810 
THE TROPICA!. 
AGRtCULTURIST. [June 1, 1908. 
impregnate, and with the heat and drying influence 
of the sun the desired resulta are secured. After the 
mass begins to form iu the tubes it is forced out 
before it hardens and cooking follows. 
Your correspondent sketched two or three different 
designs of cook ovens of native make, and shows one 
of the most practical kinds in b"'ig. 3. This is erected 
by first excavating the earth to a depth of about four 
feet, and three feet square for the fireplace, as repre- 
sented. Then stones are put in position for the form 
ing of the arohlike structure immediately over the 
fire on which rests the pot of iron containing some 
of the lumps of Chicle in readiness for dissolving and 
cooking. This iron vessel is designated c. Above 
this vessel is still another arch of stone, describing a 
more definite circle. Several native workers are re- 
quired to keep the fire going and the vessels properly 
' filled. These ovens last indefinitely when properly 
built, as those I saw were very old indeed. The 
cooking operation involves several others, such as tl e 
sweetening and flavouring. The natives use the com 
mon brown sugar product for sweetening purposes. 
The natives discolor the substance by employing 
Bta-ins squee?ed from leaves, herbs, barks, etc. Some 
of the coloring barks are those from which the 
dye-substance collectors of the country obtain stains. 
Beds, yellows, and blues in coloured gums are pro- 
minent. 
After the gummy stuffs are properly sweetened 
and flavored they are usually rolled out into sheet 
like order, so that slabs of the substance can be 
secured, as in Fig. 4. 
After a time the substance is in readiness to shape 
into loaves, and this is done by the natives in several 
ways the best I saw being the rolling of the gum 
into thin sheets, the weight desired, and then cut- 
ting through with knives made for the purpose, A 
white powder substance is scattered over the surfaces 
of the gum while this is going on, so that the natives 
can handle the stock without danger of the fingers 
adhering to and soiling the matter. 
They have a process of kneading, which is used 
in connection with the finer grades of gums, and 
this device for accomplishing the work is shown in 
Fig. 5 It is a crude bit of work, as shown in- 
volving the use of a tree stump or section, which 
is chipped out in the middle to form the oval depres- 
sion in which the round-nosed instrument of hard 
wood can be turned by manual labor. The particles 
of the Chicle are granulated in this trough beneath 
the weight and frictional surface contact of the 
rounded device. 
In Fig. 6 is shown one of the strange devices 
employed by the Moro Chicle workers for mixing 
and working the materia). This contrivance is made 
with stone, heavily erected so as to make the walls 
firm, and the interior is coated with a oementlike 
surfacing, which results in the smoothing and round- 
ing off of the tub. Inside this tub sets the upright 
post, c. in which there are projecting arms of wood 
as shown. This affair is revolved by a belt passing 
from wheel a to wheel I, on the bhaft. Manual or 
water power is usually employed to give the neces- 
sary turning movement to the gearing, a, I saw 
sever 1 devices like this, but in moat cases they 
were out of order and unfit for service. The gums 
here, when finished, lack the flavors employed by 
American makers. The only flavors utilised are such 
as can be procured readily. 
Costly wintergreen, for example, is not known here. 
Malt, mint, etc., however, are used. The natives 
chew the gum to quench thirst. They use it much 
as they use the tooth staining beetle nut. 
As to packing for transportation, you can see that 
the packages are put up in the form like Fig. 7. 
as a rule. The substance ia rolled up in mats, 
into various packages, and three or four of these 
packages are tied up together, as in the view. 
The writer is inclined to believe that there is money 
in the Chicle industry of Mindanao for capitalists. 
Tho gam materials can be purchased from the natives 
very cheaply, and at the seaports, where the stocks 
can be properly packed for e-&von,~India Bubber 
World. 
COFFEE-GROWING O'S THE CLARENCE, 
From accounts to hand, it would appear that coffee- 
growing on the Clarence Kiver has passed the ex- 
perimental stage, and that the industry is on a fair 
road to commercial success. Mr. John Bale some 
eight or ten years ago secured certain rights from 
the Government to found an experimental station at 
Wolbin Island. There he planted out several acres 
of young trees, which are now in full bearing. Already 
he has harvested 30,000 lb. of berries, and has still 
another 10.000 to gather. This means that each tree's 
jield is from 50 1b. to 601b., or fifteen 1 lb. tins of 
the prepared article. Retailed at Is. per tin, the 
revenue represents a handsoma income, as the trees 
are planted in rows about 20 feet apart. At this 
rite, and providing that a market can be secured for the 
product, the industry, on the same basis of success, 
ought to give returns much more handsome than any of 
the sui)-tropical crops raised on the North Coast. The 
drawback to farmers used ta returns ranging from 
monthly to yearly, is that there is no yield from 
the coffee trees till they aie 4 years old, and then 
they are not in full bearing. 
Mr. Bale has for many years devoted much of 
his time to crop experimenting. He has demonstrated 
that many crops, other than those now raised, can 
be profitably cultivated on the fertile Clarence as 
commercial ventures. 
Besides r.aising the coffee in its raw state, he has 
also roasting appliances and modern grinding 
machinery, and turns out the coffee in labelled tins 
ready for the market. 
In the latter end of 1806, Mr. Bale submitted 
samples of his locally-grown coffee to the Department 
of Agriculture. The samples were brought under the 
notice of Mr. C. Skelton, who had been engaged 
for seventeen years as a coffee-planter in Ceylon, He 
was greatly impressed with the quality of the berries, 
and some months afterwards, under ai-rangement, 
visited the Clarence and other Northern River dis- 
tricts, with the object of reporting on the suitability 
of the soil end conditions generally for extension 
of the industry which was proving so successful in 
the admirably-adapted site elected by Mr. Bale. 
In the Agricultural Oa^ette for October, 1897, page 
744, Mr. Skelton published his opinions concerning 
the capabilities of the districts mentioned. As many 
present traders of the Agricultural Gazette have, 
perhaps, not seen the report, some extracts from it 
are now reproduced : — 
" In all three districts— Clarence, Richmond, and 
Tweed— 1 saw large tracts of land, cleared and un- 
cleared, well suited for coffee-culture; soil and climate 
are all that could be wished for. I saw growing in 
the different districts, strong, healthy, well-grown 
trees, in many instances laden with fruit. With the 
wonderful fertility of tho soil, and the general suit- 
ability of those parts of the Colony for the purpose, 
it is surprising that the industry has not progressed 
beyond the experimental stage. 
" The conditions for planting here being somewhat 
different from India, and Oeylon, where cheap coolie 
labour is obtainable, I believe it would be an ad- 
vantage to set the coffee trees about 7 feet apart, 
or even more, so as to permit of the employment of 
a light one-horse scarifier to keep down the weeds, 
and also to allow of the passage of some sort of 
vehicle between the trees in gathering the crop. 
With the exception of planting and pruning, which 
latter commences after the second crop has been 
gathered, nearly the whole of the work can be carried 
out by ordinary Isbour. The picking of the berries 
is essentially women's w irk, A good picking woman 
can gather twice as much as almost any man, her 
fingers being so much more nimble," 
