450 
THE TKOPICAL 
AGRICULTUEIST. 
[Jan. 1, 1900. 
green barley and corn, which are cut before maturity 
and delivered in the cities to owners of horses and 
cows. Cattle breeding is, and always has been, a 
profitable business in Mexico, consequent upon cheap 
labour, low taxes, and the large tracts of cheap 
laud which are suitable for grazing only. Until 
recently, no attempt has been made to improve the 
stock, but certain large cattle men have now under- 
taken to do tbis, and steady improvement is certain 
henceforth. The demand created during the late 
war with Spain, and the high prices which obtained 
in the United States, increased the price of cattle 
to such an extent that the northern portion of the 
country has become depopulated of its stock, which, 
ft is said, will take several years to replenish. Dairy 
iarming in the neighbourhood of large cities is luc- 
rative, milk selling at Is. per gallon, and butter at 
Is, t)d. to 2s. per pound. Those engaged in this 
business make money rapidly. Fruit and vegetable 
farming are beginning to attract attention. Formerly 
this amounted tc simply enough for the home market. 
Now an effort is to be made to supply the United 
States with early fruit and vegetables. The move- 
ment is in its infancy, but it is expected to grow 
into^arge jpropotions. Oranges, lemons tomatoes, 
beans, (fcc, are produced in Mexico from four to 
eight weeks earlier than in the United States. Hence 
this is expected to be a profitable business in the 
near future. Wheat is cultivated in the high table- 
lands of Central Mexico, and is fairly profitable. 
It is not the equal of that grown in the United 
States, either in quantity per acre, or quality. Para 
and Bermuda grass give pasturage in many sections 
of the country. They are said to be equal to any in 
the world. Parts of the country are adapted to the 
growth of tropical products, -viz., coffee, vanilla, rubber, 
coconut, cocoa, &c., the quality of all being excellent. 
It is said that the best vanilla of the world comes 
from the State of Vera Cruz, and the best cocoa 
from the State of Chiapas. The coffee of Michoacan 
is said to be equal to any ; the tobacco of Vera 
Cruz is preferred by many to that of Havana, and 
the sugar production of Southern Tamanlipas. or 
Northern Vera wruz, is said to be surpassed by that 
of no country save Hawaii in quantity, and it is more 
profitable to the producers, for the reason that seven 
to ten crops are the result of one planting, whereas 
the Hawaiian planters get only two. Taken as a 
whole, farming in JVIexico is an inviting field for 
persons of capital and intelligence. — Journal of the 
6'ocicti/ ot Arts. 
STORY OF A CLOVE PLANTATION. 
The experiences of the Kev. Canon John Key of 
the Universities' Mission to Central Africa are worth 
recording as they throw light upon that rather obs- 
cure question —Clove planting. There are little or no 
data to enable one to figure out the approximate 
returns to be expected in this industry ; no one can 
say whether clove growing pays or not ; the general 
ir^ipression is that it does not pay and the impecunious 
state to which many Arab planters have been re- 
duced confirms that impression. Nevertheless we 
believe it to be a false one, based upon wrong date, 
or rather upon complications and no data at all. 
This story of Canon Key's, therefore, being record 
of actual facts, not calculations from data merely, is 
valuable accordingly, even when due allowance has 
been made for the wealth of last year's crop. 
The shamba in question is known as Kizimbani 
about half an hour inland from Weti, Pemba. It 
was selected by I anon Key as a missionary site 
chiefly because of its situation on the Suka Road, 
one of the arteries which feed Weti from the north. 
Kizimbani contains iu all 1,100 clove trees 950 of 
wliich are bearing, the other l.'iO being unproductive. 
Rl,iy'2-8 0 were paid for the clovo shamba originally 
two and 1115.5 for three j)atches of waste land ad- 
joining; in all 111,287-8 0. Occupation was entered 
into in January 1898 and clove picking began on 
October 29th lasting until February 2l8t 1899. 3 
pice a pishi were given to pickers, the legal measure 
begin used. Arabs iu the locality also feave o pice 
per pishi but used the native wooden measure, always 
used in the plantations for clove picking both in 
Zdnzibar and Pemba and which contains a little 
more than the metal one used by the shop-keepers. 
Canon Key gave his people 2 pice per pishi daily 
and barked the other pice for them till the season 
was finished, an arrangement which they apparently 
appreciated. From 20 to 40 pickers were employed 
and two overseers at Rl-1 a month each. 
In all 620 fraslas were obtained from the 950 trees 
an average of 19 2-5 lb. of cloves per tree and a return 
after paying export duty of 25 per cent, of Rl,965, 
Add. R38 for 43 fraslas stems and the gross rernrna 
are R,2003. 
From this total there are several charges to be 
deducted. Eight pice per bag for cloves and five 
pice for stems, amounting to R29, were paid for cnn- 
veyance to the beach on donkeys and R76 0 0 for 
freight to Zanzibar, landing chai ges, sorting charges, 
import declaration and scale fees : — 
520 fraalas Cloves .. .. 1,965 
43 „ Stems .. .. 38 
Total.. 2,003 
2 Overseers 4 months .. 112 
Picking 528 fras. .. .. .. 466 
Conveyance to beach . , , . 25 
Freight etc. .. .. .. 76 
Balance profit ... ... .. 1324 
Total.. R2,003 
Balance profit.. 1,324 
Thus the purchase money of the shamba, Rl,267 
was more than recovered the first year. After pay- 
ing for digging the shamba (RlOO), baskets, bsgs 
drying mats, bak^hish to overseers etc. the year's 
profit was reduced to about Rl.OOO. The former owner 
used to make R200 to R400 a year out of this 
shamba and Arabs now attribute these good result to 
" the blessing of God " though the Canon, thinks that 
they may be accounted for largely by the fact of 
his basing dug the shamba over. 
It would be misleading to generalize from these 
results because doubtless Canon Key had much in 
his favour; proximity to a large village and a com- 
paratively plentiful supply of labour; a good shamba 
and a prolific season. The record is that of a pros- 
perous year and stands as such for what it is worth. 
Sf'l ia our opinion it is worth much. The bad years 
that now and then occur in clove plantations, and 
which have contributed to their disparagement, may 
be accounted for by the habit of the clove tree and 
vicissitudes of seasons but they may be also due to 
improper cultivation or at any rate partly so. If 
clove trees will yield so roundly after years of casual 
management and two years of extreme drought what 
may not be expected from them if properly cared for ? 
An interesting comparison may be drawn from the 
results at Kizimbani and those at Machui as published 
by the report of the Agricultural Department for 
last year;— 
Kizimbani Machui 
]. Yie'd par tree lb... 19 2 5 6i 
2 Cost of picking and deli- 
vering per frasla . . Rl-4 3-10 Rl-.'i| 
3. Return per fras. net R2-7 R3-4 
4. Return per tree net Rl-5 3-5 RO 9i 
5. Approximate price ob- 
tained per fras. . , R4-15 1-5 R6-3 9-10 
(Less duty and disregarding stems) 
The comparison is on the whole distinctly in favour 
of Kizimbani even when allowance is made for the 
fact that at Machui a quarter of the crop was aban- 
doned for want of labour. The large quantity of 
cloves to haidle at Machui made it necessary to 
employ a staff of spreaders while at Kizimbani this 
work was done by the pickers at no ext_a cout. In 
calculating the yield and return per tree the good 
