Mav 1, 1903.j THE TROPICAL AaEICULTURIST, 
little regular cuUivation, and tliegrowiii is for the 
most part a spontaneous couseqiieiice of tlie clear 
ance of timber and undergrowth and tlie breaking 
up of the soil. Bamboos are cut in the valley of the 
Cauveiy and exported to Mysore. Fine clumps o" 
a large variety ave met with in the extreme south 
of Coorg near Kutta and the foot of the Sam- 
pa ji Ghat. 
To a considerable section of the population, the 
cultivation of cardanioius was formerly second in 
importance only to that of rice. During the hist 2U 
years, however, the price of tiiis product has fallen 
to such an extent that it now scarcely pays to 
collect the berries, and many well-to do fan)ilics, 
who depended cliipfly upon their caidamoms ma'es 
for the puichai-e of articles required to supplement 
the produce of their rice fields, have been greatly 
inipiverished. 
Coffee is extensively produced in Coorg, and its 
cultivation forms the chief industry of the Pro- 
vince, every one, European and Native, being more 
or less interested therei i. Dui ing the past decade 
however low prices combined wiih the ravages of 
leaf disease and borer have materially affected the 
industry with the result that many e-<tatesliave been 
altogether abandoned and the majority hanlly pay 
their way. The plantain {mu.ia paradisiaca), ut 
which there is a wild kind in the hill jungles, is 
commonly grown all over Goorg in the vicinity 
of native dwellings. The Coorg oranges are cele- 
brated, and in South Coorg are as abundant as the 
plantain. Among dry grains the chief a''e ragi 
{eynosurus corocanus), awaie {dolichos Icd'lab), 
togari {cajanus indicus) and horse gram [dolichos 
uniflorns) ; these are mainly grown in those parts 
of the Nanjrajpatna taluk which adjoin the left 
bank of the Cauverj'. 
The area shown in the statement under orchards 
and garden produce is made up of 281 acres areca- 
nut and 2,165 acres of orange groves. The assess- 
ment ordinarily levied on oranKe cultivation, which 
has materially expanded of late years, is from As. 8 
to Ks, 2 an acre. The expansion is attributable to 
the gradual decline in the interest taken in cofii e 
planting. An incidental consequence of the same 
factor is the impetus given to the cultivation of 
pepper. No statistics are available, but it is an 
undoubted fact that considerable areas have been 
cultivated with pepper on estates tormeily worked 
only for coffee. 
Coffee suffered severely from unusually early 
blossoming showers as also from the reaction after 
the abnormally heavy crop of the previous year. 
The combined effect of these causes was an out- 
turn roughly estimated at 2,250 tons, or little more 
than half the nornal crop. The price of coffee 
revived somewhat from the low rates obtaining in 
the previous year, liut the variation was so slight 
as to have no appreciable effect on the industry. 
The cardamom crop was also very poor ; though 
slightly better than in the previous year, the out- 
turn was only estimated at the normal figuie, 
nor was there any compensatory improvement in 
prices. 
PLANTING IN BRITISH CENTRAL 
AFRICA. 
A FORTUNE TO BK MADE IN TOBACCO 
— aNO TEA. 
(? FOR LOCAL CONSUMPTION) AT .3S PER LB. 
A young Ceylon planter, wlio recently went 
across to the Nyassaland Districts, sends us a 
chatty and cheeiful letter from which we quote : — 
25th January, 1903 — I arrived in ChindB after a 
fortnight's pleasant journey from ("eylou. The river 
Zambesi being so low, the pacldle boat coiil-l Lot 
travel farther than tiio first VVoodicg Station, nfter 
which 1 had to goby small barge — no house boats bdiag 
available. It took 10 long weary days from there 
to ChircMO, 13 natives paddled the barge, stoppiog 
at night time at different villages eib route. The 
river got worse and worse until at Cbiromo, I was 
told that r should have to travel by Mdcldlla team : 
— that is, being ovrrried by natives to Blautyre, I did 
not care for the idea, as the forests were swarming 
with lious, leopards and other wild beasts and only 
a short time since Mr R>>,y the Manager of Messrs 
Sh'irror's Zambesi Traffic Company had a visit paid 
to his house by a full-crown lion. Well, I travelled 
all night through the forest — walking every now and 
again to stretch my legs; the natives meanwhile 
made as much noise as possible and imitated 
the lion to scare them away. They carry varieties 
of skins made into water bottles across their shoul- 
ders and run with great speed. 
Thankfnl I was when " Cbiromo " was reached 
after a journey lasting six weeks from the time 
I left Colombo. On the way up the Zambesi river 
I visited Mrs Ijivingstone's grave : she is buried 
near the Jesuit Missionary Station but they had 
not attempted to koep the grave in good order. 
It took 2J days from Cbiromo to Blancyre. The 
river has never known to be so low before by the 
oldest inhabitants and the river is swarming with 
Crocodiles and Hippopotami, but they did not pre- 
veut me from having my swim every evening coming 
up, a rather unwise thing to do, but after sitting 
huddled up iu a barge all day in a sweltering hot 
sun one would risk anything, for a cool bath. 1 am 
45 miles from Blantyre, up the hills and not far 
from Henry Brown, who used to be iu Ceylon. 
Coffee, as you no doubt know, has had its day. Many 
firms have been I'uinod by it and are now all goiiig 
in for tobacco and tea which pay a large profit 
at present. As for the land and soil, it is simply 
marvellous — not like Ceylon "clay", but rich dark 
soil. To give you an idea, the tea that Mr Brown 
planted two years ago I said at once when asked 
was "Jive years old." Another Ceylon man who saw 
it said the same thing. The labour is so cheap 
I could hardly believe the wages the natives receive. 
As for the ciimate being made out to be so treach- 
erous, that is simply ridiculous. Where I am at present 
is quite equal to Halton. The ouly thing is : food is 
very scarce ; but when British Central Africa is 
properly known it will I am sure be the 
centre of Afiica for growing Tobacco and Tea. 
Men with capital, not afraid to speculate out here, 
can I think make a fortune in a short time— very 
different from Ceylon in labour and oompe'iticn. Al- 
though I was laughed at for coming over here to 
grow coffee, let me tell you at once that co^ce is 
not reclsoued on in future : iohacco and tea only. 
The tobacco grows here like a weed and I am plant- 
ing 50 acres up this year and also tea is coming 
on splendidly, in fact better than I ever saw it in 
Ceylon. All that is rtquired is machinery and that 
is coming as soon as enough tea is in bearing. At 
present I have to manufacture this estate's tea by 
hand and a steady sale is 33 per lb, — not so bad. 
The Cotton Shortage : and Growth in 
Niiw Climes. — Our u"eekly commercial report 
from Miticing Lane has been steadily 
urgiiig- the growing of cotton in Cej'lon iu 
view of the shortage of supplies to British 
sources. We should be glad to know if inile- 
pendent experiments are being made. It will 
be seen that Cyprus has sent some excellent 
samples, and that culii\ation iu that island 
is likely to be encouraged. 
