252 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Oct. j, 1894. 
The preeent is but a prelimimry and tentative 
meisare, but as it proves a euccess (<nd we havegood 
reasoi to think thai it is already proving this) the tea 
asfociatiens, both in London and Calcutta, will, it is 
bel eved, heartily co-opeiate in more extensive op ra- 
tions, aud will arrange for ten times three thousand 
pounds if reqairtd.-Y.jurs obediently, 
" Anglo-Indian " 
COFFEE PLANTATIONS ON THE GOLD 
COAST, WEST AFRICA. 
Oo my arr val at Cape Coast I went to see Mr. 
Bitty, Me«srs. Miller Brother* aud Co.'s Agent, 
who kindly gave me qn»rters for tLe night an I the 
next day I proceeded to Elmina to vi-it Mr. Hutcliiu- 
Bon's coffee planUtioD. Mr. Hutchinson calculates 
that h<5 has about one buiidie ! ai,d fifty acree planted 
with Lbtriao Coffee, and that he h-s planted out 
sixty thousand pLnts. The tre;s a-e in a ve y 
beelthy and flourishing oonH'ion, aod rua iy whicU 
have o ly b;tn planted a year and a half are already 
bearing a very fiue ciop of ooffee. The trees on 
this plantation a e in throe stages ; viz. 1st— 1 here 
ar0 a number of tr.es which were planted in May 
1889 Th se trees are about five and a half feet hi*!', 
aod ere compact, busby plants: bearirg a b; 1 uclid 
crop of coffee, some <f which was ripening at tLe 
time of my visit. 2nd — A large area was planted in 
May 1890. These have g'0»n well and almost all of 
them are bearing a firjt crop of collee. Tb'B sr,e;ks 
very well tor the suitabi'ity of the soil and tiluitiou 
for coffee planting, as io Liberia aid otber places 
wLere this variety of ceffae is g'own, planters never 
exptct the trets to Lear until they are the e y<ars old. 
3 r j_The rema ; nder of the tr< e», which comprise 
the gree.ter part of the plmtation v ere planted in 
May of last year and ou the whole aro growing satis- 
factorily. Owing tot'ie excessive drymss of the lost 
season trie mortality amongst the plant i has been 
rathor excels 'v.-, but that cau bj easily remedied by 
filliog up the vacancies duringthe comm^ rainy season 
With good robust p'anls. The p'an a'ion is in a v< ry 
creditable aud fl -urishing conditio n. The workisdcn^ 
IV a tans if s^vtnfy Krooboys and the land is kept 
In good order aud free from weeds. Mr. Hutohiu.on 
seems to thoroughly understind the w rk and has 
every cooti lence in the ult mate succe s of the under- 
taking The text morning on my way from Elmina 
to Messrs. Milder Brothers' planta'ioa at Kuby Kul, 
I was asked to visit n coffi e plantation belonging to 
Mr Ter Meulen who accompanied me himself. This 
plantation is about twenty-five acres in extent and 
conti t of about five thousand p'an's, all of which 
look very healthy. Many of the trees, which are 
nbout three years of age, are bearing an immenee 
crop of cofLe and others of two years' growth are also 
bearing. Mr. Ter Meulen informed me that he his 
hern unable to rersonally sop :rintend bis plantation 
as much aB he would hava liked, and consequently it 
had been rather neglected. After spending an hour 
or two go'ng over the plantatnn and directing Mr. 
Ter Meulen as to the best meens of carrying on the 
work I proceeded on my way to Messrs. Miller Bros.' 
plantation at Ku* y Kul where I arrived at 12-30 p.m. 
Mr Ttr Meulen proposes to extend his coffee planta- 
tion very coneid rably, and is now raising a large 
quantity of young plants for that purpose; Heisve-y 
energetic about the matter and very sanguine as to the 
results Mr. Batty met me at Kuby Kul, aod a 'ter 
restinsz'a short lime, I commenced to go over this plan- 
tation along with him. I should calculate that the 
area of this plantation is between one hunarei and 
thirtv ana one hundred and fifty acres in extent. 
The land is undulating and the soil a black mould 
and very rich and I should eay remarkably well 
adapted for the caltvationof coffee and coco^. The 
trees here are much more luxuriant in growth than 
those at the other plantations mentioned. This may 
be accounts for by extra rainfa 1 and humidity 
experienced here. Mr. Batty has planted hi. coffee 
Dlauts foutteen feet apart, which oonsidenng the growth 
lUy have already made, does not seem, $oo muca. 
