74° 
TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
[May i, 1889. 
green leaves contribu'es an effectual boundary hedge 
between the dusty road Townsville, 100 miles 
further north of Maekay, reminds one of Aden 
except that instead of the arid black hills, there 
are grass-covered mountain slopes at the back with 
patches of trees here and there, but the heat is 
nealy as great. Charters Towers, 82 miles distant 
by rail, takes four hours to reach, the gradients 
being heavy and the stoppages long, but the 
total elevation of the Towers is only 1,000 feet 
and during the day the heat is great, though as 
usual with its elevation the nights are cool, and 
during the winter months fires are acceptable. 
The mines are of course the only object of interest, 
as the country mud is dried up and barren, so that 
after visiting a few of them, such as the Day Dawn 
Freehold, the Pyrites mines and the large town 
crushing works where auriferous stone from different 
openings is treated by the old amalgam process 
with mercury, one is glad to return to the sea 
breezes of Townsville to await the steamer for 
Brisbane on my homeward journey. 
A few days were spent at Eockhampton, a thriv- 
ing' township on the Fitzroy river, in order to 
visit the celebrated Mount Morgan Gold Works, 
distant 25 miles. The first ten miles are done by 
train, and after breakfast at Kabra we take the 
coach and have a delightful dr.ve, everything 
looking so fresh and green. There is the full 
number of passengers, tweive with the driver, and 
five horses, three as leaders together, and the 
first few miles being flat, we go at full gallop, as 
the mails have to be delivered by a fixed time. 
The road, however, is simply a track through the 
bush with only just room between the trees to 
pass, and suddenly one of the leaders takes the 
wrong side of a tree and geis swung round in a 
second, while the other horBes are thrown all of a heap 
together, and the pole narrowly escaped being broken. 
We were all soon on our legs and glad to find 
no serious damage had been done. The remain- 
der of the journey was done more quietly, the 
track getting both hilly and rough and one part 
the razor-back so steep that we all had to walk 
up. We passed numerous waggons with twelve 
horses, carting stores and huge casks to the 
Mount. In a few years the railway already sur- 
veyed, will be made and cause a great saving in 
horse flesh, for at present the state of the road 
is a disgrace to the Company whioh pays away 
something like a million a year in dividends. 
Arrived at the Mount we present our passes, 
and are shown over the works commencing with 
the quarry on the top of the hill whenoe the 
stone is removed in cuttings 35 feet deep extending 
over an area of about ten aores each cubic yard 
of rock weighing about 1J tons. 
In this manner the top of the hill is being 
sliced away, and the sione whioh evidently varies 
greatly in composition, is mixed together and sent 
down by a nice tramway to the old works £ mile 
off, while trains ruu down an incline to the new 
works. From assays made daily on the works 
the quality of the stone varies greatly from less 
than an ounce of gold per ton to upwards of seven 
or more ounces. At present the shares are falling 
rapidly in value, a few months since they fetched 
£17 each and now they may be purchased for 
£7 10s each. All mining speculation is para- 
lysed in consequence, the public not knowing 
what is going to happen. The works them- 
selves are most complete, the machinery of 
the most improved pattern, all covered in under 
good sheds which with their tall substantial smoke 
Blacks, gives an idea of a well arranged and 
prosperous industry, which has evidently been put 
up with a view to being also a permanent one. 
All depends upon the average quality of the 
stone continuing equal to what it has proved up 
to the present time. 
More water must be available before the works 
can be enlarged, as a good supply of water is 
absolutely necessary for the new chiorination process, 
and the present supply is being fully employed. 
Mount Morgan as a township is prettily situated 
on a series of small hills surrounded by larger 
ones covered with timber with a green undergrowth 
of fresh grass, and is far more picturesque than 
dusty Charters. Moreover, although the total in- 
habitants does not exceed 4,000, the outturn in 
auriferous metal fully equals the total output of 
the Towers with its 12,000 inhabitants, plainly in- 
dicating that the proportion spent in wages must 
be less and that in dividends far more. After 
calling at Bundaberg and Maryborough to see a 
few more sugar estates I return south to Sydney 
in order to catch the P. & O. " Valetta " on the 
10th March for England. JOHN HUGHES. 
♦ — 
"ALL ABOUT SPICES." 
To aid us in making this Manual as complet* 
as possible, we shall be obliged if any of ou r 
planting or other readers who may have specia^ 
information by them in respect of Pepper, Nut- 
megs, Cloves, Cinnamon, Vanilla, or other spice, 
will give us a reference to the same. Our own 
Library of works on sub-tropical Products — apart 
from our Observer and T. A. files for a long series 
of years, — is a very full one ; but it is just pos- 
sible there may be useful authorities outside our 
lists, and the names of any in our readers' posses- 
sion might aid in making the Manual the more 
useful. 
JAFFNA NOTES. 
Jaffna, 27th March 1889. 
Tobacco. — The superintendent of Ayananghi coco- 
nut estate (Mr. Koch), who has been trying tobacco 
planting, has been successful. I have just heard from 
Mr. S. F. TouBsaint, the proprietor of AyanaDgbi 
that Mr. Koch only tried about 2 acres, and the half 
profit he expects will be about B600. The other half 
goes to the working people. This is not bad for a 
trial. 
Cotton. — I send by post under separate cover a 
specimen of cotton which grows in my garden, and 
should like to have your opinion about it.* I have 
never manured or taken notice of the plants, but 
they are full of blossom at the proper time. 
THE TEA TREE IN CHINA. 
The history of the tea tree in China shews that 
it became famous first for the qualities of the 
leaf when infused, and some centuries later was 
accepted as a national beverage. The native her- 
balists found out that the infusion of tea leaves 
was not only bitter in taste, but has the power 
of preventing sleep. The first mention of it is in 
* We submitted this specimen to Mr. W. Atherton ' 
of the Colombo Cotton Mills, and he kindly reports 
ns follows.-— "The sample of cotton sent has all the 
characteristics of Tinnevelly except one: — the fibre leaves 
the seed more easily and cleaner, and would be less 
trouble to gin. It may be deteriorated American, but 
it is difficult to say, unless I saw the tree itself. The 
cotton is quite suitable for our work, and I think 
would be valued by Messrs. Darley, Butler & Co. at 
20 cents per lb. free from seed." 
