228 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [August i, 1881. 
the yield per acre and profit over cost, but later on I may 
be able to contribute further and useful information. 
It takes much longer to grow a nice matured bunch 
from seed than from roots. In the former case the 
seed must sprout and become a seedling, the seed- 
ling a plant, and the plant a bush. But after 
it has once formed good roots it 'will grow from that 
stage much quicker. 
By the way, by to- day's post I received a letter, 
the following of which is an extract :— " Dear Mr. 
Phormium tenax, would you kindly send me two ounces 
of your flax seed? Could you give me any informa- 
tion as to whether it will stand wind? Does it want 
rich soil? How long will it take to reach maturity? 
Shall I put the seed in a nursery? What is it 
like, etc.?" 
I recognise in the writer of this a kindred spirit 
to my own. He must be my affinity, whatever that 
means. My soul yearns to embrace him. He is one 
like myself' who has offered himself a victim on the 
altar of experimental planting I like him, but would 
like him better if he had sent me a quire of note- 
paper and a rupee worth of stumps. 
I have no doubt, my dear Mr. Editor, you '11 be 
pleased to learn that the spirit of enterprise which 
animated the Anglo-Saxon in bygone years is not 
dead, but occasionally bursts the bounds of prudence 
and finds an outlet in extensive orders for flax seed. 
— Yours truly, P. T. 
The following paragraphs from " Spon's Encylo- 
psedia" refer to other New Zealand productions of 
which seed might be got : — 
" CoRDYLINE AUSTBALIS — NEW ZEALAND CABBAGE- 
tree. — Endogen: 10-20 ft. A native of Australia and 
New Zealand ; found chiefly in swampy situation?, but 
grows also on hill-sides. It may be readily propagated 
from seed, and grows rapidly. The stem is thickly 
fibrous, aud the leaves, which are long and ribbon-like, 
about 2£ in. wide, contain much fibre. It is said that 
the whole plant might be made into paper-pulp. 
" 0. [Dracaena] Indivisa — Toi, Mountain Flax. — 
Endogen ; stem 6 ft. A native of New Zealand, grow- 
ing on the higher slopes of Mount Egmont. at alti- 
tudes of some 3,00C ft., where the forest proper gives 
place to scrub. The leaves attain a length of 4 ft., 
and a breadth of 4-5 in., and contain an abundance of 
fibre, which diverges from the centre to the edge and 
top of the leaf. It is therefore shorter than the leaf, 
and not of the same strength throughout ; but it is 
prepared with greater care than the New Zealand flax 
(Phormium tenax), and is better for cordage purposes, 
as it does not contract in water. The natives use it 
in the manufacture of rough mats, employed as a cape 
to keep off the rain, it being more durable than phor- 
miui:i fibre. Though the fibre is coarse, it seems well 
adapted for ropes and paper-making." 
Wynaad, 3rd July.— Plants from my last Liberian 
coffee-crop have just been put out in a new clearing, 
and I hope will come on satisfactorily. I got nearly 
half a bushel as first pick off my two trees last month ; 
ther„ are lots of half ripe berries left. It was amusing 
to see the cooly, climbing the tree to get at the top- 
most branches. How do they manage in Ceylon about 
the pulping? It seems to me that nothing short of 
pounding will be of any use ; the rind of the bean at 
its ripest, being so very hard and tough, that I 
should imagino the ordinary machinery would have little 
or no effect upon it. Another neighbour died last week 
to our great regret— six since January. It is very 
saddening to think of the many kindly faces that 
)>•••• passed so lately away from our midst. — Madras 
Standard. 
Dunedin Tea. — A sample of this tea has reached 
us, of which we cannot speak too high praise. The tea 
looks very fine and well rolled, and the flavour ig 
strong but not bitter and most agreeable and refreeh- 
ing. It promises well for the prospects of low-couutry tea. 
Coffee Planting in Java. — Extract from a Java 
letter to a correspondent in Ceylon, kindly placed at 
our service: — "Leaf disease does not do any harm 
at ■ estate this year. I have not seen one leaf 
diseased, but at other estates I hear they are not 
totally exempt from it, but it has no great influence 
on the crop. I have 4,000 piculs thi3 year from 
970,000 trees bearing fruit. The whole plantation 
when in full bearing will be 2,070,000 treee." Our 
correspondent writes : — "The cost laid d< wn in Sama- 
rang of the 4,000 piculs will be about Rll per picul." 
The picul is 133£ lb., so that, nominally, this means 
coffee delivered at the shipping port for about 18s 
per cwt. ! This certainly beats anything ever done 
in Ceylon, but we must remember the system of 
serfage which prevails in Java. It is a most con- 
venient system from the point of view of the planter, 
and the native is also well off materially ; but of 
course, one would rather be the free planter than 
the bondsman labourer, aud, indeed, would rathre 
be the free, if lazy and sometimes hungry Sinhalese, 
than the apprenticed well-fed even if well-worked 
Javanese. The yield of crop reported above is nothing 
wonderful, say that the 970,000 trees are equal to 
1,000 acres in Ceylon, it would amount to about 4 J 
cwts. per acre. 
The First Sugar known to have been produced 
in Queensland was made by M. Buhot, of Barbados, 
from cane grown in the Botanic Gardens, Brisbane— 
this was in May 1862. Later on, the Caboolture 
Cotton Company started sugar growing ; bat in Octo- 
ber of the same year the Hod. Capt. L. Hope, to 
whom the palm is conceded of having first placed the 
sugar industry on a commercial footing, began to pre- 
pare his first 20 acres at Cleveland, aud by the end 
of November had already planted 15 acres. In 1863 
Captain Hope had 20 acres under cane, with more to 
follow, and in his wake followed all the small settlers 
who needs must also have their patch of cane. Dur- 
ing the whole of this year cane-growing spread, and 
the London Society of Arts offered as an inducement 
a medal for the first ton of sugar made in the colony. 
The movement continued to spread with fluctuating 
success, until by the end of 1867 there were nearly 
200 acres under cultivation, and the six mills in ex- 
istence manufactured 168 tons of sugar. Throughout 
1863 the mills were not able to keep pace with the 
farmers : but in 1869 they put on a spurt, for at 
the close of that season there were 28 mills at work 
crushing the cane from 1,230 acres out of over 5,000 
acres under cultivation. The industry continued to 
prosper, every 3 ear seeing more land brought under 
cultivation and more mills erected — steam mills quickly 
superseding the antiquated cattle and horse-power 
erections. Matters thus went on until 1875, when 
the season turned out very bad : the canes being 
nearly drowned in wet, became unhealthy and died, 
giving next to no return.?. This so-called disease (they 
call it rust) felt like a thunderclap amongst the plant- 
ers, for to most of them it meant utter ruin. But 
the evil effects of 1875 passing away, the sugar in- 
dustry has since, and up to the present moment, 
between more or less a success. The output for 1879 
will probably have been over 15,000 tons for the 
whole colony ; this is about the amount that Demarara 
exported in 1803. British Guiana has been about 150 
years a cultivated colony ; it is only 20 years since 
Queensland has been brought under cultivation. Twenty 
years ago Maryborough (Central District) was just 
making a start ; and Mackay, which this last year 
produced over 9,000 tons of sugar, was unknown to 
civilized man. — Trinidad Chronicle, 
