May ], 1901.] THE TROPICAL AaPJCULTUEIST. 
739 
mean £28 gross, or a net return of from £15 to £20, 
at least, per acre. In the present state of the indus- 
try it seems to be inadvisable to open up large areas 
for various reasons, and smaller gardens are more 
readily managed. Most of the growers have, at 
present, also small areas, and, in consequsnce, 
coffee is looked upon, to some extent, as a by-produot. 
It will, undoubtedly, prove a very v.-iluable by-product 
for any farmer, though with due attention to culti- 
vation' it will be found, as it is already in several 
instances, a profitable crop to grow as a sole staple, 
the returns giving a good living. And as the colony 
becomes more populated, large areas will be possible 
where, at present, labour difficulties practically pro- 
hibit the opening up of, say, a 100-acre estate. 
Want of experience and carelessness in opening up 
coffee gardens can account for considerable loss and 
disappointment in the colony, ignorance and inex- 
perience of coffee culture, in many instances, only 
showing in the second and third year. The necessity 
for ordinary attention at the area planted up m 
order to ensure satisfactory results cannot be too 
strougly dwelt on. 
The initial three years or so of waiting before any 
return can be obtained has, unfortunately, been the 
cause of the neglect of even the fundamental laws 
of agriculture, occasionally, with the result that the 
Held^hai either taken four or five years to come into 
bearing or that the trees have been so retar led an 3 
hampered in their growth that when the strain of 
the maiden crop was felt they were found to have 
no stamina to carry it. 
C-'ffee is perhaps one of the most responsive of any 
fruit-trees to cultivate and it is certainly one of 
the most profitable, but at the same time, not being 
indigenous, is very susceptible to neglect, and easily 
damaged and stunted by weed growth, etc.—Plantimj 
O'pinion. 
COFFEE IN THE SURMA VALLEY. 
{From our own correspondent.) 
Given suitable soil and shade there docs not appear 
to be any reason why coffee should not grow and pay 
as well in the Valley of the Surma as elsewhere, liut 
suitable soil and shade must be the very first consider- 
ation As we mentioned in our issue of the Ibtli, the 
yield per acre in South Sylhet has not as yet been 
inade public. Now we learn that this cannot be done 
for the simple reason that the most of the land planted 
has been put down with the Liberian species 1(1 by 10 
apart and the spaces between filled up with Arabian 
as a catch crop. Under the circumstances it would be 
difacult if not impossible, to give a definite estimate ot 
what may be reckoned on per acre. We have advo- 
cated, when putting down fresh plants to introduce 
the best Jamaica procurable, as the finest of this la 
now quoted on the London market at « 125 per cwt. 
Of course it is possible, we may say very probable, 
that the species which brings a top price when grown 
in Jamaica might turn out an entirely different berry 
if grown in South Sylhet. Given the soil and climate, 
elevation is now looked upon as only a secondq.ry con- 
sideration. Formerly it was found that coliae was 
b°tter flavoured when grown at considerable elevations 
above sea-level. But the fact was generally lost sight 
of that at the highest elevations the most suitabie 
flavouring soils, as a rule, were to be found. Cotfee of 
any species when grown upon strong alluvium naturally 
will not, as a matter of f act does not, produce such a 
well-flavoured berry as when it is grown upon soil 
which, to a certain extent, is composed of humus. 
The Liberian berry has been recently described as a 
heavy enough bean, but wanting in flavour; bat we 
have bpen assured that when this species is grown 
upon a light latevite, which has been under forest, it 
has even a superior flavour to a great many of our 
Arabian growths, which are famed for their flavour. 
The flivour of the Lib3rian bean, even when grown 
upon alluvial land, is said to be improved so much 
when kept in the parchment and thoroughly seasoned, 
that it compares very favourably with good Arabian. 
Be this as it may, there is no doubt about all the 
species improving much in flavour by keeping the 
beans in the unroasted state. Botanists, it would 
appear, have enumerated about sixty species of the 
genus coffee, and these are spread over various coun- 
tries in both the Eastern and Western hemispheres. 
According to a well-known authority, most of these 
must be mere varieties resulting from accidents of soil, 
climate or cultivation, produced subsequently to the 
naturalising of the plant, for we know that all the 
coffee trees now grown in America and the West 
Indies are the progeny of ooe plant introduced in the 
year 1714, and yet botanists have individualised no less 
than sixteen species in Brazil alone and nine in Peru, 
whilst in the East Indies we. have seven, and Africa is 
creditea with five. Among the Indian species at least 
one, C. Bengalensis, Roxb., is a native of Sylhet, and in 
former time used to be cultivated in Bengal. But all 
the species most valuable for. economic or commercial 
purposes are confined to Africa, or are of African 
origin. So intending growers of the flavoury berry in 
South Sylhet have a laige enough number of species 
to choose from to suit their soil and climate. The 
choice of a suitable species is by no means the least 
important thing to be taken into very careful consider- 
ation. Although the present season's long drought is 
by no means normal, and cannot be taken as the 
average of the South Sylhet climate, still ii must be 
always borne in mind that such a spell will be experi- 
enced from time to time. There are species, if not 
varieties, of our finest coffees which stand drought and 
certain conditions of soil and sunshiue better than 
others. A writer recently accounted for the Arabian 
species standing the drought better in South Sylhet 
than the Liberian, because the latter was essentially 
an evergreen tree, and that the Arabian was either 
deciduous or otherwise according to climate, soil and 
general environment. Although this may be to a 
certian extent quite correct, we would point out that 
there are certain kinds of coffee which stand sunshine 
much better than others, and are more productive 
when exposed than they are when shaded. On the 
other hand, again, there are kinds which will not 
thrive at all unless they are grown under shade. We 
are inclined to think that a moderate shade, that oan be 
thinned when necessary, will be found to be a sine qua 
non to successful coffee culture in South Sylhet. We 
wish the pioneers of this and other industries in that 
district every success. Coffee is by no means the only 
product which is being tried. Some of them already 
give promise of becoming very important staple pro- 
ducts, which will not be limited to the Surma Valley, 
and we hope to be enabled to congratulate the district 
of South Sylhet upon being in one very forefront of 
success, as it certainly deserves to be for its tropical 
agricultural enterprise. — Indian Planters' Gazette. 
INTENSIVE CULnVATION. 
In most progressive countries, more attention la 
being paid to improved methods of cnltivation, by 
greater care in the preparation of the soil, selection 
of the choicest seed, and more intelligent cars of 
the growing plants. The history of the sugar beet 
perhaps affords the best illustration of this. But it 
pervades every branch of agriculture, including 
fruits, flowers, etc, — in all which new and unlooked- 
for developments are every year recorded, increas- 
ing the value of such products, whether for food or in 
the arts and sciences. In no other branch of ngri- 
cultural industry has there been greater progre^' hin 
in the culture of beets and the manufacture of s i ar 
from them. The result is that every year shows gain, 
the latest being seen in the reports of the French 
exposition on beet culture and manufacture. But 
while these evidences are more conspicuous on ac- 
count of the magnitude of the beet sugar industry, 
yet the remark applies equally to cane, and almost 
