3^8 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
[Nov. 1, 1900, 
great trade route has of recent years becouie 
very considerable, and as yet no belter means has 
been found for its transport than the primitive 
one ©f human carriers — men and women. Last 
year the export of coffee alone amounted to one 
thousand tons, while the imports, at a very mo- 
derate estimate, exceeded 3,000 tons. All this 
matetial has been carried on the heads and 
shoulders of native men and women, with the 
exception of what is carried on ox or mule wag- 
gons — this being a very small proportion indeed'. 
As the manager of the largest of the Transport 
Companies in the country (the African Lakes 
Corporation, Limited,) sai(l at a meeting of the 
Central African Chamber of Agriculture and Com 
merce:— "In the present state of the country 
tenga-tenga (t.t., carriers with loads on their heads) 
is the only method wliich is practicable. Bullock 
transport is twice as costly. Traction engines 
would cost double as much. . . . There were 
not the cattle in the country to perform the 
' transport work, and from his corporation's past 
experience cattle brought from the south ha<l 
always proved costly in the extreme by reason 
of deaths and other causes." It appears, then, 
that — though something' might be done by im- 
proving the roads and using lighter traction 
engines than have yet been tried — for all practical 
purposes the alternative lies between human 
labour and the railway. 
The arguments in favour of the railway have 
been frequently stated. The reasons advanced 
are briefly these:— (1) That the transport has 
become so enormous that the majority of the 
available labourers in the country are occupied 
carrying loads, while the coffee industry is 
suffering seriously for want of labour. Many 
plantations were nearly ruined last year for want 
of labourers to hoe them, and in consequence of 
this the output of coffee is expected this year to be 
only 700 tons, instead of advancing, as it should 
have done, on the 1,000 tons of last year. (2) 
That — larce as the number of carriers employed 
is — there is during several months of each year 
an almost complete block in the transport. This 
year the block has continued beyond the usual 
time, and threatens to become a permanent con- 
dition of things. The inconvenience co- the planters, 
missionaries, and others of having their goods 
lying at the river waiting, it may be, many 
months for carriers is evident. (3) That it is 
inhuman to load native carriers with such heavy 
transport. The road from the lower shire river. 
Blantyre rises 3,000 feet in less than thirty miles, 
and up this steep incline practically the whole of 
the 3,000 tons of imports, including such things 
as kitchen ranges, steamer's boilers and plates, 
and sections of iron barges, has to be carried by 
sheer human strength. 
QUININE AUCTION IN BATAVIA. 
■ The American Vice-Consul at Batavia reports as 
follows on the third Java quinine-auction of June 
27th last, held at the Merchants' Exchange : — This 
sale has been considered fairly successful, and the 
limits were mostly all realised. Beginning with 
P. N. II., packed in cases of 22-68 kilos. (50 lb), limi- 
ted in lots at 2111. per kilo, some 4,173'12 kilos 
(9,200 lb) were sold at, 21 05ii. per kilo, thus ex- 
oeedinij the limit. Offers were then inacle at 20'95fl., 
which were at first refused, upon which the limit 
was lowered, and seven lots were sold at 20'75fl. per 
kilo. This action brought forth a protest from the 
^ati jQarchasere, who baci jjrought a( (be limit 
2111. The limit of 21fl, was again asked, but lots 211 
to 300 were not sold, the bids did not reach 
the limit. P. N. II., packinj; at purchaser's option, 
4 lots were sold at 21fl. per kilo, bnt there was very 
littie demand for this unpacked article, 
P.N. III., was all sold at fair prices. Two hnn* 
dred and sixteen kilos (47ti lb) were sold at 25'40fl and 
25-45fl per kilo, and 24 kilos (52-9 lb) at 25fl per kilo; the 
limit for these lots being 25fl. Ttie limit of 2lfl 
forP. N. II. is equivalent to the unit price of O OSJA 
(3-5c) for the bark in Amsterdam. — Chemist and Britg- 
gist, Sept. 22. 

PLANTING NOTES. 
Local Products in the Home Market.— 
Coffee futures look tired for the present, and 
no decided feature. Sugar and quinine should be 
purchased. Cotton (Americaii crop) may be 9i: to 
11| millions. Coals are expected to be lower later 
on.— London Cor., Sept. 14. 
New Tea Machinery.— Mr. Jackson is 
again to the front as an inventor and on 
page 322 will be found a description of 
a patent clip-action tea breaker and equaliser 
which he has just brought out, and details 
of its advantages. 
Preservation of the New Zealand Snipe. 
— It is urged by Sir James Hector that every 
efforts should be made to preserve the New 
Zealand snipe which was becoming very rare 
indeed. This bin!, he says, is one of the smartest 
game birds that could be got. It retained all the 
characteristics of the English snipe, flew away in a 
zigzag manner, was dithcult to shoot and afforded 
capital sport, — Auckland News, Sept. 7. 
Banana and Plantain. — Considerable con- 
fusion seems to exist regarding the identity of 
these two fruits, yet the case is quite clear. Musa 
sapientum gives us the banana, while the fruit 
of M. paradisaica (or as it is now generally 
regarded M. sapientum var. paradisaica) is known 
as the plantain., The majority of the large " bana- 
nas " which reach our maikets from Cuba are, 
says American Gardening, the yield of this latter 
plant, and hence are really plantains. The true 
banana, which, by the bye, has a number of 
varietal forms differing in size, colour and quality, 
has been pushed out by the larger fruit of the 
plantation, though the quality of this is decidedly 
inferior to that of the best biinanas. It is the old 
story of size versus quality. The plaintain is 
7-14 inches in length, produced 40-80 to the bunch, 
in form cylindrical, acutish and of a yellovv colour : 
the flesh is firm and not specially sweet, and 
writers of authority on tropical fruits say it is not 
very good unless cooked. The true type of banana 
is 3-4 inches in length, lTV2-inches in diameter, 
about 50 fruits to a bunch. The fruit is rounded 
above, narrowed lo a sessile base and bright yellow 
in colour. So far good, our distinctions are pretty 
well marked, but there arises a new complication 
in what is known as the Jamaica banana or 
Martinique variety, which is perhaps the one 
chiefly imported to this country. It is much like 
the plaintain, but smaller, 7-8 inches long and it 
has excellent shipping qualities. The plant is 
regarded as a sub-variety of paradisaica, hence we 
are confronted with this relationship : The plaur 
tain is a variety of banana, and a variety of the 
plantain again is a banana ! [Banana and Plantain 
are, in our opinion, synonymous terms. — Ed^ 
I.G.diP.-] [In the East, but not in the Westi 
