THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Jan. 1, 1 
no less than four companies for Gold Muuns 
in New Guinea have already been floated. 
The country, Mr. Kennedy tells iis, will grow 
anything that Oeylon will grow, from coco- 
nuts to tea. He himself has been growmg 
coconuts (100 acres planted-1,100 acres 
reserve) with considerable success, and cacao 
also is making a start. Asked as to 
TKA 
Mr. Kennedy thought it was unlikely that 
tea would ever be grown in New Gumea ; it 
was already overproduced in Ceylon and 
India— not ' to mention Java or any other 
place. The Far East New Guinea Colony 
facing the Pacific, Mr. Kennedy is quite sure, 
will one day become one of the most pros- 
perous, as it is one of the most fertile and 
extensive, under the British Crown ; it only 
requires that prospectors should get over 
their prejudice, visit the place and in- 
troduce more capital, for it to progress very 
rapidly. An instance of this shyness was 
found in the case of Messrs. Lever Bros., 
of " Sunlight " fame, who were urged by 
Mr Le Hunte, the present Governor (suc- 
cessor to Sir Wm. Macgregor) to take up a 
tract of 5,000 acres for coconuts, to supply 
the oil needed in theii soap manufacure 
Kennedy himself was ready to 
charge, and, indeed, had been 
spect the land-the 5,000 acres 
without limitation as to locality-but after 
considerable consideration the offer was al- 
lowed to slide! Land may be had for 2s 6d 
an acre and only the diffusion of greater 
knowledge as to the resources and climate of 
the country is required before settlers will 
come in their numbers to add civilisation 
and wealth to a new portion of _ the evei- 
erowing Empire of Great Britain. -Coffee 
had been tried with success : -both Arabian 
on hill sides at considerable elevation and 
Liberian in the lowcountry grow wel ; but 
the plantations ,Mr. Kennedy said, had been 
neglected. They are now like y to be taken m 
b-ind bv a Sydney Mercantile house bent on 
developing a planting industry A ready 
market for "coffee" is available, and, in- 
deed Australia will take off a considerable 
suddIv of coconuts, coffee, cacao, &c. 
THE HOPETOUN INTEREST IN NEW GUINEA. 
Prom Mr. Kennedy, we further learnt an 
interesting bit of information. It appears 
that the Countess of Hopetoun s brother, 
tbe Hon. Edward DayroUes Lveleigh de- 
Molevns, 4th son of Baron Ventry. has taken 
■A liking to the country and intends to settle 
there He has for some years been working 
in Queensland; but hearing of the further 
Colony, chartered a yacht last ye.ir 
and took a nine months' tour cruising 
round the coasts of New Guinea, and landing 
Pi- various points, made several trips inland 
to explore th-. territory. He has now taken 
up 2,(J<)0 acres in the Kearns district which 
with his brother (the Hon Richard Andrew (?) 
%.fl son of Lord Ventry), he intends to culti- 
vate' It is satisfactory that a scion ot a 
family which now '"f^^T 
nection with Australia should thus be settled 
hi New Guinea-not only on account of tlie 
force of attraction that such a circunistance 
•nntains for new and hesitatmg colonists ; but 
also because it may prove useful in arranging 
Mr. 
take the 
asked to in- 
were offered 
for the amelioration of the laws and regu- 
lations prevailing which are as yet to some 
extent subject to the approval of the Governor- 
General on the mainland, as they have 
hitherto been to that of the Governor of 
Queensland. 
VARIOUS NOTES. 
It was interesting, and amusing to us, to 
see how much Mr. Kennedy knew about plant- 
ing operations in Ceylon in a variety of 
products, until we remembered that he had 
been a regular student of the pages of the 
Tropical Agriculturist as well as of se%^eral 
of our Planting Manuals. We l)ega i to 
tell him that one of the finest plots of 
coconuts in the island was opposite Mount 
Lavinia Hotel, and how it got planted, 
when he replied, " by Dr. Macvicar — I've 
read about it in your Ijook and have aiready 
inspected the garden with interest." 
Mr. Kennedy's descri])tion of the growth 
of his palms on the shores of New Guinea 
in three years, shows that good seed nuts, 
careful planting, rich soil and a suitable 
climate must all have l)een available We 
hope Mr. Kennedy will be able tc visit 
Goluapokuna and some of Mr. Jardine's work 
on coconut plantations in the Kurunegala 
district. 
Our visitor's "forbears," of course, hail 
from that part of Galloway where the people 
used to declare: — "We're a' Jardine's, 
Johnstone's and Kennedy's here ; " but he 
— like his father before him — was horn in 
Statt'ordshire, and never left it till he started 
for New Guinea. 
CACAO IN CEYLON. 
Our notice of the large cacao pods which 
we received the other day from Katugas- 
tota estate and sent round the Port offices- 
has attracted the notice of an authority on 
the subject, who says it is important from 
an economic point of view to have the 
number and weight of the seed, as the fruit 
wall might be very big without correspond 
ing size of seeds. Fortunately the seed wer 
still available :— 44 from the one pod, and 
36 from the other, the 80 seeds weighing 
as nearly as possible a quarter of a lb. 
As regards the characteristics of the pods, 
we think they were more typical of the 
Forastero than of the Criollo variety 
"Travel Impressions in Ceylon of a 
Java Planter." — The interesting paper im- 
der this heading translated from tlip Dutch 
by Mr. D. Ferguson will be found on page 470. 
It is useful to see how a practical planter from 
another and foreign colony regards the 
country, soil, climate, land tenure, vegeta- 
tion, labour, &c., in Ceylon. As might be 
expected Mr. Bley makes mistakes which 
will be obvious to Ceylon readers. — We also 
expect to give shortly the report by Mr. Treub 
of the Java Botanic Gardens on his visit to 
Peradeniya and the other Gardens. This has 
been translated for us by Mr. Barrister de 
Vos and Mr. D. Ferguson and will be found 
both instructive and interesting. 
