54* 
THIS TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Keb. i, 1895. 
countries, have spoken in the highest tenns of the 
suitability of the soil and climate of the Northern 
Territory for the growth of sugar, coffee, tobacco, 
rice, indigo, and other tropical products, and wondered 
why the lands of the country were not occupied by 
prosperous planters. 
There are, it 13 admitted by all who have visited 
the country, tens of thousands of acres of land 
suitable for cultivation on the banks of the Daly, 
Adelaide, and other rivers within easy reach of the 
coast, and with an average rainfall of from 60 in. 
to 6i> in. each season, and by the liberal provisions 
of the new Laud Act, every encouragement is given 
to agricultural settlement. At the Government 
Gardens, situated about one mile from the town of 
Palmerston, about 100 acres of land have been cleared, 
and a large portion of it brought under cultivation. 
Sugarcane, rice, tapioca, maize, oil and fibre plants 
cotton, indigo, aud hundreds of valuable tropical 
products and fruits have been successf ally cultivated 
and the curator, Mr. Holtze, is not only willing to 
give settlers every information in regard to the oest 
season and mode of cultivation of such plants as 
they may desire to raise, but is also permitted to 
supply them with plants and seeds with which to 
make a start. A visit to the Government Garden 
would convince the most sceptical that the soil aud 
climate of the Territory are eminently suited for 
the growth of nearly all the valuable commercial 
products which are so successfully grown in Java 
aud other islands of the Eastern Archipelago, and 
it is no exaggeration to say that intending settlers 
will find 011 tne banks of the rivers adjacent to Port 
Darwin many thousands of acres of land quite as well 
suited for cultivation as that which shows such ex- 
cellent results in this garden. To give some idea of 
the magnificent fertility of the soil, I append the 
following condensed account of a visit paid to the 
Government Garden by the writer of this article : — 
" The first thing to strike a visitor to the garden 
is the grand block of about ten acres of maize* 
planted only a few weeks ago, and now standing 
over 9 ft. high, with fine coos of corn just tilling 
out, In addition to the maize I noticed Kaifirm 
corn, dholl, Indian gram, sorghum, Califoruian millet, 
and nearly 200 different sorts of fodder grasses, 
most of which seem to thrive amazingly well, and a 
number of kinds of native grasses, wluch are being 
carefully tested. Next in importance to corn and fodder 
plants the large collection of fibre plants, which 
Seem to thrive in only moderate soil like a wild 
weed, seems to be of great practical value. 
"Jute or sun hemp, a fine plant which grows 
wild in the Territory, seems to require little cul- 
tivation or care, and would doubtless prove highly 
remunerative if grown upon a large scale, with suit- 
able machinery to prepare it for market. The small 
trial patch of this plant looks extremely well, being 
over 8 ft. in height, and as straight as an arrow. 
The peanut, from which the oil used in China is 
manufactured, grows like a weed, while the arecanut 
palm, coconut, sugar palm, Panama palm, from 
which valuable straw for hats is manufactured, and 
tt host of other specimens of the palm family seem 
to grow rapidly and sturdily. 
" The chili, tomato, onion, capsicum, and many 
other edible products are most prolific, while the 
pineapple, banana, papaw, and mango would pa3' to 
grow for local consumption or export, requiring 
little or no attention, and producing regular and 
large crops of fruit. A plot of land was planted 
with ben-oil trees some fourteen months ago, and 
thev now have trunks about 11 in. in diameter, aud 
are* from 10 ft. to 20 ft. in height. The ramee or 
grass cloth plant has proved highly suitable to the 
soil and climate ; a number of the shrubs planted 
only four months ago are now over 8 ft. high, and 
look wonderfully vigorous. The fibre from this plant 
is extremely valuable, and the machinery necessary 
to clean it and make it fit for the market is not 
expensive. A large number of coffee plants are being 
prepared for planting out, and a few well-grown 
frees appear to be healthy, but not as promising 
03. many of other plants, under cultivation. 
