July i, 1881.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
*59 
of its own growing. The direct and simple way of 
carrying out its avowed object in maintaining cinchona 
plantations is, as it appears to me, for Government 
to manufacture Ihe produce of these plantations for 
use exclusively in India. In its plantations, Govern- 
meni has the means of supplying itself with bark, 
and with the manufactured products of bark, at a 
greatly cheaper rate than it could buy them in the 
open market. In proof of this, 1 need only say that, 
on the Sikkim Plantation, bark is produced at a cost 
price of about 2| annas per pound, and cinchona 
febrifuge .'it !t J , rupees per pound ; while bark of similar 
quality fetches iu London prices varying from two 
pci:ce (for shavings) to eight shillings and four ponce 
for good quill, and quinetum (which is cinchona febri- 
fuge under another name) cannot at present be 
in ughfc under forty shillings per pound. — Times of India. 
IA BE1M A N Colf'KEE AND TEA IN JAVA. 
STEAM-PLOUGHS IN 
(From the Straits T, 
A correspondent of a Samarang paper, the Indisoh 
Vaderlamd, furnishes (hat journal with the following 
particulars of a visit he paid last month to an estate 
in .Java where steam ploughs have proved a success : — 
"Chikandie Udik, 2ud May.— The first clay of my 
arrival in Bantam was a very pleasant one, from 
my visit to the private estate styled Chikandie Uclik, 
winch lies on the boundary of the Bataviaresideney. Sad 
as generally speaking may bo the situation in Bantam 
(Owing to fever and cattle disease], it is particularly 
favourable and hopeful on this estate, which, every- 
where bears witness to the fitness and energy of its 
manager. Probably throughout the whole of Ja a 
there is no second plantation where so many appar- 
atus ;md machinery for modern agriculture are met 
with together as here. It may almost be termed a 
model farm. Of these agricultural improvements, 
the introduction of the steam plough deserves to be 
first mentioned. Chikandie Udik, it is true, is not 
the first estate in Java where that ingeniously devised 
implement has been in use. Years ago, it might have 
been seen on estaies in the residencies of Samarang, 
Snrakarta. and Stmibaya, but to the manager of Chi- 
kandie Udik belongs the honour of being the first 
who so succeeded in practically utilising the steam 
plough, that the litter renders the same important 
services in Java as it. does in Europe, America, Egypt, 
&c. After the failures alluded to ahove, it required 
much courage and energy to determine to risk once 
more the sum of 25,000 guilders in pri curing such a 
machine, although the pressure of necessity was keenly 
hit v. m the murrain swept away thousands of 
buffaloes. Mr. Kimball, the manager of Chikandie 
Udik, lias shown, however, that he does not view the 
matter as a mere experiment as his predecessors did. 
He who bought steam ploughs not as toys but from 
deeply felt requirements ensured the -uceess of their 
introduction by procuring along with the machines, 
.i person who knew how to manage them and could 
give the necessary instruction to the helping per- 
sonnel. Thereby it became possible to brilliantly 
overcome the various obstacles on which previous experi- 
menters had stumbled. The mistrust with which 
this ; ro 'iu-l of mod. rn ingenuity was at first greeted 
has now givon place to a general acknowledgment that 
the entei prisine; land administrator, by purchasing the 
same, has gained a great advantage for himself, and 
has done a set vice to his tenantry. Hence his example 
has found iuiitatiou elsewhere, and now there are 
several steam ploughs either in Java, or on the way to 
it. At Chikandie Uilik there are two steam ploughs, 
a large ami a small one, the first ui'h two engines ot 
lb' and the second with two of 8 horse power. I had 
the privilege of seeing the larger one at work. The 
two engines were 150 metres apart from one another, 
and the five-fold plough, which was drawn hither and 
thither by means of wire ropes, turned up with the 
greatest ease the clayish soil, then very still' from 
rain. The greatest length which can be ploughed 
at one course amounts to 150 metres. On the plough 
several natives sat. One of them managed tue 
machine in a very simple manner, while the others 
continually took care to keep the ploughing irons clear 
of'weeds and adhering earth. The smaller plough 
works more accurately than the larger one, but natur- 
ally cannot turn over, within the same time, such a 
large area as that does. That ploughing with steam 
works favourably upon the productiveness of the soil 
was apparent tome from the state of the sugar canes. 
I must acknowledge seldom to have seen such vigorous 
and more regularly planted growing canes as those 
presenting such a splendid appearance on the ground 
prepared by the steam plough. 
'"Not only for ploughing sugarcane and paddy fields, 
but alse in preparing land for the planting of Liberian 
coffee, and for turning over. the' earth between the 
rows of the young plants, the steam plough has done 
excellent service. The planting of Liberian coffee is 
also one of the remarkable things, on Chikandie Udik. 
Against this variety of coffee, as had been the case 
with steam ploughs, great mistrust was felt by many. 
The figures giving its yield, coming to us from Africa, 
were very generally looked upon as humbug. Even 
when it appeared that the tree throve well iu Java 
and gave promise of a gre <t yield, it was said that 
the quality of the Coffee was of such a 
nature that it could not bear up against the com- 
petition of th6 common sort. Notwithstanding all 
this talk, the planting of it was actively pushed on at 
Chikandie Udik — aud, now, people there have obtained 
results from it which go far beyond the boldest anticipa- 
tions- I had an opportunity of inspecting narrowly 
the Liberian coffee garden- there, and can declare that 
it is very difficult to give a clear idea of the luxuriant 
growth of the trees, and the masses of berries with 
which they were laden. I saw thousands of trees, on 
whose branches whole clusters of colossal berries made 
a splendid show. The trees were so full of them that 
there was scarcely room left for young berries that were 
continually making their appearauce. On many trees 
the fruit can be counted by thousands. As is well 
known, Liberian coffee has the peculiarity of growing 
by preference in low lying land, where the Arabian 
coff e always gives uncertain crops. Judging from the 
experience hitherto gained, it sutlers not at all from 
the notorious leaf disease, and it has less need of shade 
than the common sort. This shade is here obtained 
by planting kapok tre j s and pepper vines between 
the high growing coffee trees, so that the same land 
yields three kinds of produce— coffee, kapok, and 
pepper. Iu the second year, the Liberian variety 
bears fruit. In the third year, the latter can be 
counted by thousands. 1 saw trees L£ year old which 
had a height of 4k to 5 metres (a metre is S*2S09 
ft.) Owing to this inclination to grow higher than 
the common coffee, the Liberian can be planted relat- 
ively close without diminishing production. As to 
the quality of the Liberian coffee, it is in my opinion 
more fragraut than the common variety, but when it 
is tried for the first time there may be something 
peculiarly unpleasant about it. After a couple of days 
this difference is no longer perceptible. To judge from 
what I saw at Chikandie Udik. Liberian coffee has a 
grand future before it iu Java, chiefly because it is at 
homo in districts where labour is more readily available 
than high upon the ineuntainous land." 
" In a previous letter, I had neglected to say ins- 
tiling about ten cultivation on the Chikandie Udik 
estate. I have spent almost a whole day in the tea 
