January 2, 1883.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
CHERRY VERSUS PARCHMENT COFFEE. 
A coffee planter in Southern India writes to us 
that he i3 very anxious to obtain answers to the 
followiug questions : — 
" Does a box, in which picking is brought home 
of cherries, equal bushel ? And will three such 
boxes yield 2 bushels of parchment ? This would be 
3J bushels cherries equal to 2 bushels parchment." 
Everything depends on the sizu of the box : in Ceylon, 
estate boxes for picking have been known to vary from 
the capacity of 1£ to 2 bushels ! We know that from 
65,000 to 70,000 parchment, beans of Arabian coffee 
go to the bushel, and that 106,000 cherries are equal 
to about 1 cwt. of cleau coffee. Further, one cherry 
is supposed to occupy as much soacJ as five parch- 
ment beans. Consequently, we should say, it would 
take 2j bushels of cherries to turn out one bushel 
of cleau parchment. The ratio between Arabian coffee 
cherries and parchment is 100 to 40, that is 40 per 
cent of parchment in quantity results from a bushel 
of cherry. That would mean 2J bushels of cherry 
to one of parchment, and, eay, 12i bushels cherry to 
1 cwt. clean coffee. From this, again, we infer, that 
about 13,000 cherries go to a bushel against 65,000 
parchmout beans. The result we get differs widely 
from that mentioned by our correspondent, and we 
Bhould like to know if the proportion between boxes 
and bushels of cherry and parchment has ever been 
clearly established in Ceylon t Iu the case of Liberian 
coffeo the outturn of parchment iu proportion to cherry 
is considerably smaller, so great i3 the quantity of 
mucilaginous matter, but it is not so small as some 
people think ; 123,000 Liberian coffee cherries (against 
160,000 Arabian) give 1 cwt. clean coffee ; 45,000 
parchment beans rill a bushel, and the clean parch- 
ment is equal to from 22 to 24 per cent of the cherry. 
Consequently, between 4 and 5 bushels of cherry are 
required to give one of parchment, so that from 5,000 
to 6,000 cherries of- Liberian coffee should rill a 
buBhcl. 
AGRICULTURE ON THE CONTINENT OF 
EUROPE. 
{Special letter.) 
Paris, November 5th. 
Among the most prominent events to record is 
the Phylloxera Congress at Bordeaux. It did not lead 
to the revelation of auything new, so much as to 
the official ratification of certain remedies. The origin 
of the disease was left in abeyance. The habits of 
the bug were r. legated to the entomologists, and the 
latter declared that, were the winter egg of the bug 
discovered and extirpated, the enemy would be con- 
quered. Threo remedies or preventives were discussed 
iu committee, and by the most competent authorities. 
Tako the plan of autumnal irrigations known as tho 
Faucon process, so numod after that distinguished 
proprietor of Gravoson, near Marseilles. After the 
vintage, ho Hoods his vines for two months, and, in 
spring, literally doses the laud with farm-yard manor* . 
He thus saved his vines, while his neighbours, who 
declined to follow his example, were ruined. In tho 
Modoc districts, this process is at prosent general. 
It implies, however, the 0 inunud of a supply of 
water, either natural or artificial : hence the Go- 
vernment U doing all in its power to extend 
anals and arterial drams, Insecticides, or ckeui- 
156 
ical preparations, follow next in order : they are 
limited to two : sulphocarbonate, and sulphuret of 
carbon. Both have drawbacks, and have not given 
uniform results. The first is very expensive to pre- 
pare, and, in addition, necessitates a large supply of 
water to be distributed iu the state of solution. Its 
use is hence limited to vines, either very prolific, or 
possessing qualities of known reputation ; in any case, 
of a nature calculated to pay the great outlay. The 
second, sulphuret of carbon, is cheap, but it requires 
much caution in being applied, or the remedy may be 
worse than the disease. Its effects vary with tbe depth 
and porosity of the soil, to permit of tbe diffusion of the 
salt. The temperature also influences the action. Exces- 
sive cold or excessive moisture can do more harm than 
good, if these follow the use of the sulphuret. As 
France is estimated to have lost five milliards bv 
the invasion of the phylloxera, and the ravages still 
continue, besides preventing the march of the enemy, 
it is a necessity to replant where the devastation 
has been effected. Here there is really less room for 
dispute : the grafting of French vines on American 
stocks is the sole plan known. The roots of the 
American vine resist the attacks of the bug. Ameri- 
can vines flourish side by side where French vines 
perish : ten years of successful grafting confirm the 
remedy. The Riparia is the variety of American vine 
which is in general favor. In Portugal, sulphuret of 
carbon and irrigation are the measures adopted : in 
Switzerland and Italy, extirpating the sick vines finds 
most advocates. In Sicily, tbe peasants rose against 
the decree for eradicating infected vines, and the 
inspector fortunately escaped from being blown up, 
with his house, by dynamite. 
At the present moment, when the relations be- 
tween landlord and tenant are the order of the 
day, the practice of the mitayage system, which is 
making such rapid strides in France, merits to be 
discussed. In the fewest words, and freed from com- 
plications sometimes introduced, mitayage farming 
means the landlord supplying the capital in live and 
dead stock, the mttayeur and his family the labor, and 
the two contracting parties divide the produce. Iu 
the most successful working of this plan, no money 
transactions take place, save what goes to the state 
to pay taxes. Many fanners, who cannot pay a fixed 
rent, adopt metayage, and prosper : many laborers 
find in the system the road to comfort and inde- 
pendence. There is nothing new in the plan. Pliny 
the younger adopted it on his estates and with suc- 
cess, when his tenants were five j ears in arrears of 
rent, and became reckless. As a general remark, 
landed proprietors in the east of France cultivate their 
own estates ; iuthenortb and nortb-west, there are ten 
ants ; in the centre and south, the mitayag e 
exists. 
The plan ameliorates not only the tenant but the 
soil, and secures a divideud certain for the owner. 
One-half of the population of France live by agri- 
culture, the one-third, of both sexes, by tbe actual 
tillage of the soil: oue-fourt i of the cultivated land 
is worked on the mitayage principle, and every de- 
partment of the country has farms so managed. In 
many cases, the partners, for the contract is practically 
that, divide 7i to 20 per cent net profits iu a good 
year : the mean is 4J, and proprietors are evur con- 
tent, if they only |realize 3J on their capitals : these 
comprised that locked up in buildings, machinery, 
and improvements. The mUayevr and his family are 
well-fed. They have a like stake with the proprietor 
in the result*, and, at tho end of a year, a labourer 
who would have remained a labourer still, has in 
addition to comforts, a cash dividend of 2,000 frs. 
The principal item uf expense in farm management 
is wages under the mt"ayage plan, whore the whole 
family labours, it becomes a minimum. It is evid- 
