THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [Oct. i, 1894. 
States ; the several zones lying one above the other 
offer all the vegetable growths of tropic and tem- 
perature regions within a few miles of each other ; 
and last, bnt not least noticeab'e we are brought to 
ccntras*! the ancient Aztec, the Spanish, and the 
more modern styles of art aid cnetoms— all side 
by tide. 
Gross ignorance and superstition Bti 1 < hold the 
lower classes io subjection. Vice and filth rqua'ly 
abound and disease of every description make strong 
inroads on the population anrjually. STinfrerp almost 
invariably baoome victims of some disease tlie fir*t 
year of their residence, and often, as in the wr.ter's 
experience, within the first morjtb of tbe : r arrival in 
the country. On the 20th of May the writer wis 
taken with a fever, and ou the 8;h of June be was 
glad to return to California to recuperate. 
— West American Scientist. 0. E. Obcutt. 
MR. EDMUND WOODHOUSE. 
Tbia gentleman, and veteran Ceylon planter, 
who has already been a great wanderer in many 
tropical lands, left by the A. II. Lloyd steamer on 
the 25th ult. for Bombay, to oross thence to Mom- 
bassa in a steamer of the East African German 
line. From Mombassa, if he has < ncourapemen*, 
Mr. Woodhouse may proceed via Kinkiyu to 
Uganda ; or, if not, he will go on to Zanzibar 
and thence proceed to the Shire Highlands and 
Blantyre. We have arranged for some letters 
from Mr. Woodhouse's pen. We should not be 
surprised to find him crossing tin Continent 
eventually, voyaging on the mighty Con«o, and 
finding his way up the West Coact to look in 
upon Mr. Ashmore and his Aburi Gardens and 
plantations in the Gold Coast Depecdency. It 
is marvellous how Mr. Woodhouse keeps his 
health; for he has now been over 33 years in 
the tropics without one change to Europe. We 
trust he may oome well out of his Afrioan 
wanderirgs or fiad a peaceful prosperous home 
on the healthful highland country. 
♦ 
PLANTING IN THE STRAITS SETTLE- 
MENTS. 
Coffee— Pepper— Gambier— Tapioca. 
Mr. K. N. Bland in bis Annual Report on the 
States of Sungei Ujong and Jelebu for 1893, s'ates : — 
Cofeee Planting. — Two blocks ot land of 1,000 
acres each were taken op duriDg the yrar for colfee 
planting — one at Sinawang, ftur miles from Seremban, 
by a syndicate represented by Messrs. Dnuman ai d 
Penny, and one at Paroi (close by) Mr. A Braddon. 
On both, planting has beea commenced. 
The Ribu Estate^ under new owners, has ereatly 
improved. The Linsum and Siliau Estates (Mr. T. 
H. Hill) continued to be prosperous. The out-tuin 
of coffee fer the year was slightly less than in 1892 
(941 pikuls agairjst 1,061 pikuls) but there was a heavy 
crop taken in just at the end ot the year, which coa'd 
not be quickly dried owing to wet weather. The are* 
in partial bearing was greater than ia 1892 by 50 
acres, I give the returns supplied to me by Mr. 
Hill, wnich speak for themselves. 
It will be notice! tbat the average crop for the 
whole area iu bearing is 5| pikuls per acre (allowing 
9 boxes to the pikul). The total export of coffee was 
Etated to be 1,007 pikuls about 40 pikuls having- been 
turned out ontwo small plantations ou the Linggi River, 
Eight applications by natives for land for planting 
coffee were made in the Coast District, aod many 
native owners both in Saogei Ujong acd Jelebu are 
beginning to make small plantations of coffee. I am 
of opinion that these effo*s should be encouraged, 
and regret that a small vote for Government eoifee 
nurseries was cut out of the 1394 Estimates. It is 
being found that L'berien coffee t I! grow on almo't 
any kind of e j;1 here. I have seen it growing on 
the spoil bauk < f an old tin mine, and, at the present 
prices, no form of agriculture ecold be more remu- 
nera'ive. The State is offtriue land in blocks op to 
5C0 acres on merely nominal term* (as io P»rak) 
subject to the condition tbat a fcurtb of tbe whole 
area must be planted witbin five year'. Thia Mm* 
bentfits little directly by tbe pio>p*rity of tbe Lin- 
' urn Estate, owing to tLe exceptional term* under 
which it is held. No rtntispaid, and at the preteut 
p ice of coffee ($13 a pikul) ti e export duty ia lees 
fan £ percent. Uod<r tbe terms now offered to 
plaoters tbe duty caucot be raised above 2} per cent 
ad valorem. 
