Oct. i, 1894.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
249 
doors in the bottom supported by chains. The car- 
riage is run over a hopper containing gliding doors 
so that either of the tour bins may be fillet. — 
Indian Engineer, Aug. 25. 
THE AMSTERDAM BARK SALES. 
The Oincbo:'a-tark ea'es to be held io Ami-terdam 
cn August 30th will corsist of 355 rases and 4,451 
la'es (ai'out 423 tons) divided as follows :— From 
Government plantations, 67 case' and 231 bnles (about 
28 tors) ; from private p'ant'tioos 28S casts and 
4,220 bales (abent 395 tons.) This quantity contains 
of druggists' bnrk: Succirabra quills 11 bales 296 
o-ses ; succi ubra broken quills and chips 150 bales 
59 cases; 6uccirnbra rost 5bal.s. Of manufacturing 
bark : Ledgeriana broken quil's and obips 3,i02bales; 
Lecgeriaua root 809 bales ; officinalis broken qnills 
an 1 chips 10 baits; hybrids broken quills and chips 
350 bales; hybrids root 14 bales. — Chemist and Druggist. 
COFFEE CULTIVATION IN THE BLUE 
MOUNTAINS : JAMAICA. 
I rpached Oechr Hurst shortly after noon and 
Bocomp»uied by Mr. Francis, I visited his Coffee 
Planta'.ion. Fortunately the gathering of the crop 
was in full progress tt tbe tunc and I had au op- 
portunity of carefully cbserving this operation. The 
crop is gathered by uier>, women and children, who 
deposit tbe ripe berries in bags or baskets when 
picked. One very noticeable feature is the skilful 
way in which the negroes cirry tbe basket 3 , &c. on 
their beads. This is of treat advantage on such 
occasions as the present because icsteid of being 
obliged to usa one band to move the basket both 
are avoi'atle for picking the fruit. At the end of 
the (Uy all the cotfee is brought into the rec iving- 
house, wtere it is measured and the pickers pa ; d in 
proportion to tbe quantity they have gathered. If 
labourers are plentiful 1/ per tub is the price usually 
paid. Sometimes a woman nill pick as much as a 
tub and a quarter io the day, but this is exceptional. 
Extreme wachfuln>ss is necesfary on the part cf 
those who supervise the picking gangs, as there is 
a tendency to fill up with green berries. When how- 
ever, this is deteoted, the defaulter is severely 
reprimanded and a deduction is made from his or 
her earnings. A tub of tewly picked coffee ehould 
produce half a tub of parchmeut effee or about 20 
pounds of marketable coffee. Befoie leaving this 
part of the Bubj ct I might mention that whilst going 
round this e.-date I had a clear illustration of the 
imprudence cfal'owing the tree to grow to a greater 
he'gbt than say fix, tr at the most seven feet. The 
tr.es in many instances have not bceo topped, but 
have been permitted to grow as high as eight or ten 
fret. In order to reach the berries the pickers a:e 
obliged to pull down the branohes, and the conee- 
queuce is that the topmost ones are frequently broken 
and the tree itself very murh injured. On the whole 
the tries en the Cedar Hurst Estate were bearing 
heavily and appeared to be in a healthy ar d flourishing 
condition. Some estates in the Blue Mountains of 
Jamaioa produca as much as 100 tierces of coffee 
annally. A tierce is equal to 800 lb. so that tho total 
pioduce is 80,000 lb. and the ooffee realises from 
115/ to 120/ or 130/ per cwt.— Report of Mr. Crowther, 
Curator, Botanic Station, Gold Coast Colony. 
MIGHTY TREES. 
For the paBt fifteen years the Naval Dockyards 
have been partly supplied with a timber brought 
from the Antipodes. Thus under beneficent Free 
Trade the Britain of the South sends its substitute 
for oak to the Britain of the North, sixteen thou- 
sand miles away. It is largely usod for spars and 
yards ; and as masts for the largest war ships has 
been found superior to all others. The tree 
yitldiog a wood so favourably known to trade 
aud. naval experts, is the kauri (Duammaia Aus- 
tralia). Confined to a very restricted area ; it 
flourishes only in the northern part of New Zealand 
— chiefly in that narrow peninsula tapering off to 
a bold headland — and is the undisputed sove- 
re ; gn of th9 Australasian foreBt. No other tree 
can approach it in grandeur of proportion or 
in impressiversess, when, as one of a class, 
it holds its own over stretches of country hundreds 
of miles in extent. Unlike the pires of the Old 
World, it has no needles, but masses of small 
pinnate leaves of an olive-green colour, and in 
the early spring tiny white blossoms. In the 
au'umn the branches are loaded with apple-shaped 
cones. When towering singly or in a group above 
the mixed bush it repels tbe undergrowth and 
wanton parasites on every side, the limits of its 
sway being marked by a bare, round patch of 
brown earth. As a rule, however, it grows in 
forests sacred to its own spscies. In Auckland 
Provinoe there is, or was, a wood extending over 
hill and dale, mountain and gully, for fully 500 
miles, and further south there are others of hardly 
less area. The trees stand close together, not 
branohing out until near the top. The diameter 
at base measures from 30ft, to 60ft., attaining 
a height of frem 100!t. to 130ft. before it 
Bhows a single bough. The boles of quite 
young trees are often 20ft. in girth, and 100ft. 
in height, while soma patriarchs soar up straight 
as a larch to clcse on 200 ft. Above this magni- 
ficent pedestal spread the leafy crowns, interlacing 
with one another until daylight can only enter in a 
dim subdued fashion, as if afraid of intruding. When 
compared with the titan r c dimensions of the stick, 
however, the boughs appear small and insignifioant, 
and never d sp'ay the graceful curves and noble 
dome of an English oak or elm. A kauri grove once 
seen oan never be forgotten. To walk between 
its mighty pillars, smooth and dark a3 ebony 
uniform in a?e and height, and burried in a 
perennial twilight and a sileDce, that the wildest 
storms only disturb by the merest ripple ot 
sound, awekens a feeling of awe. Mile upon 
mile they stretch into distance in a majestic 
procession, which follows every irregularity in 
the land. Tbe monotony and stillness are 
absolute, Sounds of animal life are never 
heard. The contented droning of insects, and 
glad singing of bird?, are as vigorously excluded 
as the sunshine. The kauri reigns supreme in its 
own domain. Nor is the luxurious uneler-growth 
of the bush tolerated — no palms or tree ferns, no 
shrubs or orchids, none of the beautiful parasites 
which make the mixed woods so enohanting ; 
nothing but a living carpet of delicate maiden* 
hair. But to bring home to the mind the stupen- 
dous size of the kauri it must be compared with 
the largest trees in these islands. In England 
there are several elms 70 ft. high and 30 ft. in 
girth j oaks 80 ft. high and 40 ft, in girth ; and in 
Scotland there is an ash 90 ft. high 8nd 19 It. 
in girth. But these are regarded as extraordinary, 
and grow in solitary grandeur. The average girth 
of a tree in Britain is not more than 12 ft., or 
the average height above 60 ft. But in New Zea- 
land there are miles of kauris whose average 
height is not less than 100 ft. and whose girth 13 
not less than 30 ft. 
A tree somewhat similar to it in appearance, 
but not so valuable in a commercial sense, isi 
fourd in the Fiji Islands, a fact ascertained by 
Captain Cook in his several visitB to the South 
Seas. He then pronounced the kauri pine superior 
to Norway pine, a judgment which has sinoe 
been abundantly verified. Not only is it a souroa 
oj wealth to the Co'ony — the value of the esport 
I trade averaging 170,7327. a year— but it ia uset^ 