'■ Cotton is the next plant Worth noticing, and the 
varieties now being cultivated, namely. Set Island 
and upland cotton, look extremely health* and pro- 
ductive. Of course the difficulty to be encountered 
in tiie profitable n ! i 1 v.ition of cotton, although the 
plant grows readily enough. 1, th.it no suitable cheap 
colored labor is obtainable for pit kin-. Chiuese 
labor is far too expensive, and ths aborigine* will 
not work, even at light employment of this kind. 
" Rice is apparently well suited both to the soil 
and the climate; the Saigon swamp rice seeming to 
nourish well in low swampy ground. There are 
about nineteen sorts of rice under cultivation. 
Saigon swamp rice and the China hill MM are the 
two kinds which are best suited to tin* portion of 
the colony. Castor oil and tobacco grow rapidly, 
and give handsome returns for the time and labor 
expended upon them, but the tobacco must he 
carefully watched to prevent caterpillars destroving 
the leaf, and must be cured or prepared for market 
by thoroughly skilled men. That both of these 
valuable plants will grow well in the Territory has 
been amply demonstrated at the experimental garden, 
where intending planters can see quite nunicieut 
evidence to warrant them giving one or both a trial. 
Sugarcane also grows well, and the tew attempts 
which have been made to cultivate it in the Territory 
have been assisted by the planters having the ad- 
vantage of obtaining all the cane they required for 
planting from the Government Garden. The present 
patch of cane, although only second season ratoons, 
looks healthy and well advauced. 
"Theteelseed oil plant, chufa oil, and sun flower all 
appear to be of vigorous growth, while the tapioca 
and arrowroot plants are simply marvellous, towering 
to a height of b ft. to 9 ft. A mongst the numerous 
plants of commercial value with which the garden 
is planted should be added the following, all of which 
are giving the most gratifying results :— Japan clover 
(a useful fodder now being" cultivated in the southern 
colonies), chicory, carob tree. American broom com 
cinnamon, indigo, pepper, arnotto (a dve plant/, 
mirobolan (another dye plant), and dozens' of herbs 
valuable for medicinal purposes." 
In the neighbourhood of Palmerston and all the 
mining centres Chinese gardeners have cultivated 
small plots of ground, alluvial flats on the banks 
of creeks and in sheltered gullies being chosen as 
the best sites. These gardens are intensclv culti- 
vated by the Chinese, who resort to irrigation, and 
the result is that European settlers are supplied with 
abundance of fruit and vegetables at reasonable^ 
prices. 
Various planting notes. 
Tea AND Gu.un Djiyim;. —Mr. A. S. L. 
Hulett of Kearnsey, Natal, and of fame as a tea 
grower, has patented in England a machine for 
li ving grain, tea, &c. AW should doubt Mr, 
Hulett's machine being at all equal to Jack- 
son's Dryer. Davidson's Sirocco or Brown's 
Desiccator, for tea. 
'The Fi;ei; ami Happy Couuh ' i*. the 
title of an editorial in T> ittfi ol January l"th, 
in which Mr. Laboticliere dea!.< scstbmgkr, fritter 
than sympathising!* with Atk&ni tea 'planter.-. 
M ho have coolie- labouring under contract. More 
especially does lie condemn the recruiting .system ; 
but there is evidence that the Indian Govern- 
ment carefully guards the interests of the coolie, 
though ■• Labby won't accept it. 
Pook Coi-TKi-:.— Forty millions florins'* wroth 
(about £4,700,000) of coffee is sold annually in 
Austria and Hungary. According to the latest exa- 
mination of this berry by Professors VirchoW, 
Graham, Brillat-Savarin, ccc, the properties of it 
have been found— says the C. World— to account for 
the highly nervous state of the present generation 
as well as to the terribly increased rate of cases 
of madness, apoplexy and of stomach diseases, 