The growth of some of the tree* on this plantation is 
•Imi et incedible. Many of them have grown ae maeh 
as five feet iu o t year and the foliage is of great 
s ze and wo t luxuriant. Besides ooffee, Mr. Batty 
has alto planted cacao on an exttntive scale. Tbia 
valuable produot seems to thrive equally as well as 
coffee, (be plant* which I saw, being in a healthy 
and fiouii«h<n^ condit-ou e-peca!ly the ones 'applied 
from the Botinical Station at Aburi, during the 
previous year. The cocoa is planted at distances of 
thirteen feet iipart and ehaded with plaintaua and 
banana*, which answer the purpose admiral ly To- 
I ujco was also being tried by Mr. Batty. He bad 
alont 2,500 plat ts each of the Uavannah and Sumatra 
varieties They were well grjwn plant* with enormous 
leaves of a good texture, and if the operation of cur- 
ing has been successful nhou'd pro lace a roo! market- 
able article. In my report for the period end.d the 
30th June, I o> .<•<>.■ : to mention, in ooi u otion with 
tny vis.! to the ca-ao aj>) coffee plaotat ona at t'ape 
Coast and Elmina, the corf- c pii ntatio i of M r . Kuofi 
at Cape Coas*. It was au overs got on my pari for 
which I am very scrry as Mr. Ku 6 was moat Kind 
ml hrs; i'nble to n e on the occasion of my vial'. 
Mr. Kn.fi'- pUnia'ioo wh : ch is eitnated a ebort die- 
tu ce fro ii Cap" Coast was in a very clean aid fljur- 
isliicg ocdition, many of tbe trees were bearing a 
goo) cop and coffee and altogether tbe plantation 
ehowed signs of care and atten'ioi and I lave i o 
doubt will tnru out a success. Io Mr. Kuob'e p'ao- 
taiiou 1 no'iced several fi< e trees of the valuable 
rubber produoing tree celled Man lios Ulaxiovii " 
this t ee is of . ry rapid growth ia well worth cal- 
tiva'iug as it is tl.e source of the valuable rubber 
railed " Ceava Scrap," Tbe land in front of the 
House and extending to tbe Akropong road has been 
coir pi- tely planted with Li'- ran coffee. Al-o a sm*ll 
plantation of Arabian coffee cm istmg of three 
hundred p aire baa b en laid down. Tma variety of 
coffee is grown r*iher extensively by thenaivre in 
this district and thrives ex r medy we'l. I obtaioed 
the plants from the Kev. A. \V. Clerk in exchange 
for cacao plants. W. Cbowtheb. 
INDIAN PATENTS. 
Calcutta, the I6U1 Aitgust 1891. 
Applicationa in respect of the undermentioned in- 
ventions have been fi ed dn-ing the week ending 11th 
August 1894:- 
Apfaratus fob Testing Sands —No. 228 of 1891. 
— James Prica Cleghorn, Esejut:ve Engineer, Publio 
Works Deparlmen v , Bengal, at present residing is 
No. 2, Fear > Bagan, Ballyguoge, for an apparaius 
for testing sands used for building purposes. — Indian 
Engineer. 
Tea-planting Extensions in India — While, 
on the ooe band, we read of the Assam acd 
Jokai Companies as refraining from making additions 
(o their planted acreage this year, on the other, 
we find the following in The Planter of Aug. 3rd: — 
A Surma Valley surveyor who is busy staking a 
large opening out writes : — " It is no easy matter to 
keep the staking aheid of some tbree or four hundred 
peop'e planting ; twenty acres a day is barely in it ; 
and as the land is slightly rolling and intersected by 
streams and khals one his a lot of trouble. What 
very greet strides are now being made in this industry ? 
Iu November last there was not a stxk of l'ungle cat, 
and now as I writs there are four hundred acres 
planted and drained and with r.ads laid out. "With 
fair weather seven hundred acres should be out by the 
end of Aegust, and all thoroughly well planted too. 
The opening out of a five hundred acre garden in one 
year would nave been considered simply madness ten 
years ago. Vfe have been eDjoyin? lovely weather 
for planting. The Chittagong-Assam railway runs 
quite close to this estate and shonld be a great boon, 
in the nay of obtaining labour and stores, 
