February i, 1889.] THE. TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
S23 
By the way has diluted kerosene been ever tried 
for cinchona canker ? A gentleman from home was 
telling rue that he had successfully cured canker in 
apple trees by this means, and was inolined to think 
that a like desirable result would follow a similar 
application to cinchona. 
Now that the dry months are before us, and work 
on estates less pressing and more difficult to be 
had, a good many coolies are being paid off, while 
others are preparing to leave for the Coast. These 
latter do a good deal of hunting after hopeless 
debts, with the view to increase the cash in 
hand. A week is wasted in looking up a brother 
who owes a rupee, and has owed it for years. Of 
course ho doesn't pay, but he gives a renewed 
promise for settlement in that happy future when 
ttamasami hopes to square. What would the cooly 
be without that future, and how could he exist ? 
If it were taken from him the present would be 
a burden, and futurity devoid of hope. 
Peppekoobn. 
* 
VANILLA IN FIJI, 
We are indebted to the courtesy of Mr. Kerr, Colo- 
nial Manager of the Mortgage and Agency Company of 
Australasia, Ld., for the following copy of a report 
on the Fiji Vanilla Pod. This is dated 1st October, 
last, and is from their London brokers, Messrs. Wilson, 
Smithettand Co. The striking ditference observable in 
price quotations, and which arises from tbe value at- 
taching to tbe article when prepared by experts, and 
the indifference with which it is evidently regarded 
when it is imperfectly cured, can not fail to impress 
those interested in its growth and preparation here. The 
lesson it is calculated to convey will no doubt be uti- 
lised. The pod in question was grown near Suva, and 
it is evident from the report that an important ad- 
dition to the industries of the colony may be made if, 
i ' be but taken and proper appliances brought into 
use. The brokers say : — "The beau is well grown and 
the perfume good ; but it is imperfectly prepared and 
the appearance is foxy, which is very deterimental 
and depreciates its value. The market price today 
would be about 8a per lb., a siiailar sized beau well 
prepared and dark iu color would be worth 10s. to lSs. 
per lb." — Ftji Times. 
[After all is said, there is only a limited market 
for vanilla, and if Ceylon, Fiji and other colonies 
compote on anything liko a large scale with Mauri- 
tus and Reunion, a fall of price comparable to 
that which over-production has induced in the 
oaao of cinchona may be anticipated. — En. T. A.] 
♦ 
NETHERLANDS INDIA NEWS. 
(Exchange* to \th December.) 
Coolers Bbcbuitihs. 
The Minister for the Colonies has directed the 
Netherlands India Government to inquire into the ex- 
pediency of repealing the Ordinance, forbidding the 
emigration of coolies from Java to foreign lands. The 
Minister had always objeuted to tbo measure. 
Oonm Planting. 
A royal commi-siou has been appointed to inquire 
into the best means of checking the falling olf iu 
Govornmeut ooffee cultivation iu .lava and Sumatra. 
Ibe cultivation in question is carried on by compul- 
sory labour on the part of tbo natives. They, iu fact, 
pay a labour tax iustead of one in coin. The cultiva- 
tors get about one quarter of the market price for 
the produce delivered at tho Government storehouses. 
Tbe Uoveriuiieut sells it, and raises a lur«e roreuue 
by the article. Tim commission has to consider how 
the compulsory cultivation can beat be extended to 
tho advantage of both tho people aud tho Govern- 
ment. 
Sugar. 
Iu tbe Batavia Niewwsblad Mr. N. P. Van Den 
Berg, an expert in such matters, estimates the sugar 
crop iu Java last, year at upwards of six and a half 
millions of piouls, the largest crop since 188-1. Both 
quantity and quality have decidedly improved of late 
owing to the hard times, which have compelled planters 
to cast about for means to economise working charges 
as much as possible, by greater efficiency accom- 
panied by reduction in expenditure. — Strait-: Times 
Dec. 21st. 
PERAK AND TEA CULTIVATION: CEYLON 
PLANTERS TO THE FRONT. 
Some idea how tea cultivation has gone ahead in 
Perak may be gathered from an advertisement in the 
tlm i«r anient Gazette of that protected State. Tbe noti- 
fication anuounces that teas manufactured at the Go- 
vernment Tea Factory there are on sale at prices vary- 
ing from 60 to b'5 cents per pound ; and it is now ar- 
ranged that samples of Perak tea may be had at the 
store of John Little & Co. for trial. Tea cultivation 
has made such strides in Perak that it is said enough 
of the article can now bo turned out to supply the 
demands of consumers in the Straits Settlements. 
Ooffee, too, ha3 been grown with success at the Go. 
vernment experimental gardens in the Perak moun- 
tains at the prompting of Sir Hugh Low, who may be 
congratulated upon the satisfactory results achieved. 
The fact that coffee of the finest quality may also be 
grown in Perak, without any great danger from leaf 
disease, will no doubt give a needed push to planting 
enterprise in that direction there. Already has there 
been an increase in clearings for Arabian and Libe- 
rian coffee. Tobacco and pepper are other staple pro- 
ducts under cultivation in that promising state — 
Messrs. Hill and Rathborne. for instance, intend going 
in largely for tobacco. Then Sir Graeme Elphiustone 
is expected there this year to push on clearings for 
coffee and tea, for which he has a large capital at 
his command. European tea ventures are doing -well 
on the mountains, where the cool climate admits also 
of tho ready growth of English vegetables. Eastwards 
towards Pahang lies Cameron's Plateau, with one 
hundred thousand acres of available laud for planting 
purposes, besides stores of mineral wealth. No doubt, 
Perak has a bright future before it, and may yet be- 
come not only a field for remunerative enterprise, but 
also a muoh-frequenli'd health resort. — Straits Times, 
Jan. 4th. 
Even in the Malay Peniusula, tea-growing enter- 
prise is coming to the front. It has been tried in 
Johore with fair success and now the experimental 
introduction of tea into Perak is so far developed that 
the time has now come when the promoters of the 
cultivation deem it right to assert the claims of the 
Perak tea as a marketable commodity of merit. The 
lastiVruk (lazuttn announoes one thousand pounds of tea 
for sale, manufactured at the Government Tea Factory, 
under the supervision of Mr. J. F. M. Cock, Superin- 
tendent of Government Plantations. Tbe economic 
value of the Experimental Gardens in Perak is testified 
to by the ready way in which its operations are 
being turned to practical acoount. Their success in 
promoting and affording facilities to the higher forms 
of agricultural enterprise has amply justified all the 
expenditure of time, energy and capital that has been 
laid out upon them under the direction of Sir Hugh 
Low. Planting industry in Perak is doriving much 
encouragement from the solid results achieved under 
the liberal auspices of the Government of that State. 
The most recent Annual Reports contain abundant 
proofs that coffee growing has a prosperous future 
before it on tho sunny slopes of the Perak hills, and 
from the excellent results lately obtaiued with tea, 
it is to be auticipatod tbat Perak may in years to 
come yet find in tea a prosperity not much les-i mt>- 
stniitial than it is uow deriviu^ from tin. There is no 
rciuon to believe that iu soil and climate there are 
