I68 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [Sept. i, 1893, 
The plantatioDB employ about 20.000 Itborers, of 
whom at the present time only 0 379 Japanese and 
Chinese are nuder contract, out of a total of over 
thirty thousand Asiatics reeiding in the Islands. Be- 
sides the above, many Hawaiiane, Portu^uefe and 
others are employed under various forms of eeivioe, 
mottiy as day or month laborers. 
There is another systeni of service now being tried 
on several estates, which promise to work well, beind 
based on the oo-operative plan. A planter takes a 
tract of, say one hundred acres, more or leSH, and 
engages to plow, plant, cultivate and harvest for one- 
fifth of the sagur manufactured from it, less certain 
small obarges. He ii furnished by the plantation at 
cost with all the necessary tools, and agrees to provide 
all the labor that is required to work the tract bs- 
sigued to him in the best manner possible. For each 
laborer in liis employ, while the crop is growing, he 
receives from the plantation, say, ten dollars a month 
on account. When the cane is eround and the sugar 
delivered inHonolnln, he is credited with one-fifth, or 
whatever proportion may have been airreed on, of 
the sugar produced from hie tract, which sum is 
equitably divided among sU who have shared in the 
cultivation of the oane. This plan has been tried on 
several estates, and has worked well for all, though 
experience will doabtlesa show how it may be im- 
proved for the benefit of all interested. It is a system 
that can be readily adopted on any or all the planta- 
tions. The labor question will, therefore, adjust 
itself fo any changes that may be required whenever 
annexation may take place, and without much, if any, 
loss to the plantations, and in the end both employers 
and employees will be the gainers, for time will 
show that annexation will be s wise policy, not only 
for every industrial interest here, but equally so for 
the United QMea.— Planters' Monthly. 
HOW INDIAN NATIVE AGRICULTURE 
Is watched over, controlled and encouraged under 
the Indian Baveoue eyatetn is well illustrated in the 
annual Report fo the Board of Revenue for the North- 
wester Provinoes, thua reviewed in the Pioneer : — 
With the extension of the canal svetem, the revision 
of the laud-reveaue settlements in many districts, and 
the growth ot local rates and cesses, the public land- 
revenues have greatly increased duriug the l»st twenty 
years. But there is no evidence that the inert aee of 
these burdens on the land is disproportionate to its 
increased productiveness, or that their collection is 
attended with increising difiBculty. On the contrary, 
the report indicates that, except in certain limited 
tracts where agriculture is depressed throngh tpeoial 
causes, the revenue comes in wich ease, and the severer 
forms of coercion are seldom resorted to. The depressed 
tracts lie in the Agra Division, wht-re a rise in tha 
subsoil level, and consequent water-Ioggiu?, has 
thrown thousand of acres out of cultivation. Large 
reductions of revenue have been made in the dis- 
tressed districts, extensive drainage works under- 
taken, and money advanced to landlords and 
tenants. The low-water mark of c'epressioa has 
evidently been passed, but debts, insufhcient capital, 
traditional extrav igance, and the belief that the State 
will forego its claims if pressed hard enough, retard im- 
provement in agriculture and the coUtotionof the re- 
venue. The Thakur landlor.is of Mainpnri are thus de- 
scribed : — " Nearly all are heavily involved in debt or 
litigation, and have spent their rents in staving ofif the 
most urgent demands of their private creditors, in con- 
testing suits, or in marriage expenses, there being quite 
an unusual number of marriages this year. In ehort, 
the State has come to be lookd on as the least pressing 
of those whose domands have to be met and the one 
to whom p»yment can be deferred for a more conveni- 
ent season. It is clear that no remissions or reduction 
can ensure the punctual payment of the Government 
demanJ when the proprietary body is determined to 
make default and wilfully misappropriates all asssts 
that it oun lay hands on." If this description be 
Boonrate, and its accuracy is accepted by the 
Oommissioner ^nd the Board the sdministra- 
tion of the district must indeed be arduous. Oc one 
side is the Scylla of leniency : on the other the 
Oharjbditt of c<.ercioD. Elsewhere the land revenue 
came in eaaily, and (he harvests and tbe condition 
of the people w> ru generally good. It is eatiefact>^y 
to notice that in diniricts where the Uod revenue 
has been revised and grtatly raised, the demaod was 
paid without difiicalty. The returns of tbe Uirec-tor 
of Laud Kecurds eoatle as to ascertain with c'us* 
aocurary the incidence of the State latid-dne> and 
the proportion iu which they stand to the gross rent. 
