466 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Jan. 1 190L 
A NEW GREEN TEA-ILOLLER. 
It is stated that a well-known fii iu of Calcutta 
engineers will shortly introduce to the industiy a 
new leaf rollei', which has been designed by Mr. 
Pertnan, an experienced Assam euoineer planter. 
The machine will be called the "Express," ap- 
parently the name is justilied in view of the lact 
that 300 lb of s;reen leaf caii'be e*Kciently rolled 
in about 20 minutes. The new roller in circular in 
shape, occupies a sjiace of about •! feet squaie only, 
and last, but not least, the cost will proiiably work 
out less than that of other existinsi rollers. — 
Planter, Nov. 17, 
BRAZIL COFFEE NOTES. 
The steamer "Dacia" which left Santos on tlie 
21st lilt, carried 100,020 bags of coffee. This is said" 
to be the largest cargo of coffee that has ever been 
shipped from the port of Santos. 
To a circular of the state gnvernment of S Paulo 
asking for estimatps of the coffee crop for the year 
1900-1901 answers have been received from 71 munici- 
pal districts, whose production is estimated at 
3,643, 867 bags. From 92 municipal districts no 
answers have jet been received. We presume that 
in those that have been reported the most important 
coffee-producing districts in the state are included — 
Bio News, Oct. 2. 
UOANOA: A PARADISE FOR COFFEE; 
COTTON, RUBBKR, EBONY, TIMBER, AND OTHER 
PRODUCTS. 
Coffee grows wild over all the more hilly districts 
of the Uganda Protectorate. When properly prepared 
it has a delicious flavour, and is quite fit to be put on 
the market as gathered from the wild bushes. Coffee 
yields the most encouraging results under cultivation. 
Mr. Whyte is of opinion (and from the little I know 
I agree with him) that the Kingdom of Uganda and 
the adjoining districts of Busoga, Unyoro, and Torn 
are destined to be great coffee-producing countries. 
The soil, the water supply, and the abundance of shade 
from forest offer conditions and advantages rarely 
present in equal force. Local labour is almost as 
cheap as in British Central Africa; but, of course to 
make coffee-growing possible as a commercial enter- 
prise, the railway must be completed to the lake, and 
steamers on the lake must gather up the oofl'ee crops 
for transport to the rail-head and thence to Mombasa. 
Given the railway and the steamers, and I think no 
other part of tropical Africa could compete with 
Uganda as a coffee-country, 
(Jotton grows wild, or half wild, in many places, and 
is to some extent cultivated in the Nile Province, 
chiffiyonthe sites of Emin Pashas former settle- 
ments. It is of good quality an^ long staple, but, 
except for local purposes, it is oot worth consideration, 
as it would probably never pay to export it over the 
railway to the coast. 
The castor-oil plant grows abundantly, and the oil 
which is very easily obtained by crushing, is very 
useful for lubricating purposes. 
Sesamum seed=; yield good oil. They are met with 
here and there in Uganda, but not so abundantly as in 
British Central Africa. 
Rubber f chiefly from two species of Landholphia, 
from a Jicun and perhaps from a tree called scienti- 
fically Tahtr luv iiioniuHa), is probably abundant in 
every thicket of the Protectorate below 5,000ft. in 
altitude. Rubber will probably become a veiy im- 
portant item of the Uganda expo ts ; but at present 
time, although the natives know of its existence, and 
of the trees which produce it, they make little or 
00 effort to collect it for .sale, 
The ebony trees {Diospyros) grows in the western 
forests, where also the camwood {Ilaplila) is found. 
A common tree in Uganda is the " incense " tree, 
the constantly exuding gum of which is the principal 
ingredient in increase. I do not remember to have 
seen this tree growing in such numbers in any other 
part of Africa, or for it to be so easy to obtain its 
delicious-smelling gum. As a matter of fact, when 
ever one wishes to fumigate a house or room, and 
to replace the mustiuess of these dwellings by an 
agreeable odour, one hus only to send a native servant 
to a short di.stance to scrape the exudations off the 
intense tree and place these on hot charcoal, and 
a delicious smell of incense at once arises. 
I should certainly thick that the splendid timber 
which can be obtained from the Mau forests would 
be an important article in the f uti.re exports of Uganda. 
This timber will be derived from tnree conifers— 
a juniper, and two species of Podocarpus- I do 
not suppose that this timber would be worth export- 
ing to England, but it would certainly vie with 
Scandinavian timbers on the East Coast of Africa, 
and even perhaps in India, the more so as it is said 
to be left untouched by the white ant. 
All the southern half of the Uganda Pro- 
tectorate to the south of the 2nd degree of north 
latitude is a country of forests. The forests of ihe 
Mau-Plateau, Mount Elgou, and the Suk Hills 
resemble in appearance more the woodlands of a 
temperate country. The trees belonging either to 
genera or epecies found in Cape Colo'ny, or else— 
and to a considerable degree— in the lorest of Abys- 
sinia. Some of this— so to speak— Abyssinian forest 
has rather a European look, ani, no doubt, has 
European affinities. On the other hand, the forest 
of fJusoga, Uganda, and Torn are essentially West 
African. 
All their great timber trees— African teak, Oldelan- 
cUa, Biospyros, Parkia, Parinarium, Kliaya and 
Fi^fx— though they ate represented to a great extent 
in East Central Africa as far as Nyassaland, seem 
to be more closely allied species to thuse of West 
Africa. Indeed, on entering these magnificent tropical 
forests— some of them tl^e finest developments I 
have ever seen— one might believe one's self in the 
Canieroons, in th.^ Niger Delta, or in the Liberia. 
The forests on tiie slope of Mount Ruwenzori range 
from a puiely tropical character up to the Abyssinian 
vegetation of the Mau Plateau. A great deal of the 
local timber, no doubt, would not be worth exporting 
but it is likely to prove of incalculable benefit to 
the country itself, as it serves for ship-building, 
housebuilding, furniture, and the finest woik in 
joinery. In the forest regions of Uganda below 5,000ft. 
there are, I believe, only two kinds of palm repre- 
sented— Makindu or wild date, and a magnificent 
species of Baphia, which, unlike other Bajiftia 
palms, towers to a greater height of stems. The 
trunks of the date palms are employed for many 
purpose in buildings. They make excellent piles for 
wharves of piers ; columns for supporting the verandahs 
of houses ; in fact, they can be turned into a variety 
of purposes, and there is such a demand for them 
that some forestry regulations will soon have to be 
instituted to protect them from undue destruction. 
The mid-ribs of the RaiMa palm fronds, which are' 
of enormous length, are also vary useful articles as 
rafters. 
I have touched on a few of the native vegetable Pro- 
ducts of Uganda, but it should also be borne in mind 
in considering the resources of the country that the 
soil and climate of about half of the Protectorate are 
admirably suited, at different levels, to the cultivation 
of cacao and tea. Mr. Whyte, who has had consider- 
able experience in years gone by in different planta- 
tions in India and Ceylon, considers parts of the 
Uganda Protectorate as singularly well adapted for 
the cultivation of the tea plant. He compares such 
parts of Uganda as are suited for this cultivation to 
the estates of medium elevation in Ceylon. The rain 
fall, he remarks, is a little less than it would be in 
