Aug. i, 1894.J THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
1 os 
up the extent ultimately under cultivation will pro- 
bably not fall short of fi r ty thousand ficrea, with a 
\ieldof clone upon 20,000,000 1b. leaf. This develop- 
ment will, however, ba the work of some years. 
Cacao is doing remarkably woil in the Badulla Die- 
triot at an elevation of 2,500 ft., and there is little 
doubt that it can be extensively grown both in the 
hill districts and in the low-country, now that con- 
ditions onior which it ihonld be cultivated a r e t etter 
understood'. Tt is well established in the Monaragala 
Diatriot, and a email p! nation has been started in 
Bintenna. 
The prices r .v'zei for this product have been 
somewhat disappointing, but a large margin < i profit is 
s i 1 left even though the market value has depreiated. 
The total etc go under cultivation is 1,702, hut 
only a smill port on is yet in lull bearing. 
Cinchona is rapidly going out of cultivation, and in 
a few years th< re will be scarcely any left. 
Fdel Thkes. — I have not been able to "secure 
reliable statistics in respect to the acreage planted 
with fu u l trees, but the estates generally are now 
independent of the Govtrnment reserves, and the 
question of fuel, which at the outset of tea enter- 
prise gave rise to much discussion, no longer causes 
any anxiety. 
ARABIAN AND LIBERIAN COFFEE. 
PEPPER, TAPIOCA &c. IN THE STRAITS. 
The EelaDgor Resident has been on tour and 
from the interesting Notes of hia journey we quote 
as follows from the Selangor Government Gazette 
of June '22 : — 
A considerable amount of Liberian coffee has be.su 
planted on the small holdings in this part (Klang) 
of the district, but, with the exception of the plots 
held by Chinese, the appearance presented by 
the trees is much less satisfactory than that of those 
growing along the Telok Menaghan Koad. The 
planters are chiefly Javanese settlers, holding their 
land under customary tenure and who insist upon 
taking the utmost out of the soil by planting amongst 
the coffee such products as Indian corn, kladii klidi, 
sweet potatoes, padi, plantain and tapioca. 
A feature of the country round about the town 
of Klang is the extensive cultivation of kladi and 
klidi by Chinese, These crops mature, the former 
in eight months, the latter in four months, so that 
two crops a year at least are obtained from the 
Utter. An acre yields about 14 and 20 pikuls, respec- 
tively, and the price obtained varies, according to 
the kind planted, from 85 rents to IjjirsO a pikul. 
The principal market for this produce is Kuala 
Lumpur. 
Mr. Hiittenbach has nerly completed his coffee 
works, his intention being to buy up native coffee 
and prepare it for the market. This should prove 
a boon to the rapidly growing number of native 
coffee 1 roducors and be a factor in the progress 
of the dist ict. 
On the morning of the 18th the Resident was 
driven by Mr. Ilemmy, Surveyor, along tho Telok 
Menaghan road (3 miles), followed by the Acting 
District Officer, the District Engineer, and Peng- 
hulu Mohit. It was along this road that H E. 
the Governor drove on his visit to Klang on the 
2tst AjTil, when be was so favourably impressed 
by the flourishing appearance of the native coffee 
gardens along each side of the road. About 500 
acres of land are under coffee in this part of tho 
district and 200 acres are being opened by natives 
and Chinese, 50 or more acres by Mr. T. H. Hill 
and '10 acres by Mr. Forsyth, under the direction of 
Mr. P. Stephenson. Several applications for coffee 
land, by Europeans, have recent'y been sanctioned. 
