Jan. 1, 1900. J THE TROPICAL AGRICULTUEIST. 
Zanzibar. The soil in Pemba has a greater admix- 
ture of chj and therefore greater dronght resisting 
properties than the soil in this island, while the low 
steamy valleys are numerous ; the country being in 
fact one continuation of small hills and valleys. 
If Ceara Rubber could be established on the coral 
it would indeed be a great gain. It is a tree that, 
in the opinion of some authorities, might be proiit- 
ably grown in land corresponding to our coral country. 
After the holes are dug and the seeds planted the 
expenses are confined to keeping fires off, which in- 
volves judicious burning on the boundary of the 
plantation about twice a year. 
The planting of the Landolphia Vine is not prac- 
ticable except in the natural forests, where it is a 
matter of preservation rather than of propagation. 
And it is far more important to preserve the forest 
trees themselves than the rubber vines, though the 
destruction of the latter naturally follows upon that 
of the former. But a forest could be stocked with 
rubber vines in a much shorter space of time than 
that required for rearing the trees to afford the 
necessary support and shade. The latter in fact 
would be an impracticable undertaking. The rubber 
forests of Pemba are so thickly festooned with 
creepers that it is almost impossible to penetrate 
them, but only a small portion of these are rubber 
yielding vines, and they are so widely scattered that 
the collection of rubber scarcely pays. The whole 
aspect of the forest would be changed in a few years 
by cutting away the superfluous creepers and planting 
young Landolphia plants in their places. 
China Grass (Bixlimeria nivea.). — A small experi- 
mental plot of this fibrous plant has been grown in 
the nursery. Through the long drought it received 
no water yet it has preserved a fresh green appear- 
ance and in 12 months has grown about 5^ feet, 
liut no cuttings have been made as the stems have 
not yet ripened. A small quantity of roots of the 
tropical species B. tenacissima, Ramie or Rhea fibre 
have been applied for. 
The following are approximately the areas to which 
the principal new plantation will be brought up in 
the coming planting season. In the case of Tea and 
Liberian coffee no trees have as yet been planted out : — 
Cocoa 8 Acres 
Ko'a 3 „ 
Liberian Coffee 4i ,, 
Tea 6" „ 
Para rubber 3 ,, 
Castilloa rubber „ 
Ceara'°rubber 1,000 trees 
Vanilla uncertain 
Coconuts About 3,00C young plants, half 
of which will be ready in April. 
At IVIachui about 3,000 plants 
will be ready in April and another 
2 or 3,000 in November. 
II — Cloves. 
Marseilles Shamha. — In addition to the Dunga plan- 
tation which this year came under our management 
we have had charge of two of H. H. the Sultan's 
shambas at Machui — Marseilles and Kitumba. The 
former is situated on the second range of hills which 
runs longitudinally through the island. The soil ia 
a brick red mixture of sand and clay which gets 
very hard in dry weather. It is however superior 
in quality to the corresponding outcrop on the Masin- 
gini range of hills to the westward. Kitumba is in 
the low alluvial district of that name which spreads 
out to the eastward of the Machui range. The soil 
is generally a red loam overlying clay. As these 
two shambas adjoin and were as far as possible 
worked together they may be counted as one. 
Marseilles plantation has a historic interest worthy 
of note. It belonged to Khalid, third son of Seyyid 
Said, first Sultan of Zanzibar. Khalid affected' the 
French and so named his estate after the Mediter- 
ranean seaport town. Another account says that a 
Frenchman who visited the shamba was so struck 
with its rich and excellent appearance that he named 
it Marseilles. On Khalid's death it passed to two 
6i bis aistera. The place -in thoee day a was richly 
decorated according to the prevailing taste of Araba 
and was frequently visited by members of the Sul- 
tan's household. When Seyyid Said died Majid, as 
eldest son in Zanzibar, ascended the throne, but his 
ambitious brother Barghash, fifth son and afterwards 
Sultan, conspired from the first to bring about his 
brother's destruction. In 1868, two years before his 
death, Seyyid Majid confined Barghash to his house 
which he surrounded with troops, but Barghash, by 
the help of his sisters, escaped in the guise of woman's 
clothes and collected his forces at Marseilles. Here 
he was followed and routed by the Sultan's troops 
who bombarded the palace and reduced it to a ruin. 
The final engagement was fought out in the open 
country in the western side of the hill, just beyond 
the palace, Barghash being compelled to fly back 
again to the town. 
Cost of Clove-piching. — Clove picking began, in 
Zanzibar in the latter end of October. At Machui 
we departed from the usual method of picking and 
instituted a system of payment whereby we could 
ascertain the total cost of clove gathering. The 
shamba people who, according to the new sheria, 
should have given their labour four days in the 
week were paid for each operation. Under these 
circumstances picking proceeded from the first more 
briskly with us than with our neighbours and we 
were able to gather a much larger proportion oi 
cloves. The men and women of the shamba were 
rated as follows : — 
1 Nkoa or 
headman 27 pice for every 400 pishi brought ia 
2 Wakadammu or 
headmen 23 pice 
1 , " " " " 
1 Storekeeper and 
caretaker 20 ,, „ „ ,, 
1 Woman cleaning 
sweepings 15 „ „ „ , 
Total 108 pice per 400 green pishi 
Pickers 3 pice per pishi, and 3 pice per day (that 
is one pishi gratis) for spreading out and taking in 
the cloves in the morning and evening and in show* 
ery weather. 
Wa-geni pickers, or outsiders, 3 pice per pishi. 
The number of wa-geni pickers varied from 60 to 
100 a day early in the season, dropping to 40 aa 
gatering became general. The cloves were conveyed 
to the Custom house for sale on donkeys at the rate 
of 24 pice per bag of 20 dry pishi, equal to 40 green 
pishi. 
The total cost of gathering, not including the 
overseer's wages, may, therefore, be calculated as 
follows : — 
Per 400 green pishi;— 
Nkoa etc. 108 
Picking at 3 pice per pishi ... 1200 
2.5 spreaders daily at 3 pice each ; re- 
ckoning an average of 400 pishi 
picked per diem ... .. 75 
Transport (10 bags)... ... ... 240 
Total pice ... 1623 
1623 pice at 68 pice per rupee, the local rate of 
exchange, are equal to Rupees 23 pice 59, 
Reckoning now that 20 green pishi will when dry 
weigh one frasla we have : — 
Total cost of gathering and conveying to market:,, 
R. 23 p. 59 per 20 frasla (400 green pishia) or R. 1 
pice 13 per frasla. 
Quantity picked per day. — "Picking" includes the 
actual gathering and subsequent stalking. Pickers 
stop gathering at 2 o'clock and bring their loads in to 
sta,lk, after vvliich the cloves are measured, stalks not 
being counted. Stalking and measuring will some* 
times go on up to half-past six. The average quan- 
tity picked (and stalked) at Blachui in a day was 
about 6 pishi per head. Our best picker was a woman 
named Binti Kiweti who gathered 9 and 10 pishi re- 
gularly, though she lost from an hour and and half 
each day in taking the cloves in an out. Our heaviest 
day was November 2ith when we picked 874 pishi wit^ 
