THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Oct. t, 1894. 
in Java has thus the benefit of placing hie 
Capital on a .sterling basis, hut he misses 
the advantage gained by the Indian colonist 
in financing for his crops with the aid of a 
low exchange. 
Here for the present we take leave of the 
country which Wallace, writing in I860, des- 
cribed (in one of three similar outbursts) as 
" that noble and fertile island — the very ear- 
"den of the East, and perhaps upon the whole 
" the richest, the best cultivated, and the best 
"governed tropical island in the world.' 1 S. 
P.S. — It will interest some of our Planters to 
add that 
CACAO PLANTING 
receives a good deal of attention, and the quality 
produced ranks high in value, though the 
quantity exported is less from Java than from 
Ceylon. Our Ceylon friends have commenced to 
open a Cacao Plantation in East Java. The 
following are the recent exports viz ; — 
1890 = 824.3 Piculs of 136 lb. 
1891 = 5751 „ „ 
1892 = 5029 ,, ,, 
1893 = 8457 ,, ,, 
The Java 
COFFEE CROPS 
for 1894 are estimated at 312,910 Piculs Govern- 
ment Account and 446,250 Piculs Private Estates, 
AN INSECTICIDE. 
Dr. George Watt and some tea planters in 
Northern India are beocming interested in a new 
insectioide, to whioh we drew the attention of 
the Director of the Peradenija Gardens. Dr. 
Trimen in reply says :— " It I can get time I shall 
certainly try the effect of an it fusion of Adhatoda 
on inseot life. The plant is not uooommon in the 
lowcountry here, but I know it generally as a 
oultivated hedge-plant in native gardens. The 
names in Sinhalese are ' Agaladara ' and ' Wana- 
epala ;' the Tamil name is ' Adhatodai ,' from 
whioh the botanioal name is derived. In India 
it is known by the English as the ' Malabar 
Nut,' a name not used here, 'ihe leaves have 
a slightly bitter taste and the plant is u-ed in 
native medicine in bronchial attacks and especially 
in children's ooughs." 
PLANTING IN TRAVANCORE. 
THROUGH SOUTHERN INDIA — DROUGHT — 
IRRIGATION WORKS— COTTON MILLS. 
Messrs. John and Joseph Fraser have returned 
recently after a very pleasant trip through a large 
portion of the Travancore Hill regions as well as 
Madura and Tinnevelly. They first went to Tin- 
nevelly by rail, thence by bullock- transit to Pal- 
lamcotta and thence by horses up to the estates of 
their friend Mr. Valentine where they found fine 
soil and good tea and coffee, but an irregular 
labour supply — a flood at one time, and a famine 
at another.— Coming back to the Eaet, Messrs. 
Fraser next found their way to North Travancore. 
They visited Mr. Payne who is cultivating on the 
old Ceylon style, too generally neglected in 
Southern India ; and afterwards got into the 
district (from 5,000 to 8,000 feet elevation) which 
has been lately coupled with the enterprise of Sir 
John Muir's Company. The land is there and the soil 
is unquestionably magnificent; but the difficulties 
of labour and outlet or transport are so great 
that Messrs. Fraser do not anticipate that any 
great extent could be opened and culiivated with 
tea for five or even ten years to come. At pre- 
sent, cinchona which requires little labour is chiefly I 
attended, to by Baron £)e Rosenberg and others. » 
The Ghauts are represented as terribly steep 
and the difficulties iu getting up or d wo 
us very great. 'ibtre was bcawy rain all aloug ihe 
r«nges; but in returning via Madart, the lo» country 
was Buffering from drought. Mcs i», Fraser visit* d 
the tights at M*dnra, and aUo intpeced a Cottou 
Mill wliich is paying well, maKiog yarn onlv . tol 
tl en •.tive roil -worhere who give 10 hbur« a d'y, are 
con-er.it with one fa, am of wage* for the *arxe. 
Al'ogethrr the trip ha* be<u a very pleasant on*, 
though the " crossing" to Colombo was very much 
the opposite. 
TEA IN HAWAII. 
Tiie cultivation of tea in Hawaii is said to be merely 
a matter of planting it and keeping down weeds at/j 
that there ih no need of tbe heavy expenditure neces- 
sary iu C<?ylon for roads, raiue, etc., aud their up- 
keep, not mentioning everlasting lertilizing. Oue 
optimistic individual feels a*6 Q : e I, that wim ihe 
belier crops that are already prornitiLg Hawaii can 
inak« as good a thing oat of tea as tueyare doii-g 
in Ceylon. "If," he Bays, "our la'jor costs three time, 
as muob, I kuow that a Jap if he wants to can do 
twice as much iu trn hours a- a Ceylon coolie is 
physically capable of."— Amtri can Qrocir. 
NUTMEG CULTIVATION IN GRENADA. 
The Btllevue Estate in 1,000 feet above the 
level of the sea. Near the house is a nutmeg 
plantation, which covers an area of about ten aortt 
ihe trees are SO to 40 ytars old of great and 
productiveness, and at the time of my visit were 
tearing a very heavy ciop. Nutmegs are aso 
gr, wu in other parts of the Estate, but the trees 
are much younger, aud do not appear to be sop, o- 
uuolive as the oloer treea. On the estates in UienjJy 
the cultivation of nutmtg and cacao is generaly 
carried oo at the same tim e, as the seme coLoitiou 
are lavourable to both. Tbe tutmrg requires a rich 
wuil-drained soil, a ra nfall of 70 or 60 incuee. a fairly 
hot climate, and a position thelter.d fr^m stiong 
win is. There are different methods of Legim ing a 
Nutmeg Plantation. In eome cases ths plants are 
rai»ed in Nurseries or bamboo potB, and then trans- 
planted ; iu others, the steda are at once sown 
where it is intended the trees snail grow permanently. 
In tbo lat:er ca'e the trees begin to bear eatlitr 
than in the former. Wuh respect to planting, there 
are various opini' ns as to tte oistince which 
should intervene between each tree; but, so far 
as I could learr, tic Be planting is advantageous, 
as the ttees afford shelter to each other, and grow 
more quickly. If they bee, me overciowoed tbeycan 
easily be thinned. The trees may safely be planted at 
a distance of frcm 20 to 30 feet. The sex of a nutmeg 
tree is cot declared until it flowerB, which is 
usually four or five years alter planting, and a? it ia 
Lecessary that there should be a proportiou of one 
male tree to 10 or 12 female trees, two or three trees 
should be planted close together to provide for the 
exigencies of ditpioportion. It is usually six or seven 
years before a nutmeg tree begiLB to produce, and it 
then continues to increase in value for some years to 
come. Before depositing the nuts in the begs aLd 
baskets, the labourers who gather them carefully take 
off the mace which surrounds the shell and place it in a 
separate receptaoie. Both the nuts and mace are 
then carried away and dried. Ne ther the nuts nor 
the mace must be dried in the sun, nor is any Bpecially- 
construoted building requited. All that is necestary 
is that it should be oried gradually in an ordinary 
building which is perfectly dry. When the nuts are 
thoroughly dried the shell is cracked with a small 
wocden mallet, and the kernel or nutmeg is taken out; 
the nutmegs are then arranged according to size, and 
packed in small wooden boxes for exportation. After 
it is thoroughly dried the mace is also packed tightly 
in boxes aud exported at the same time. The yie.d of 
mace is about one-fifth of the weight of the nutmegs,— 
Mr. Crgivther's Report, ° *< 
