June 1, 1901.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
821 
" The rate for nnskilled labour is from Is 6d to 2g 
per diem I believe an unheard of price in any tea- 
growing district.* This speaks for itself, since it is a 
well-known fact that cheap labour is one of the 
primary conditions under which the ad'?autangeous 
cultivation of tea can take place. 
"I understand that the scientific agriculturist 
attached to the staff of the Imperial Domains at 
t'hakva is preparing a work on the culture of the tea 
plant, the publication ot which may have the effect of 
extending the cultivation of this plant among the more 
intelligent class of landowners along the Black Sea 
littoral of the South- Western Caucasus." 
" RINGING " FRUIT TREES. 
I have resd Mr. Pandya's letter (which the Editor 
has kindly sent to me, together with his reply) in 
regard to the European Olive tree not fruiting in 
Kathiawar. I am of the same opinion as the Editor, 
and believe that some result may be obtained by 
root-pruning. I would, however, suggest, as an 
experiment, that " ringing " may also be tried in the 
case of a few trees, For the benefit of yonr ama- 
teur readers, I may' state that the process of " ring- 
ing " consists in removing a ring of bark sufficiently 
deep to prevent the reunion of the separated portions 
during that season of growth. The ring so removed 
should take away both the outer and inner bark, 
leaving the pith, or cyolinder fully exposed. The 
best time to perform the operation is when the 
cambium layer (inner bark) is in its greatest acti- 
vity of growth. The effect of the removal of this 
baik is a violent interruption of the normal processes 
of circulation of the sap of the plant. The upward 
passage of fluids is only slightly affected, and ie 
practically maintained as in the ordinary shoot. It 
is in the downward passage of the sap that the 
interruption takes place. The upper end of the shoot 
or stem beyond the ring becomes gorged with the 
elaborated food brought down from the leaves, which 
results in its aging unnaturally and becoming 
mature. Shoots so treated will develop ripe fruit 
much earlier than the rest ot the tree. Strangula- 
tion by a ligature of wire or cord has the same 
result, namely, the interruption ot the downward 
sap. 
I must point out, however, that in practice it ha' 
been found that the produce of " ringed " plants, 
though larger and more developed than that from 
normal plants, is not of the same good quality. 
My plan, however, in several cases, has been to 
" ring " the main stem, or trunk, of the plant, 
with very gratifying results in the matter of fruiting. 
Trees which had never flowered or borne frnit, did 
so when subjected to "ringing." 
There is, however, the secondary and more pernna- 
ment result of ringing to be considered yet. From 
what has been already stated it will be easily under- 
stood that the operation benefits the upper part of 
the shoot at the expense of the other. The effect of 
starving the body of the plant must be taken into 
consideration. No plastic material is received from 
above ; the reaion of a<;tive growth (the cambium 
layer) is starved, and as a consequence of th« de- 
fective nutrition the buds on this lower portion are 
not likely to form flowers and fruit. Whatever ad- 
vantages are to be had by this operation may per- 
haps, be attained equally as well by judicious r oot- 
pruning, and if so, certainly without the almost 
positive danger of loss of limbs. The liability of 
the ringed branch to break off must be remembered ; 
if constriction by a ring of wire is adopted, this 
danger is somewhat reduced, and moreover the wire 
itself will ultimately be enveloped by the new growth 
Ibnci the condition of the tree becomes normal again, 
THE CAMPHOR MONOPOLY. 
The export of camphor rapidly decreased after the 
Japanese occupation, and it ceased entirely from June 
22, 1899, when the Formosan Government-General 
issued an ordinance establishing a camphor and 
camphor oil monopoly. Up to that date 855 cwts., 
valued at £2,979, were exported. There were no 
deliveries durins; the year to foreign merchants, who 
thus for the first time had no share in a business 
originated and entirely developed in South Formosa 
by themselves. The reason of this is that foreigners 
had already invested large sums in camphor, for which 
no return had been made, and that it had become too 
risky to invest further capital owing to the persistent 
interference and obstruction of local officials. 
All the camphor produced in the island during the 
remainder of the year, from June 22 to December 31, 
was purchased by the Government-General, but none 
was exported until after March 24, 1900, when the 
monopoly of the export ot camphor from the island waa 
disposed of. 
The Government-General reserves to itself the right 
of disposing of up to 5,000 piculs of camphor at the 
same price, as that paid by the purchasers of the 
monopoly, to buyers in Japao, for use in tho 
country, and has also sold the monopoly of the 
camphor oil production of Formosa to a Japanese in 
the main island. 
Taking the mean production of Formosan camphor 
to be 40,000 piculs a year, there is still available for 
u^e in Japau or export abroad, independently of the 
monopoly, camphor to the extent ot about 18,000 piculs 
a year. The area of the camphor forests is ' vaguely 
computed at between 2,000,0()0 and 3,00(1,000 acres, 
but this is merely guess-work. The monopoly was 
established with the object of protecting the forests 
which, it was said, were being wantonly destroyed 
by wasteful cutting ; but its effect will, probably, be 
to accelerate their destruction. 
For the information of those interested in the 
camphor business, a translation of the Camphor 
-Monopoly Tender Regulations, together with some 
particulars of the contract between the Formosan 
Government-General and the purchasers of the 
monopoly is appended to the report by the Consul. — 
Sell's Inttlliqenee, 
Coffee on thb Clarence— Many persona who 
have grown coffee in the South of Queensland have 
affirmed that it will only prove remunerative in 
certain favoured localities, such as the Buderirn 
Mountain and parts of the Blaokall Eange. Others 
go so far as to say that coffee cannot be profitably 
grown anywhere south ot Mackay. The Clarence 
River is very far south of Brisbane, yet we learn 
from the Farmer and Grazier that Mr. John Ball, 
of Chataworth Island, has been most successful 
with his coffee crop this year. His last crop re- 
turned 1,694 lb., which sold at Is. to Is. 3d. pet 
lb. This year the crop is expected to amount to 
something like 6,000 lb. Mr. Ball has mastered 
the manufacture of coffee of the highest quality, 
and finds a good demand for it. His trouble is to 
secura sufficient quantities of beans. In reply to 
inquiries made of Mr. Holmes, a planter in Fiji, 
Mr. Ball has been informed that, owing to unsatis- 
factory prices offering in Sydney for the Fijian bean, 
the growers there were abandoning coffee-growing. 
Mr. Holmes forwarded Mr. Ball some seeds of the 
Liberia coffee, which is a sturdy-growing tree with 
deep tap root, and which bears a larger berry than 
the ordinary Arabian variety. In Fiji, even at tha 
extremely low prices (3d, to 5d. per lb.) paid for 
the beans, this variety returned 43. 7d. per tree. 
Mr. Ball finds that he can pay lOd. a lb. for good 
beans. His harvesting is done by lads, who are 
able to earn ISs. a week at the work,— TAe Queens' 
lawi Agricultural Journal- 