Tapioca is grown on a number of estates owned 
and worked by Chines? along tbe ccast. Tbe export 
25,694 pikuls, is less than th«t of la«t jeir by 5,423 
pikuls— partly owing to land being worked cat, and 
partly to the breaking down of an engine. TLe total 
ana ol ltnd leased for tapioca is ab.nt 26,000 acres 
(17 esta'.e-)- A lease for 8,000 acres at Jimab »ae 
issued to Cban Kim Bok and Chan Ong Bee, men 
of oapilal and experience in tapioc* planting, on 
very easy ttrms, and preparations for <pen<ng out on 
au tx tensive scale wero made. It ia a matter of 
regret tbat in tbe majority of leases tbe txportduty 
is limited to 10 c-ots • pikul, aa should tapioea 
go up in valoc the State will not Leiufi'. There ia 
not niuoh land on tbe ocast now available io large 
blocks, and what there is should be reserved lor 
toffee. 
Gambier. — The export for the vtar amounted to 
21,419 pikuls, exceeding that of the year before 
by 2,30o pikuls. Of this 12.6&0 p.kula caroe from Lob 
Cheng EeDg'a ett te at Tanah Merah, 4,000 from 
Port Dickson and Lnkut, and 5,000 from 1'tngkalan 
Kempas and Sungei lia_\ a. 
Pepper.— The eiport for 1893 amounted to 3,872 
pikuls, an increase of 750 pikuls over 1SU2. Of tbis 
2,331 came trcm Loh Obeng Ktn/a (state at Tanah 
Merah. This estate, for tbe cultivation of gambier 
and popper, lies between Tanah Merah on the Lukot 
Biver and the Scpung Biver, the boaidary »iih 
Selangor. It covers (in Sungei Ujong) about 15,500 
acres paying an arnual rental of $1,551, in addition 
to the export duty of 30 cents a pikul on tepper 
and 15 oents on gambur. It en.ploys about 1,000 
coolies distributed in tome 52 different bangtah or 
farms. Tbe estatd is flourishing and weli managed. 
Gambier aud pepper are as a role cultivated together, 
but titers are a number of final boldmgt a ong the 
coast betwteo Lukut and Pi ngkalan Kempas culti- 
vated with gambier only by Malays, who never at- 
tempt to trow p. pper. Owing to low p ices tbe 
smail holdings bo;h for gambier and pepper w re 
not prosperous during 1893. Pepper to a certain 
extent is cultivated ou some tapioca estates, aud the 
Dato Bandar's estate at Jimnh (teased to a Ubmaman) 
turned out 102 pikuls, "Linsum" and "Ribu" turned 
out a small quantity. The export duty of 15 cents 
per pikul on pepper and 10 ce ts on gaojbier is not 
high, but it would not be advisable to increase il 
in the presei.t sta'e of the market. The State has 
been much hampered hy tbe existei ce of a cuucessiou 
granted in 1876 to a Chiuau au named Toh Eog Siew, 
and now owned by a Obin< se merchant in Singapore, 
named Seah Lang Stab. Under this 11,000 acres 
are held free of rent, and no export duty can be 
levied ou tbe pepper and gambit r exported, while 
opium is admitted at $1 a ball lees tbau fc the rest 
of the District, aud epii its. gambling and pawnbroking 
are allowed free. In spite of these advantages only 
3,000 acres have been opened up. and the export of 
both pepper and gambier litis m n steadily dimiu.ah* 
iog. Little is known of what goes ou tbis estate, 
there being no access to it from any part of tbe 
Dirtrict except up a muddy creek, aud then only at 
high tide. Fortunately the concession will expire in 
1896, and in the meantime it is proposed to connect 
it in 1894 wi:h Port Dickson aud Pengkr ltn Kempas 
by a bridle-path, 
