Sept. t, 1894.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
197 
COFFEE GROWLS G. 
"Coffee is beiDg grown now in so many countries," 
writes a corresj;o< dent — " Borneo, the Straits 
Settlements, Central Airioa, Mexico, Colombia, and 
other States o£ South America, all going into ccffae 
planting on a large scale, — that they must in a few 
years, overflow the markets of the world, and reduce 
prices to an extent that will allow of no profit, 
to the producer. It was a gloomy time for coffee 
planting in Ceylon in 1846-47. Plantation coffee 
went below 403 per cwt. In those bad timeB, 
many estates wore abandoned, or sold for 
on6-tenth of what they had cost, and this rush 
into coffee, at so many centres, is likely to lead 
to like results in a few years." 
But what about cheap labour ? Will it not tell 
in coffee — as in tea — growing, and justify Ceylon 
men doing what they can with Liberian or with 
small fields of Arabian coffee ? 
NEWS FROM THE CENTRAL PROVINCE : 
PLANTING AND OTHERWISE. 
(Notes by " Wanderer.") 
August 9th 
British North Borneo. — I notice that in the 
Sandakan District the nationality of labor em 
ployed on tobacco estates was as follows : — 
Chinese 1,548 
Native 224 
Prices paid for Borneo tobacco — 2 75, 2.50 and 1.52 
guilders, the Company has declared a dividend of 
12 per cent 92-93, and the profits 1893-94 will 
permit one or two of the Tobacco Companies to 
declare much larger dividends. 
Coffee. — Alas 1 the coffee bushes on most of 
the estates in Dimbula and Dikoya that promised 
to give good crops are now attacked by bug and 
leaf disease. The worst of these attacks of bug 
on coffee where tea is planted is that the tea 
plants are quite blackened, and must suffer also. 
BIG YIELDS OF TEA. 
The following is worth noting as the result of 
using cattle manure. Three fields Nos. 1, 2 and 3 
were all pruned last year in February when all 
blackened from the frost. 
No. 1 Had not beau pruned for 2 years befure 
No. 2 do do li do 
No. 3 do do 1 do 
These are adj oiuiog fields : 
No. I had hem manured with cattle manure the 
preo^din< year, No. 2 hai been manured with the 
eame ina.u e siuoe, No. 3 has never been manured. 
I would remark here tint this ia ail splendid tea; of 
the threo, No. 3 has the best soil, and looks ai good 
as the manured tei ; a spleudid cover. But wbilo 
Nos, 1 and 2, the maouced field*, are still flushing as 
well as the weatner permit*, No. 3 is blossoming 
and shooting up and needs pruning at ouce. No. 
3 is the best theltered. The average yield of 
the fields is ov.r 700 lb. per aero per annum. 
No. 1 field is very still olay ; a dim chocolate. At first 
1 feureJ Ua would not grow there, owing, to the stiff- 
ness of thi soil clinging in lumps to tbe coolieB' 
uiamoties and the constant supplying nee h d, the frost 
from which, it suffered every year, killing the suia Im- 
plants out altogotber and the la'g'-r down to thi 
grouud. These la g jr plants would theu throw out 
■boon all round trie collar and from the roots. At 
4 years tho hold looked like a oue year old olearing: 
and several planters sa d it would never grow tea. 
But I forked tbe ground over, oud applied freshly 
slaked limo holore it ha I lost its caustic state, and 
wbilo it burnt the co.lies hands. Tbe result wis 
gi'uul ! It grotr so rapidly anl thickly that since theu 
the frost has ouly atfoote-d the tops of tho bushes, 
»ud they slvoUur, tin supplies, „ 
?5 " ' 
Permit me here to oontradict the statement tha 
once manure your tea you mu 3 t always manure it* 
It does not huld good wi;h tea nor did it with cjffoe 
although tho latier did look "shuck" after heavy 
crop whether tbociop was the result of mauureor not. 
PLANTING AND PRODUCE. 
Sib Ambbose Shea and Bahama Fibre.— In on 
article entitled " The Romance of a Governorship," 
\hePall Mall Gazette ca'ls attention to the labour of 
Sir Ambrose Shes in connection with the fibre iudue- 
try of the Bihamas. It says : " When Sir Ambro:e 
first went out ns Governor the in luslries of the 
popula'i n of the islands, some 50,000 fouls, consis- 
ted of sponge fishing, which was not too remunerative 
a casing, aud fruit cultivation, which was still more 
pi'dcarious a trade. Indeed, the i&lands were living 
fromh. nd to mouth, and a state of intense depres- 
sion prevailed, His Excellency had not long been 
in the colony when one day a man came into his 
omce carrying a bundle. Sir Ambrose, who evidently 
potseesej cn observant eye, fastened it not so muoh 
upon the co..tont& of the buudle as upon the rough 
piece of rope wi h which it was tied. Unless all his 
shipping experience was betraying him the rope was 
Manilla. So he asked the man where he got that 
cord from. 'It grew in my garden, your Exeellency, 
was the reply. Sir Ambroie, according to the man's 
subsequent narrative of the inoident, thought 
he was being 4 siuced,' and spoke somewhat 
sternly, ' Why, there's plenty of it in your Excellency's 
own grounds,' instate! the man with the bundle. 
Sir Ambrose doubtless now knew, that had there 
been any idea of a joke at the outset, it wouid have 
been dropped at the ttage at which it brought a frowa 
to his brow. Greatly surprised at this news he 
allowed himself to be coaductel ioto the grounds, 
where the sisal plant was pointed out to him. Upoa 
exauiuaiiou of the 1 aves of the plant he at once 
detected its fibrous appearanoe. He took a few leaves 
indoors, scraped off their surfaces, and picked out frora 
them beautiful loDg fibres five or six feet in leDgth. 
To sty that his Excellency was astounded would be a 
feeblo way of dc-soribiug his feeliugs. This steal p ant 
was he'd in detestation in the colony. It overran tha 
vegetable gardeus, and strangled the yams and tha 
sweet potatoes. 
An Aladdin's Lamp, — Atlempts had been made to 
root it out of the isUnds, and, these having tailed, 
equally unsuccessful efforts had been made to burn it 
out. Yet Sir Ambrose coiili see that this plant wia 
going to be a gennino Aladdin's lamp to the oolony, a 
source of eudloas wealth. He hiuted something of 
this tort to some of his acquaintances, but one and 
all, as politely as might be decliued to believe hia 
Excellency. It was an article of belief in the is- 
lands that every tew Governor had his own 
particular fad. This, then, was Sir Ambrose's, 
they said. He would sosn get tired of if, they hoped 
if his hoi by was not encouraged by any aggressive 
opposition, so ttey all looked on a little cynically 
whi e the Governor busied himself about this precious 
pant. Even the niggers were incrodulous. 'You've 
been treading gold under your feet,' he observed to 
n gioup of them one day. They did not like to (lis- 
Lelieve so great a personage ai the Governor, but 
evon a Digger has a certain amount of self-respect, 
and they coul i not swallow that. So they assumed 
a mytifkul loo'r, and tacitly wondered how the mia- 
soomries hal overlooked tbe moral welfare ot the 
GoVviMcr so unaccountably. But later on, when they 
found all their eisal plants were being bongnt up 
eagerly by operators, and were in strong demand, 
they turned to oue another with staring eyes 
and open mouth?, while the old men of the 
families ssgjcoasly remirkcd, 'I 'speos dis 
ere sisal pltuit ia what de Gubnor was telliu' 
us about when he says wo was treidiu' the gold under 
cur feet.' The ni^gcra are not in want ot aDy in- 
formation about the plant now But this is iu advance, 
of tho narrative. 