Inclading ces«es ai d patwari rate, but excladiuK 
canal dues, which are virtually pa\meijt< for value 
receivi d, the State demaiil uu th<i la'id ^moai/ts 'o 
527 lakhs in tbe N -W. P. and 158 lakii* in On 'b. 
or 680 l>kb8 in all. Tbe area occupied by lar dlord* 
and tenants aggrsgitee 3d miUicn acre*. Tbe iucidenre 
of the State demand la lhu« K ■ 113 per acre, being 
theaore in tbe N'>rth-W> s'ero PfOviiiC«sand iiel-10 
in Oadb. Of the tC miU'on acres, 8^ tnilli'^ns are 
shown in the village accouute as pt.V'Ug do rent, 
being for the most part cultna'ed by the prupri' tur* 
themselves. Tbe recorded ren'ai on tbi remaiuiDg 
27^ millio 1 acres amounts to 1,201 lakhs. The corrected 
rental of the Province is, therefore, considerably more 
than dou'ilu the State demand, iacludiug local rates of 
every kind. 
COFFEE CL LTIVATION. 
CLOSB versun WIDB n-ANTIMO. 
Says our contemporary Thr Quetnslauder : — As a 
large number of tbe oulcivatoro ot the soil iu C^ueens- 
laud are thinking seriously of devoting some atteo. 
tion to coffee growing, tbe following iuformat'on 
elicited at a inee ii g of fruit growera at WelliuKt<^n 
Point lately will be read with interest. Mr. Gilbeit 
Burnett asked for infurmaliou about the disunoe 
apart coffee trees elioald be p'aLted, as be iuteuded 
to plant a few acres. Ue hai made itquiriea through 
a merchant who was iufirm^d by a planter that, iu 
Ceylon, ooSee was planted 6't. by 6ft. aiajrt. From 
what he bad seen of the habits of tbe pl>nt in Queens- 
land he rather doubted tbe accuracy of tbe iiifurma- 
ti03. Mr. SoQtter stated in reply that tbe coffee plant 
require! spice according to climate and soil, io rich 
soil or flatf^, Ce}lon coffee bad bees planted 15ft. 
apart and Liberian 2utt. apart. From his own ex- 
perience here he found 12ft. by I2ft. snfiioient ppace. 
Here tbe coffee plant wanted p'enty of sbflter, and 
if planted close it would protect itself. He tuui'd 
I hat in Brazil, coffee was planted 12ft. by lOft. with 
very ettiafactory resuUs. Ue had plan's iu the Ac- 
climatisation Society's grounds, which were sown and 
grew in but poor still four years ago, 9lt. apart, 
the bncches of which were touching each other, and 
now bearing berries. Mr C'owao eaid he thought tbe 
information obtained from Ceylon by Mr. Burnett 
was correct, because in that island coffee trees were 
planted prinoipaJly on tbe bill sides and slopes, not 
on flats, and being so (hick protected themselves. 
Ue believed in close planting as be had seen it in 
the West Indian Islands as ou the slopes the heat 
n^as especially severe, and being closely planted the 
trees protected the roots by their shade. Coffee 
trees threw out an immense mass of surface roote> 
A New Tka Breaker. — We received from a Terai 
planter a very good account of a new tea breaker, 
the invention of Mr. H. Sabow, the well known Kur- 
seong Engineer. Since using this breaker, the 
planter inf jrma us, he haa made 40 per cent less 
Finri'igs and Dust than with his former maohine. 
Mr. Sabow's breaker costs R250 — Indian Flanten' 
Gazette, July 8. 
The Egos of the Algerian locust have been found 
to yield a thick oil reeembliug honey in uppeat- 
ance It burns well, and makes good soap with 
alkali. As large quantities of these eggs are ool- 
leoted by tbs natives in order to destroy them, it 
is proposed to extract tbe oil for industrial pnrposea. 
— Standard. 
