Sept. 1, 1900.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
185 
state of Vera Cruz, Mexico, to be devoted to the 
planting of India-rubber and other tropical pro- 
ducts. 
The Nicaragua Rubber and Agricultural Co., 
incorporated in Delaware, September 26, with 
§250,000 capital, own 8,105 acres of land in Nicara- 
gua, purchased with a view to planting India- 
rubber and bananas or other fruits, on the Rio 
Coco, 80 miles inland from Cape Gracias. They 
offer to sell shares of stock, each to carry a cer- 
tain amount of land planted with rubber and 
fruits, to be paid for in instalments. 
The Isthmus Plantation Association of 
Mexico has been organized at Milwaukee, Wis., 
for the development of the lands known as the 
Hacienda del Corte, on the isthmus of Tehuante- 
pec. The estate comprises 10,000 acres, and it is 
reported that 200,000 coffee trees and 40,000 India- 
rubber {CnstHloa dastica) trees have been planted. 
The Chiapas Rubber Plantation and investment 
Co., described as an American corporation, is men- 
tioned in a letter from the city of Mexico as 
owning 12,335 acres of fine rubber lands in the 
Bio Michal valley, in the state of Chiapas, and 
having planted more than 3,000 acres in 
rubber. 
The Government of Peru announces that con- 
cessions for rubber lands cannot be transfei-red 
without the concessionaires having obtained con- 
sent of the national authorities.— /)ifZire-i?(t&&£7- 
World. 
GOLD REEFS IN BURMA. 
Of the reefs with payable gold referred to 
in today's Government Resolution on the Geo- 
logical Survey Department as discovered in 
Burma, the first is the Choufcpazat Reef, in 
the Wuntho District, which has several asso- 
ciated veins besides a second reef half a mile 
to the north, and two veins of 900 yards to 
the noi'th-east. Mr. Stonier finds it contains 
some free gold which can be extracted by 
simple machinery. Part of it is already being 
worked, the vein stone giving in all 14 dwts. 
of gold to the ton. The second is the reef 
discovered by Mr. Stonier about 14 miles 
north of Baumauii. It consists of quartz 9 
ins. thick and where tested contains 9 dwts. 
of gold per ton of soil, also about 2 per cent of 
caliper.— Madras Mail, Aug. 27. 
COFFEE IN QUEENSLAND. 
Though tliis, like rice, is grown upon the coast 
side of the main range from Gooktown to the 
Tweed Heads, the tendency is towards cultivation 
in the tropics, where plantations are now being 
cultivated upon a commercial scale. It has only 
been within the last tliree years that the interest 
shown in this product has demanded the atten- 
tion of the Registrar-General from a statistical 
point of view, but from that time the increase 
in area has each year shown a fair advance. 
Taking the last two years for an example, it will 
be found that in 1897 there were ISOj acres of pro- 
ductive coffee trees and 130| of non-productive, 
and in 1898, 199 acres and 233 acres respectively. 
The figures show an evident advance in the area 
planted, and the information to hand points to the 
statistics of the present year |being yet more 
favourable. The imports for 1898 were 170,8861b., 
and upon that basis there is room for the use of 
602 acres before we overtake our consumption, 
which, upon the present population of 498,.523, is 
at tlie rate of 456 lb. of coifee per head each year. 
The market in Europe, however, is good, and 
though we may not yet have learned how to offer 
our goods in the most attractive manner, the 
pginign expressed by the trade in London upon 
Queensland coffee is very favourable, and by the 
time we are in a position to place a fair quantity 
for export that method of preparing our coffee 
will haye been attained, and we shall be able to 
compete with those countries wherein coffee-grow- 
ing has been prosecuted for centuries. The 
appointment of Mr. Newport as instructor in 
coffee culture has given an impetus to this- branch 
of tropical agriculture, and as he has also an 
intimate knowledge of what may be termed allied 
products, such as spices, the benefits to the 
farmers of the North will be greater than was 
anticipated. The death of Mr. E Cowley, and the 
exigencies of the Diseases in Plants Act at 
Cairns has precluded Mr. Newport, up to the 
present, from giving that attention to instruction 
he would have wished, for the reason that he was 
retained in Cairns to supervise the nursery, and 
to attend to the inspection of fruit. Arrange- 
ments have, however, now been made to release 
him from that detention, and his services will 
henceforth be at the command of the coffee- 
grower. A report from him upon this subject is 
attached herewith. 
PEPPER CULTIVATION IN MALABAR. 
Pepper (^Pj>er nir/niiii) is grown in Java, Sumatra, 
Ceylou and oilier Asiatic countries, but that which 
comes from the iVlalabar coast is acknowledged to 
be the best. Xhe only talaqs in Malabar in which 
pepper cultivation is largely carried on are Kottyam 
and Kiirucnbranad. The conditions most favourable 
to pepper cultivation are said to be copious rains 
abuuJiint dew in the uight, and a gravelly red soil! 
These are touad in other parts of Malabar, so it 
is not understood why the cultivation is chiefly con- 
fined to these two taluqs. Two varieties of pepper 
are produced in iVlalabar— the black and the white. 
The fruit is gathered green when intended' 
for black pepper, but must become quite ripe 
for white pepper. Wlnte pepper differs from the 
black only m being stripped ot its covering. After 
strippiug them, the black berries are steeped in salt 
water, and when they ha^e been exposed to the 
sun for several days the chaff is rubbed off with 
the hands. The process of cultivation is very sim- 
ple. The vine is generally propagated by cuttiugs. 
it IS usually planted at the base of trees, the most 
commonly used beiug IIunMu (Erythrina ludica) ; 
other trees, such as the jack, cashewnuc and mango- 
tree may also be used, but they are not in favour 
with the Malabar cultivators. 
The first thing required for forming a pepper 
garden is to clear all jungle and rooi; out all stumps 
of trees on^ the ground. This must be done by the 
middle of May. Xhe Muriklcu standards, on which 
the vine is trained, should then be planted aud about 
half a dozen cuttings of vine — each about 2^ feet 
in length — should be planted at the foot of each 
Btem. The soil should then be turned up by dig- 
ging, aud the cuttings tied with a fibre on to the 
lUurikbu crop. The tying is necessary to facilitata 
the growth of the vine, which sends out small roota 
at every joint, which strike into the Munhhii stem 
and enable the vine to climb up the prop. In three 
or four years the vine attains a height of six feet. 
The vines begin to bear in the third or fourth 
year, and in four years more are in full perfection 
and continues so for 20 year.s when they die. TJiey 
blossom about the mouth of June, and begin to bear 
fruit in the following two months. The gathering 
season is January to March. The plant re- 
quires constant rains during the blossoming season. 
T'ne expenses of cultivation incidental to farmino' 
and maintaining pepper plantations are variously 
stated. Hut io may be stated approximately that a 
plantation of one acre will not cost more than R300 
together with an annual expenditure of Bio for its 
upkeep. The outturns of the pepper harvest are also 
variously stated. The yield ranges from one 
