862 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [June 1, 190L 
the vines died.; *To prevent a recurrence of sucli a 
catastrophe the plantations are now irrigated, the 
water being fetched a distance of about two n.ues 
ir. pipes. The flowers are fertilised artifacially, 
and the vines are not allowed to grow more than 
«x or seven feet in height. The pods are cured by 
the wet treatment and are dried in an oven, a 
temperature of 120 Falir, beir.g maintained. Some 
are also sun-dried, being wrapped up in woollen 
cloth. The trees planted for shadinj? purpo.-^e, are 
Pithecolobium saman >ind Albizzia lehbek, and 
as a prop Jatropha curcas. Labour is cheap, 3d 
a day being the price usually paid. 
Three or four small vanilla plantations have been 
started The largest, on the banks of the Mkuiu- 
muz?Rivei' was flooded a few months ago, and 
most of the vines were lost. 
The vines belonging to the Mission are said 
^o be less productive. The prices obtained for 
1 lb of vanilla (from 30 to 50 po.ls) ranges from 
1^ to 31. 
Bread-fruit.-A triitl has been made by the 
Mission with the bread-fruit tree which has an- 
swered admirably. 
Coffee Etc.— 32 estates have been opened by 
various German planting companies aiid private 
persons in the Hinterland of Tanga and i'angani 
and in the highlands of Usambara About 2o, 000 
acres are under cultivation, 7,500 acres having 
been planted with coffee, a like nuniber with 
coconut palms, and 3,260 acres with hemp. 
Experiments are also being made with 
ramie, vanilla, cardamoms, Ceara rubbei, giape 
vines, sideroxylon tre-s. cinnamon cocoa and 
tea. Cotton and tobacco have so fir, proved a 
failure. There are over 5,000 000 coftee shrubs of 
the Mocha variety (Co/ea ^rabica) one quarter of 
which are now in bearing. The^plantatK)ns ate 
situated at an elevation of from 3,500 to 6,000 feet 
above sea.level. The «oil of Usambara appears to 
be particularly suited to the cultivation of coffee 
and thepl'int-covne into bearing at two years of 
a-e. Albizzia Lchbek and A. Moluccana are 
generally used as shade trees, but neither is con- 
sidered 'very satisfactory. In some of t'le estates 
the shrubs are not shaded at all. ^Up to the pie- 
sent no signs of sunstroke or canker have been 
observed. 
Hemihia vastatrix broke out in some of the 
K-arciens in 1895, and has since made its appearance 
on one or two occasions. Tlie planters do not, 
however, consider it a very serious matter, and, 
after the leaves have been plucked and destroyed, 
the diseased plants recover. Considerable dam- 
acre is, at times, done by beetles and f^eld bugs. 
Very little manure has as yet been used ; but the 
German East Afriea Company is following the ex- 
ample of the Guatemala coffee planters, and a 
mixture of bone meal, sawdust, rotten coffee husks, 
and lime has l)eeii found a good substitute tor 
aniin il manure which is wanting. 
()a several of tiie estates the berries are pulped 
by machinery (Walker's or Gordon's). Fennent- 
\n<' vats and drvMg-h. . uses liave also been built 
RiCch tree is s.V.d to b -.r on an ivei.-r ^ib of 
parcl.meofc coffee, por .v.r.:..... J li--. P; -'jvunc;! 
for tb'> (i!st and smcoii-I (lU^dil x^S wbicu are sent 
to Hambuig, ,av<^ragfs 7.3s per cwt. l;.t«nor 
coffee is sold locally or in Zanzibar, and teiches 
about 28 rupees (378 4d) per cwt. In the following 
table is shown the total amount of cofiee ex- 
ported from German East Africa since the plants 
came into bearing : — 
Date. 
Quantity 
Cwt. 
Jan 1 
to Dec 31 1895 
700 
Do 
do 1896 
500 
Do 
do 1S97 
1,470 
D4 
do 1898 
2,«70 
Bo 
do 1«99 
1,020 
Do 
September 190O 
1 220 
It is believed that next year's crop will be heavy. 
About 500,000 Liherian cofiee shrubs have been 
planteil. The [irice obtained at Hamburg; is, 
however, not sufficient to pay for the cost of 
transport, and the gardens are for the most part 
being allowed to go to weed. 
Cardamoms, — The cultivation of cardamoms 
has been taken up by two or three Companies, 
A sample was sent to Germany at the commence- 
ment of the year, but the price obtained (5Cs per 
cwt) was disappointing. 
Grape Vines— 10,000 grape vines were planted 
last year at an altitude of 4,500 feet. They are 
growing well, but a rust has been noticed on the 
leaves. 
Sideroxylon— These handsome ami useful trees 
(the"djohor" of Java) are b^ing planted extensively 
to mark the garden boundaries. 
Cinnamon. — Cinnamon is to be found in many 
of the estates. A sample which was sold in 
Zanzibar a few months ago fetched 70 rupees {4:1 13s 
4d) per cwt. 
Coco.v. — No soil has yet been discovered suit- 
able for the cultivation of cocoa, but there 
exist a few trees in several of the coffee 
plantations. 
Tea. — Tea grows well ; up to the present, how- 
ever, it has only been planted in small qnantities. 
Labour. — A very important factor in the cul- 
tivation of coffee, etc. is, from the jdanter's point 
of view, the labour question. The natives of the 
Tanga and Usambara districts are of little use as 
workmen, and labourers are usually recruited in 
the towns of Pangani and Bagaraoyo and, in a 
less degree, on the banks of the Kutiji River. 
Wanyamwezi and Wasuknma are preferred. It is 
customary for the men, who receive from 9 to 14 
rupees (12s to IBs 8d) per month without food, to 
bind themselves for six months. Tiiere are prob- 
ably between 3,u00 and 4,000 native workman on 
the various estates. Asiatics are no longer em- 
ployed. 
A private company has opened a small planta- 
tion at Lindi, and a little Liberian coffee is grown 
near Mikindani. — Planting Opinion. 
On a New Aromatic Aldehyde Occukring 
IN EucvLYPTUS Oils— By Henry G Smith, F.C.3., 
Assistant Curator, Technological Museum, Sydney. 
— We have to acknowledge receipt of a copy sf 
this paper. 
The Juice of the Green Pineapple is accred- 
ited in Java and throughout the Far Ea.'-'t geuer- 
aily, says an fexciiantie, with beiae a blood, ppison 
of the most deadly nature. It is said to b*e the 
substance with which Malays poison their creeses 
and daggers and to |.e also the finger-nail 
pfiis m formerly in use amona; aboritrinal Japan- 
ese women, almost universally. These women 
cultivated a nail on each hand to a long, sharp 
point, and the least scratch from one of these was 
certain death.— .Sfec^icaZ Times. 
