Holder Bros, of London, and 
travelled with him to Sydney in the "Lubeck." This firm 
owns 14 small guano islands in the Pacific, and Mr. 
Arundel takes periodical voyages to inspect them. All 
the work on these islands is done by labourers taken 
from the Harvey Group and Niue. Sixty of these men 
were in Samoa with Mr. Arundel on their way back to 
their homes, and I had an opportunity of talking with 
them. They had been well paid, and were most gaily 
dressed, and what was most cheering was the f;ict that 
they had with them a native pastor, who had been en- 
gaged by Mr. Aruudel to instruct them, and conduct 
worship aud preach to them. Mr. Arundel is a 
Christian man, aud recognises his Christian respon- 
sibility to those whom he employs as labourers. If this 
element regulated the traffic in labour, there would be 
no need for strict legal enactments to prevent abuses. 
—Argus, Feb. 24th. 
NEWS FROM DELI, SUMATRA. 
{By an ex-Ceylon Planter.) 
21st March. — I continue to receive and read with 
the greatest pleasure the Overland Observer and 
T. A., and now that you are good enough to send 
the Literary Register, there is an additional in- 
terest attached to the " Old Rag": long may it 
llourish. There is one thing which palls upon an 
outsider, and that is, the interminable Railway 