The history of the coffee industry in the dis- 
trict may bii. tly be given as follows :— In 1887 
Hnji Mahomed Tahir, a Javanese, known in pre- 
Residential t>mos as thcl'enghulu Dagang or head- 
man of tho foreign settlers, obtained an advauco 
of (4,000 from the Government, he being the owner 
of t)5 acres of laud, now hold on customary 
tenure, and 700 acres under leaso or agree- 
ment, and commenced planting up with arecanut 
pa'ms, dutiens, mangostms and coconuts. The de- 
mand for, and consequently the price of, arecanuts 
has of recent years been rouoh depressed, aud 
the cultivation is no longer a plying one in Stlaugor, 
In several places many ocres of fine areca palms 
have now been cut down to make room for 
Liberian coffee, but the wcy wai shewn by Haji Mat 
Tnhir, who with extraordinary energy, for a native, 
has drained his land, end planted up a portion with 
coffee, which has provad so sucressful that ha has 
been able to cut up most of his land into blocks, 
averaging from tbr?e to five acres, which he sub- 
1< ts at 50 oents an acre for coffee gardens, to 
Chinese and foreign Malays. The land is low and 
wet aud for a loBg time it was considered by 
Europeans that so soon as the roots of the coffee 
reached water the trees would die out. 
This theory has been disposed of by the results 
of the Haji's enterprise, his oldest trees having been 
planted for seven years and presenting now the most 
flourishing appearance. The result has been that 
applications for coffee land are coming in rapidly 
from Europeans, Chinese and natives, and the quit- 
rent for tbe District has been raise! from 25 to 
50 cents an acre for coffee estates. The history of 
the European coffee enterprise in the District 
remains to be written, it would be premature 
and perhaps dangerous to forecast it. There are 
already premonitory symptoms of demands by the 
European would-be planters for roads and drains and 
" facilities" never put forward by native and Cbinese 
planters, and it would be lamentab'e if, in the long 
ruo, tbe European planter, who prides himself on his 
pluck and sturdy independence, is beaten by the 
native and Chinese holders of what may be termed 
garden coffee lots. 
There can, however, be no reason to doubt that 
the SelaDgor planters will shew the same pluck and 
go-aheadedne:6 as their confreres in India, who 
contribute to a public cess which is u ili8L>d in tbe 
construction of accommodation road?, Grains and rli- 
tohes, and by tbe planters in Sumatra, who combined io 
make their own roads for common u«e, aad goodenes too 
Piloted by Mr. Hemmy, the Resident an 1 his party, 
after discussing the question of the continuation of 
the Telok Memighan R^ad, walked to tbe boundary 
of Mr. Hill's land, had a look at Mr. Forsyth's new 
clearing and flourishing coffee nurseries, and then 
proceeded acaroBS country to Tremelbyr Coffee aud 
Pepper Es'ate, tho property of Captain Trewteke 
and Mr. Melbye. This estate comprises 515 acres, 
of which 35 arres have been planted with pepper, 
some of which is peven years old, and 75 seres with 
Liberian coffee, ranging from four years and a half 
to one year io age. 
White pepper only is exported, and is prepared 
from tho ordinary pepper by soaking it for about 
a fortnight io water, with the object of remov- 
ing tho outer skin. In the oase of bla^k popper 
tbe berry is pluuged into hot waW and then 
dried and smoked the outside skin being retained. 
With b'ack pepper at $9 a pikul, white pepper would 
fetch about $15. Pepper is a pretty cuitivutiou, but 
it has been passing through hard times of late, owing 
to over production and the consequent fall in price. 
There are not> however, wanting signs tint s:ocbs 
ara decreasing arid production falling off, and that 
those who have "held on" may yet reap the reward 
of pertiuacity. Great care has to be eiercised in 
the culture of the vine arid in the operations of 
"turning down" and tying up to the posts, and it has 
bean said that 25 acres of pepper require as much 
supervision and labour as 100 aores of ooffee. 
A well-!ooked-after viue, in favourable conditions, 
is said to bear for 20 j ears. The vines are not al- 
lowed to bear until they havo fully covered ibo posts 
and are of a uniform diameter from top to hot .0111. 
The eeleotion e f tho poets on which the vino is born 0 
requires considerable oaro. In the Kim g Di.-triu: 
there is a wcod known as brumbong wl . iob, while 
u eloss for other purposes, is apparently mmM . 1 ti d 
by eithor bur'al in tho soil or i-xposuro Io wtutlui 
and it is consequently admirably adapted for pepper 
