Oct. i, 1894.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 231 
COFFEE CULTIVATION GALORE! 
NETHERLANDS INDIA— PERU— CENTRAL 
AND NORTH-WEST AFRICA. 
We do not know what intelligence Mr. Talbot 
has brought back from Java, although we have 
litt'e doubt it is aB satisfactory aa Mr. Starey'e 
experience Beemed to be, in respect of ccffea" 
planting operations in the North-east portion of 
that rich island. We have already referred to 
the extensive clearings of German capitalists in 
Sumatra ; and had we been able to read all our 
correspondence by a recent mail beforehand, we 
should almost have hesitated to take exoeption to a 
correspondent's remark about the risk of coffee- - 
like tea— being overdone. For, the mail brings us 
important information on this subject from the 
Amazoaian settlement in Upper Peru ; from an 
ex- Ceylon coffee planter in Central Africa ; and 
in a series of papers referring to the Gold Coast, 
West Africa, which we owe to tbe ocurtesy of 
Mr. A. M. Ashmore formerly of our Civil Service 
and now Aoting Colonial Seoretary at Cape Coast 
Castle. 
Coffoe is the main subject of interest in each 
case. From Upper Peru we have intelligence of an 
unexpectedly encouraging charaoter and Mr. Robb 
— the Aberdonian Scot in oharge — is so saoguino 
of there being a fortune in oeff e, that he 13 
prepared as soon as he has comple'ed his en- 
gagement with tbe Peruvian Corporation, to enter 
on the enterprise on a considerable scale either 
on his own aooount, or on that of a Company 
as Manager and shareholder. His letter (to ' Old 
Colonist " see page 232) shews that even under their 
present labour difficulties, it only costs the equivalent 
of 12s (sterling) to produce ICO lb. of c'.ean coffee, 
oarriage to Lima 5s 4d ; while in that town COo per 
100 lb. oan be obtained for it I Here the margin 
of profit is over 200 per cent, and yet the value 
of the coffee— if at all well-prepared— is put at 
a very low rate. There must be room for larger 
returns if the produoe were shipped to Europe 
or North America, while no doubt great improve- 
ments and economy can be efftcted in respect of 
both cultivation and preparation —more eepeoially 
in the latter through the introduction of 
machinery. 
Then from Central Afrioa we learn that an 
ex-Ceylon planter is eager and ready for the formation 
of a Coffee- growing Company on a large saale, his 
letter to the same friend in the North of Scotland 
showing that he has made apurohase of 100,000 acres 
0! good land from which to form selections for plan- 
tations. Ha is most sanguine of success and is 
prepared to show his faith by taking the purchase 
money — a low figure — in shares. We shall publish 
the letter in full ; but meantime may mention 
that the elevation is mainly from 2,000 to 2.500 
feet, the soil varying from a rich chooolate to 
black loam, the rainfall GO to 80 inches per 
annum spread over 118 to 130 de.ys, a supply of 
very oheap labour freely available ; no leaf or 
bug disease ; and cost of transport by no means 
eerious. Moreover, there is no trouble with wind 
and the ooffee blossoming season extends from 
AugU6t to November, both months inolusive, " so 
that there oan soaroely ba a failure of crop." 
Another favourable oondition is the proximity of 
a splendid sanatorium — haU-a-daj's journey d's- 
29 
tant— with an elevation of between 6,000 and 7.000 
feet. If these conditions be only verified by Mr. 
J. H. Carson, now on his way to Central Africa, 
we may be quite cure that capital will not be 
wanting to secure the rapid development of a 
lar&e aorerge under coffee. 
It is a striking and interet ting factthat AberdonianB 
in the Far West, in the Amazorian regions in South 
America, and in British Central Africa should be 
simultaneously pioneering as coffee planters and 
appealing home to their countrymen for funds 
to aid in extensive developments. Thera c^n be 
little doubt es to wbi?h will be the favourite 
locality, considering the difference between British 
and Peruvian Government ; and yet it would be 
hard to beat Mr. Robb'a figures in the way of margin 
ofprofi'. He adds, howev>r, that labour is growing 
scarce, owing to so manv of the people them 
selves— apart from the settlers— going in for coffee 
gardens of their own ! Such a rroeess mu3t of 
itself, add to the cutturn of coffee produce and 
increase the shipments from Peru. 
From the Gold Coast, Mr. Ashmore sends us a 
set of the Quarterly Reports— 1890-94— on the 
Aburi Botanica 1 and Experimental Station, situ- 
ated some 1400 feet above sea-level with a 
rainfall of from 65 to 07 inohes— very well distri- 
buted throughout the year, July-August-September, 
being the dry months,— and average temperature 
ranging from 63 deg. to 83 deg. There is nothing 
very remarkable about the Station or Gardens 
themselves, although Mr.Orowther and his Assistant 
or locum tenens, Mr. Willey, are evidently men who 
are specially interested in their work and in 
experimenting with new products. We sha'd quote a 
cumber of their remarks, but so far as we can judga 
Liberian ooff jo is here by far the most promising 
product from an eoonomic point of view. Tha 
Arabian variety is also growing well, and the 
reports of oacao are favourable. But there is 
no question that in coffee, at least, this part of 
Africa might develop a really important industry 
and export trade. This we judge from a special 
report by Mr. Crowther on certain ooffee planta- 
tions at Cape Coast acd Elmina in the bands 
of private proprietors. We read of one of these 
having 150 acres under Liberian cqffae and of trees 
three yea' s old, being 5\ feet high with a splendid 
cop of cherries rapidly maturing. NothiDg better 
than this could be desired by practical men 
even with Arabian coffee and if it be the 
general rule for the more robust Liberian 
varitty to give an appreciable crop in the 
third year— the trees should ba stripped rather 
than allow them to mature fruit _ at an 
farlier stage — we should certainly decide that 
West African planters could not do better 
than continue to cultivato the variety which is 
indigenous, as the name implies, to the neighbour- 
hood. Of course, it is more interesting and in 
rnsny oases desirable, to have several strings to 
one's bow, and so to add oioao, rubber, and 
other products to a plantation. But if the objeat 
be to develop a paying industry, in a limited 
period, concentrated effort on the one staple has 
always been found best and most profitable. Even 
at Aburi Botanical Station, we cannot sea much 
good from experimenting with products so oVtrdooe 
— the world's supply being beyond the demand- 
as cinnamon and annotto, any more than if 
attention were given to cinchona and cardamoms. 
The West Afrioan Settlements, to our mind, ought 
pre-eminently to exoel in the growth, preparation 
and export of its own, that is L banan, ooffee 
which seems to flourish exceedingly and for whioh 
there is dearly a strong and profitable demand in 
the European markets. 
