March i, 1882.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
759 
BOTANICAL ENTERPRISE IN THE COLONIES. 
Most of our tropical Colonies support an establish- 
ment similar to that which the Old Country main: 
tains at Kew, where' not only arc scientific investi- 
gations in botany carried on, but practical experiments 
are made with a view to testing the possibility of 
introducing new varieties of useful plants and so of 
l/ltablishing fresh industries. By the same mail from 
the West Indies we have received three separate 
official documents showing the advantages which the 
existence of these Botanical Gardens— those Colonial 
Kews — confer, not merely on the countries which sup- 
port them, but upon each other. The report of Mr. G. 
S. .Joniiian, I lovornnient Botanist of British Guiana, 
for 1880, affords evidence of the good work done in 
the Botanical Gardens near Georgetown. In the 
story which Mr. Jcnman tells of the disadvantage of 
the positions of the Gardens, contiguous to the east 
coasi, whore the ever prevailing sea-breezes are not 
calculated to be of benefit to tho whole of the great 
variety of plants cultivated there, nn important lesson 
is to be learnt by agriculturists. Among other in- 
teresting results of his experiments, Mr. Jenman states 
thai, the Liberian coffee plants did well and Ilowered 
when eighteen months old. They were, however, 
well protected by a high paling, and he thinks that 
they are better adapted for the alluvial lands of the 
interior. They should be planted near the banks of 
rivers, and tho sarao precaution should be observed 
as in tho case of cacao cultivation. 
Tin report on the Botanic Gardens of Trinidad is 
a more elaborate document, and affords good evidence 
of the excellent work done by these institutions. The 
total number of plants, besides packets of seeds, dis- 
tributed from tlio Garden last year was over 33,000, 
of which more than S,000 were Liberian coffee plants, 
all our West Indian possessions, besides Queensland, 
Ceylon, and Kew, sharing in the distribution. Among 
these were eacao-plnnts for Ceylon, together with tho 
seeds and seedlings of the necessary shade-trees, Enjth- 
riuu ambrosa and E. velutina ; also nearly 12,000 young 
Liberian coffee-plants. On the other hand, many valu- 
able plants and seeds were received in exchange, in- 
cluding Panama rubber-trees {Cnxtillou c.las/ica), the 
African rubber {Landolphia), the Chaulmugra oil-paint 
{Gynocardia odorata), Vanilla planifolia, a new species 
of the delicious fruit-yielding tree Quina. An extra- 
ordinary treo was discovered during the year in the 
island, bearing a fruit described as " unique as to 
size and to character of its exterior." The plant is 
■apposed to have been introduced from Venezuela, 
but is believed to be unnamed. Mr. Prcstoc, tho 
Government Botanist, lays stress on a fact which has 
Hlen been brought to the notice of the authorities 
at Home in connection with the regulation of our 
public parks, that the system in " well-kept grounds" 
of removing all fallen leaves and branches from under 
the largo trees is inimical to their welfare, depriving 
their roots of tho nourishment and protection from 
tbe heat of the sun which, in a state of nature, 'he 
le»ives afford. 
Tho nutmeg plantation in the Gardens has been 
vory successful, the trees having yielded every year 
says that there was not only a marked increase in 
the number of the ordinary kinds of birds, but that 
toucans, "cookoos," trogans, shrikes, grebes, or 
"thrushes," and others were unusually numerous. — 
Colniiifx India. 
over 20 lb. of nutmegs each, of nn average value 
U 2a. per lb. This crop is equivalent to a yield 
of 60/. per acre per annum, allowing only 30 female 
tree* to (.!.,• \ batch ..| these Ires only l."> 
iodic* high when planted in August 1S78, were f> 
feet i.i height and stoutly branched at the end of 
last year. Mr. I'ro-iton's account of bis experi its 
with the Liberian coffee treo, though too long to bo 
quoted here, ihonld be read by coffee planters all 
tln> world over. 
A phasing feature in tin.; most interesting report 
is tho little paragraph devoted to :i notice of I ho 
birds observed on the Government lands. Mr. I'rodtoo 
MR. SCOTT BLACKLAW ON BRAZIL. 
Wc publish a further contribution to our know- 
edgo of our great rival in coffee-growing, Brazil, 
from the pen of their well-informed authority, Mr. A. 
Scott Blacklavv. He enforces what we already were 
aware of, that the three gre it factors in the enorm- 
ous extension of coffee cultivation in Brazil were 
the high prices which prevailed for the article a few 
years ago ; the large and rapid extension of railway 
facilities in the coffee districts, and the concentration 
of slave labour, as well as all available free-labour 
on the one pursuit. In addition, Mr. Blacklaw, who 
speaks as an eye-witness of the scenes he depicts 
gives us a graphic but revolting picture of the revival 
of the slave trade, not on the ocean it is true, but 
round tbe coasts of Brazil. Most of those who had 
slaves in the northern districts, who could no longer 
make fortunes by cotton growing, sold their slaves 
to the coffee planters of the south. Even Mr. Black- 
law, who in his day has worked slaves, writes of 
the "horror" excited in his mind by seeing gangs of 
human beings driven to market and subjected to ex- 
amination like brute beasts. He saw evidence which 
convinced" him that not only the divine law for all 
humanity but the Imperial Emancipation Law of 
1871 had been evaded by slave-owners who had for- 
bidden their slaves io marry. If we in Ceylon are 
Suffering from fungus and short crops as a providential 
visitation, and if, owing to the action of Brazil, 
prices have now fallen to an unremuuerative standard, 
we shall not have to answer, when inquisition for 
blood is made, and punishment awarded for keeping 
back the wages of tho poor — we shall not, in tho day 
of account, have to answer for buying and selling 
droves of women and gangs of boys between 10 and 
15, as if they were mules or oxen. What with abund- 
ant slave labour so procured, in violation of laws 
divine and human, and a slovenly system of culture, 
described as "letting tho trees grow," on vast areas 
of fertile land, Brazil has beaten us, and, wc suspect, 
ruined herself in the race. For, with reference to 
Mr. Tytler's vaticinations of revolution, let it bo noted 
that, by the process described by Mr. Blacklaw, tho 
division of interest* between free north and slave- 
holding south, in the Empire of Brazil, is now nearly 
as complete as was the case in the northern republic, 
before the Titanic contest commenced in which the 
crime of Iranian slavery was w iped out in blond. 
Vengeance for iniquity may be lon^i delayed, but 
conic, ultimately it must, and, if at the preaching ot 
a second Jonah, there is not a repetition of Nineveh re- 
ponteuce in tho ease of Brazil, .1 baptium of blood 
teemi inevitable, hi any case, what wo now know of 
Brazil, and what wo have just heard about the heroic 
death of the rash but gallant Brownrigg, lighting to tho 
last against coward and caitiff odds, ie surely enough 
to cause u» to vo»», or rcuew our vi>w that our baft 
