872 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[April i, 1882. 
describable. The tall, straight, cylindrical columns 
surmounted by their globular masses of fronds, often 
25 or 30 feet across, are seen to rise out of a sea of 
green sedges and grasses, and as no other growths 
intervene the result — merely as a matter of scenery — ia 
well worth a visit to the tropics to behold. Under such 
circumstances even the most sceptical would admit 
that Palms are rightly named "the kingly race of 
plants." Riding underneath nothing could surpass in 
grandeur and beauty the effect produced by innumer- 
able tall stems canopied by immense fan-shaped leaves 
rustling aud rattling against each other in the re- 
freshing breeze. 
In the adult stage Sabal umbraculifera has all the 
majestic mien and habit of the Talipot Palm, Oorypha 
umbraculifera, of Ceylon and Southern India. Indeed, 
to one familiar with the latter there is a great appar- 
ent similaritp between the habits of the two Palms. 
The sharply pointed and pendulous segments of the 
leaves of the Sabal combined with their characteristic 
glaucous tint are, however, in marked contrast to the 
bluntish and slightly bifid segments of the Talipot with 
its bright green leaves. Again, the free-flowering habit 
of the Sabal as compared with the solitary and final 
effort of the Talipot Palm, affords another important 
point of distinction : and the inevitable death of the 
latter after flowering would indicate that for avenues 
and ornamental Palm-groups the Sabal would be, by 
far, the better Palm to plant. It possesses also the 
merit of growing in comparatively poor soil, and in 
a climate very unfavourable for most tropical plants. 
The fruit of the Sabal is like a miniature Date, 
and the sweet pulp with which it is enveloped attracts 
and supplies food for a large number of jabbering 
crows (Oorvus jamaiceneis), blue pigeons (Columba 
inornata), bald pates (C. leucocephala), and rat-bats. 
It is owing to tnese agencies, no doubt, that the Palm 
is so well distributed throughout the district. Of the 
economic uses of the Palm mention may be made of 
the leaves — the chief parts used — which form the only 
thatching material for both negro and European 
houses. Mats, ropes, hats, and baskets are made from 
the younger portions of the petiole and leaves, while, 
as already mentioned, the hollowed trunks, cut into 
short lengths, make admirable beehives. 
It seems strange that while the Cocoa-nut Palm 
grows freely everywhere along the coast of Jamaica, 
it is almost entirely absent from Alligator Pond to 
Black River, viz., the district occupied by the " Big 
Thatch." At first, this was taken as an accidental 
circumstance, but careful inquiry on the spot con- 
vinced me that although the soil and climate differ 
very slightly from those of other portions of the Island 
where the Cocoa nut thrives luxuriantly, all efforts to 
establish it in the Pedro district had signally failed. 
The plants appear to thrive for a few years, and to 
grow remarkably well, but before coming into bear- 
ing they suddenly die off from the top, leaving nothing 
but a bare stem. 
After examining several trunks of the Sabal, and 
finding them completely riddled by the attacks of 
the larva of a beetle very closely allied to, if not 
identical with, the destructive Palm-beetle of the East 
Indies, I came to the conclusion that one, if not the 
chief, cause of the absence of the Cocoa-nut Palm in 
tiie district w as the abundance of this beetle. Further 
information and inquiry in the neighbourhood has fully 
confirmed this view. The Sabal appears to exist and, 
indeed, to thrive luxuriantly in spite of the beetle ; 
but the Cocoa-nut fails. The terminal bud of the latter 
oilers an easily accessible and tempting bonne, buuche 
to the larva, and it succumbs to its attacks ; on the 
other hand the Sabal thrives and covers the country.— 
(). Mokuis, Jamaica, Jan. 12. 
SUGAR-GROWING AT PORT MACKAY. 
QUEENSLAND. 
The success that has attended sugar-growing at Port 
Mackay has probably been due as much to a fine 
climate as to a fertile soil. Opening out towards the 
east, protected by mountains from the intrusion of 
hot winds from the west, admitting freely into all 
recesses the entrance of refreshing eea breezes, with 
a rainfall as seasonable as it is abundant, and never 
visited by those hurricanes which are not unknown 
to the north and to the south, it certainly appears 
to be a district exceptionally favoured by nature for 
the growth of the sugar cane, no less than for the 
production, in great abundance, of a large variety of 
tropical fruits. 
With a climate that produces the mango, the papaw, 
the cocoanut, the banana, and the pineapple as so 
many weeds, we are apt to associate a fervent heat and 
a steaming atmosphere throughout the year. And so 
it generally is : we cannot get the good things of this 
earth without sometimes paying a disagreeable price. 
But according to the records of a careful observer, 
extending over a period of eigbt years, confirmed by 
the experience of a great many visitors, there exists 
a much milder climate at Mackay than might have 
been expected from its latitude. Situated about 1,100 
miles north of Sydney, in latitude 21 "10 S., in the 
tropics, it is within the reach of causes that gener- 
ally produce a more torrid climate than is really found 
to exist in this place. But the constant sea breezes 
which flow in from the south-east so temper the sun's 
power as to render the weather quite bearable to a 
resident from the distant south. It would be insuffi- 
cient testimony to cite my own experience of only 
five weeks at midwinter, were it not that the weather 
then prevailing was said to be characteristic of the 
winter and spring months — warm and sunny days, 
with unexpectedly cold mornings ; a cold land breeze 
until about 9 a.m., then a brisk and mild s >uth-east 
wind for the remainder of th 3 day, with scarcely any 
rain ; this favouring in a high degree the crushing of 
the sugar-cane, and increasing the density of the juice, 
which rarely falls below 10' Beaum6, and sometimes 
stands as high as 12 . 
It seems a misnomer to say there is positively any 
winter in the latitude of Mackay ; more properly it 
should be called the dry season, when the temper- 
ature is very enjoyable. In this latitude it never is 
cold during the day, and in the months of July and 
August it is inexpressibly beautiful — much like October 
weather in Sydney. There is, however, during this 
time something remarkable in the low temperature 
which prevails at night, and especially in the early 
morning, when on a few occasions even hoar-frost 
has been seen on the ground ; but this occurs only 
on the low levels, and not on the slopes of the 
hills ; as, for instance, at Mr. Black's beautiful 
plantation, The Cedars. 
The keenness of the air in some nights in July 
and the first part of August is one of the surprises 
which visitors meet on a first acquaintance with 
Mackay ; and to show that this does not exist merely 
in sensation, we have only to refer to the thermometer, 
which sometimes indicates a difference of from 20' to 
28' between the temperature of day and night. Not- 
withstanding this fact, that might seem to militate 
against the climate, it appears that frosts, so great 
an obstacle to cane-growing in the south, are at 
Mackay so slight in their effects as to be practically 
disregar ded. 
It is generally admitted that during a part of the 
summer the heat is excessive ; but then it is said 
to be tempered by a sea breeze, which rarely fails 
to blow, and though producing some languor is not 
positively unhealthy. Plantation work, such as 
ploughing, is performed during most of this hot season 
