4i6 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [November i, 1881 
imporsant dep6t to direct the attention of American 
silk raisers to this point. There have been already given 
in the Ledger such details of silk growing under the 
management of this school as will satisfy any one 
that all that is needed is such a point to which the 
numerous little harvests all over the country can be 
gathered and forwarded. Here is one experience from 
Gwynedd, Pa., representing six weeks' care of one 
crop. There were raised in one farmhouse, just as an 
experiment and to see how it would work, thirty 
pounds of cocoons and fifteen ounces of eggs. The 
cocoons are worth at a market two dallars a pound ; 
the eggs, from three to four dollars an ounce. From 
a North Carolina farmer comes a letter on a larger 
scale. He ha* put up one hundred and fifty racks 
this year, four feet long by three wide, and each rack 
is to accommodate two thousand worms He expects 
to raise this summer one thousand barrels of cocoons 
(North Carolina cocoons, pure white, took a premium 
at the Centennial) ; but this grower raises also from 
the French eggs the large flesh-coloured cocoons, of 
which about one hundred and ninety weigh a pound, 
and from the Japanese eggs also a fine cocoon. 
"But why, asks the protective and otherwise thought- 
ful reader, need the cocoons be sent abroad to be 
sold, and this golden fleece sheared by French hands ? 
Why can they not be kept at home, seeing that the 
silk manufacturer can, or at least could, take all 
that can be, raised for years to come ? That is the 
point which is now occupying the minds of seri- 
culturists—seviowdy occupying them. Cocoons and eggs 
and all that they know. They know that the mul- 
berry will grow wherever the apple tree does, and 
that the osage orange does about as well as the 
mulberry. They know that the season begins on the 
11th of May and lasts six weeks, and that it is 
possible, by skilfully retarding some of the eggs to 
make two seasons in the year. What they have not 
yet reached is the perfection of reeling, although they 
are experimenting upon it. The hand reeling of Italy 
and France is an old atory. Silk has been reeled by 
hand here, and is still, and if the farmer's daughter 
puts her reeling at the same price as her knitting 
or crochet to fill up the unemployed time, and not 
for an occupation to live by, hand-reeling would pay 
to that extent. For an extended business the great 
filatures are needed, where American cocoons can be 
reeled at home by machinery, the only thing that 
can come into competition with the cheap day labour 
of the Italians, French, and Japanese band reeLrs. 
A young American engineer is at this time in France, 
experimenting on the reeling of silk by electricity, 
•which is the motive power destined to lighten labour 
as well as streets. This is the one missing link that 
is needed to complete the chain between Hortsmann-s 
fringes and ribbons and the New Jersey silk dress 
goods and handkerchiefs, I he Connecticut sewing silks, 
&c, and the cocoon racks in American farm-houses. 
The Philadelphia school that has done so much in 
gathering up these threads of detail, and in sending 
out its cocoons and instruction over the country is a 
real credit to the city and the State." — Indian Agri- 
culturist. 
TEA PLANTING IN THE MALAY 
PENINSULA. 
{ London and China Express, 26 bh August 1881.) 
Tea planting in the Malay States is about to re- 
ceive an impetus by the opening out of two estates 
in Johore, the managers for which will iu a short 
time proceed to Singapore. This has no doubt been 
caused by the favourable report issued on a small 
sample of tea received in England, and now that a 
beginning is to be made on a large scale, it will not 
be long before the cultivation is widely extended. ] 
We have very frequently pointed out that tnere i8 I 
a great fiekt for tea in the Malay States, and it is 
somewhat surprising that nothing has been done for 
so long. The soil in the interior is admirably adapted 
for the plant, and the experiments which have already 
been made iu Province Wellesley were so successful, 
that a following up of them was well justified. The 
Maharajah of Johore very naturally desires to have 
his country opened up, and H.H. has with admirable 
foresight announced his intention of facilitating by I 
every means in his power agricultural enterprises. I 
This policy if steadily adhered to must attract capital- I 
ists, and as the territory is rich there is no reason I 
why it should not contribute largely in time to the | 
European markets. The Maharajah of Johore is an ] 
energetic and enlightened ruler, and has done much I 
to make biB State a model native one, although we 
have on occasions differed from his policy when we I 
have deemed it our duty to do so. Many of his 1 
efforts have perhaps been curtailed from want of an J 
inexhaustive exchequer; but nevertheless much has I 
been accomplished. As a very much favoured proWjd I 
of the British Government, his Highness has many I 
opportunities which are denied to the le?s patronised 1 
Malay princes, and this will probably tell a great I 
deal in such enterprises as tea, coffee, cinchona, and I 
sugar cultivation. The influence he cm bring to bear I 
on the authorities ought to be directed succc-sfully I 
towards obtainiug labour which will be the one great I 
want on the estates. A good opportunity now presents I 
itself for settling the question of Indian labour in the I 
Malay peninsula. Johore leading the way, and obtain- I 
iDg a licence to import coolies from India will be a I 
good precedent for the States where there are British I 
Residents, and it is hardly likely that the request I 
of the Maharajah when he makes it will be refused. 
With regard to tea planting itself, it may not be I 
out of place to draw attention to one or two points 1 
which will materially influence the results of the I 
cultivation. First and foremost, something more than i 
ordinary care must be bestowed on the sel-ction of \ 
land. Virgin forest, slightly elevated or undulating, 
with a good depth of surface vegetable mould, and 
a light subsoil, should be chosen. The situation must 1 
be such as to be within easy reach of water carriage, I 
but at the same time not likely to be submerged by II 
inundations Next comes the important question of 
choice of the variety of plants. As to this, experience 
in the Darjeeling Terai district has shown that no- 
thing succeeds so well as the hybrid. This and no 
other must be selected, the seeds being obtained from 
some of the gardeus situated at the foot of the hills. 
The ordinary methods of clearing, planting out, and 
general cultivation it is not necessary to touch on, 
as they are matters well known to every planter of 
any experience. But there is one point which must 
not be forgotten with regard to the climate, namely, 
that its great humidity and equable temperature will 
necessitate a slightly different treatment in plucking 
to that practised in India. There is hardly any doubt 
that when the tea plants have grown to a sufficient 
height to allow of plucking that the "flushes" will, 
be almost continuous, and that tea may be manufactured 
neaily all the year round. This is an enormous ad- 
vantage in one sense, and if properly worked ought 
to place the Malay States in the foremost rank of' 
tea-producing countries. But there is a danger of 
too much plucking, and it is against this that even 
now we would give a word of warning. The moderate 
success of the Java gardens has undoubtedly been 
due in a great measure to this constant drain on the 
plant. It is absolutely necessary to check the growth, 
or let it rest occasionally, and to do this the plant 
must be allowed to grow without being plucked for | 
at least three months out of the twelve, at the time.- I 
