828 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
[June 1, 190L 
and coffee should l)e issued generously on field 
ser>'ice with the double purpuse of supplying 
the stiinulating element which liard\»oi kirijj; 
soldiers need and of obviating the possible dangers 
in unboiled water. A Uriited States soldier on 
active service is allowed an extra 21 cents ilaily 
for 'tea and coffee.' British soldiers iini,'hfc feel a 
monientaiy temptation to bslonK to the American 
nation, ivere they to contemplate the liberal rations 
issued to those who tight under tlie Stars and 
Stripps." 
TEA INSPECTION. 
In Canada an ettbrt is being made to push 
the sale of Japan tea, "every pound" ot which 
is, accf)r(ling to an advertisement in a Canadian 
paper, '• officially inspected before export; only 
that which is absolutely pure and of high quality 
is allowed to leave that country." — H J/ C Mail, 
April 12. 
POOR OLD COFFEE : 
COORG -THE STRAITS— QUEENSLAND— .lAV A. 
Looking over the latest Admiai.strabion 
Report for the Province of Coorg, we are 
much struck with the evident symptoms of 
decay in poor old coffee even in this last 
stronghold of the Arabian plant in India; 
and the " Coorgites" (to coin a word) or rather 
the Anglo-Indian administrator has invented 
a term to indicate a discontinuance ot 
cultivation. Where we in Ceylon speak of 
an estate being (in plain Saxon) " aban- 
doned," or ill the less disturbing term now 
adopted in the Directory of " uncultivated," 
in the Coorg Report before us, we are told 
of '• resignations " among old estates ! Thus 
during 1899-1900, we are informed that one 
of the best known and longest-established 
of Coorg coffee plantations —Fischer's, with an 
area of 490 acres— "was resigned entirely." 
In the one year, over 2,000 cicres were "re- 
signed," leaving in cultivation : — 
In the hands of Europeans ."^LGSO acres. 
,, Natives 70,234 ,, 
102,214 „ 
But then, this comparatively large area only 
gave a total crop of 55,200 cwt. or not nuich 
more than J cwt. on an average. We suspect 
that most of the native gardens are more 
than "semi-resigned," perhaps cropping at J 
cwt. to the acre, leaving the European 
estates to avera,ge about li cwt— a miser- 
able enough return only compensated for 
by rather better prices ; but Mr. Meiklejohn 
estimates that the expenditure on coffee culti- 
vation was, at least, three lakhs less than 
in the previous year owing to the short 
crop. This, of course, can only result in 
further " resignations." 
Turning next to Selangor, we have a 
return published by the local Planters' 
Association for 1900 which indicate a 
total of 15,064 acres under <niltivation and 
an estimated coffee crop for 1901 of 
25,578 piculs— about 30,0(X) cwt— or an 
average of about 2 cwt. an acre, and this, 
mainly Liberian coffee which at an average 
of 20 to 21 silver-dollars per picul— say 42s to 
.508 a cwt. at the highest -cannot possibly 
leave much profit. 
In Queensland, coffee-growers— of whom 
Mr. Newport reports some 200 altogether, 
cultivating from 1 to 75 orSO acres(the biggest 
estates) or in all 700 acres- are so far more 
fortunate. They sell all their coffee for local 
consumption and get 56s per cwt. for it in 
parchment or 112s per cwt. clean, according 
to sample. ^Vith such a difference, it ought 
to pay to run a pidper and drying-ground 
in some of the districts. The oldest coffee 
is not more than six years old, and the In- 
dian planter who is now Coffee Inspector 
for the Government is sanguine enough to 
peak of 10 cwt. an acre tvithout manure 
and a total crop worth £20,000 to £30,000. 
Tliis would mean £30 to £40 gross return 
per acre— rattier a contrast to say £4 in 
Coorg and £4 to £5 in .Selangor ! And 
moreover Mr. JS'ewport tells us that a good 
deal of the coffee is Liberian, though chiefly 
C. Arnbicu. However, we must remember 
that it is principally garden cultivation in 
Queensland, and the soil and climate must 
be splendidly adapted to coffee when we 
are told : — 
On the whole, the condition of the estates as T 
found them was not encouraging — in some casrs the 
weeds were over the coffee. Where the coffee had 
been kept clean, the growth and bearing were re- 
markable. For amount of crop ihe Buderim Moun- 
tain is noticeable, the quality being also specially 
good liere. On the Damtree Ki\er one or two 
estates that had been kept as.^iduously free from 
extraneous growih showed reiuarkabiedevelopnient, 
trees of thirteen and fifteen mornhs being tupped at 
4 feet, having a good spread of secondary giowth, 
and spiking heavily, shovving promise of -a 5 to 6 
cwt. crop that would lipen when the trees were not 
more than two and a half years old. For a 1-rourid 
good qualities, some of the properties in the vici- 
nity of Cairns, especially on the range about 
Kuranda, are pre-eminent 
Of course labour is the difficulty : a Ceylon 
planter witn 50, nay 20, good coolies might 
quickly make his way to fortune ; but would 
he be allowed to import even one cooly to 
work on the land is a question not likely to 
be answered in the affirmative from Queens- 
land. 
Finally, we are surprised to learn of the 
great progress made with Liberian coffee — 
(such a complete failure as it was in Ceylon) 
— in Java where, for 1901, Liberian is expected 
to contribute 131,000 piculs against 106.000 
in 1900, and this out of a total coffee crop 
(Government, Private and Liberian) of only 
38S,000 piculs as against 542,000 piculs in 
1900. So that in Java also, coffee is going 
back as a whole, though the Liberian kind 
is apparently keeping up. But then all that 
the Eastern and Austral world can produce, 
of coffee, is but as a very little in com- 
parison with the great and ever-increasing 
coffee crops of Brazil, Central America, and 
Mexico. 
RUBBKK GATHERING IN BOLIVIA. 
The Chicago Bolivian Rubber Co. (Chicago) 
is organised to collect rubber on a large .«cale on 
concessions iti Bolivia, the rubber collected being 
shipped via Mtdlendo, on the Pacific coast, to 
Europe. We have a laige force of Indians, in the 
woods, ahd expect to get a large quantity of 
rubber dtiring the current year. The rubber is of 
line qaality. 
