626 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTUKIST. [March 1, 1899. 
a promiaiug field. Again, I am told that the Province 
of Wellesley and the Krian District of Perak from 
the cue bright spot in the cultivation of cane 
sugar. There are coconuts, pepper and other spices; 
but, above all things, 1 should like to see a va:<tly 
increased area, under a well-devised system of irri- 
gation, yielding a rice crop sufficient, not only for 
the people of the Malay States, but also^for the 
large native population of the neighbouring Colony.^ 
Next we liave an important (ieliveraiice on Rail- 
ways and Roads : — 
As regards Railsvays the Secretary of State for the 
Colonies sanctioned, last year, tho exteasions nec- 
cessary to join up all the existing lines in the three 
western States, and also consented to the raising of a 
loan of £500,000, an equal sum being furnished from 
current revenues. This ia the most important step, after 
Fe 'eration, that has yet been taUen in the Malay 
Peninsula; and it ia doubtful whether anything 
could confer such benefits on this country and ita 
•neople as the raising of this loan and the devotiou 
of so large a sum as a million sterling to railway con- 
struction. As soon as Mr. Chamberlain's sanction 
was received work was commenced wherever it was 
nossible to do so, and since then a number of engineers 
have arrived from England, and survey aua construc- 
tion work has been pushed on in Perak, Selangor and 
the Colony's territory of Province WelleHley. Steam 
ferry boats have been ordered for the passenger 
service between Penang and Kuala Prai, and pre- 
parations made for erecting the necessary wharf 
accommodation at both places. The Kmta Valley 
Railway has been practically completed as far as the 
Perak River, where a bridge 1,180 feet in length, is 
in course of erection. Steps will shortly be taken to 
bridge the Krian River, and the best means of taking 
the line through the mountain pass which divides 
the valleys of the Larut and Perak Rivers will be 
settled on the advice of Mr. Oliver, the engineer 
who has recently arrived from England to report on 
the whole railway system. I hope that the 
sanctioned extensions might be completed lu four 
years from last July, but owing to delays in raising 
the loan, and in acquiring the land over which the 
iflw" y will pass in Province Wellesley, the time 
that mast elapse before we can successfully deal with 
certain large works (especially bridging and tunnelling 
and the one long extent of practically unopened forest 
between the existing lines in Perak and Selangor, I 
fear that the work will not be completed for at least 
another four years from the present date. 
Kuala Lipi°, which is the terminus of the trunk road 
connecting Pahang with the Selangor Railway. That 
road, though not yet completed in its entire length 
has been opened as far as Raub ; and I trust that 
the end of the present year will see it completed as far 
as Kuala Lipis, a distance of 82 miles. Progress has 
been made with other important roads in the western 
'States- but though this form of expenditure always 
reoavs'the outlay, the large sums that it will be 
necessary to provide for railway construction will 
leave little for other works and, looking to the 
amount of road construction already done in Perak 
nnd Selangor, I should prefer to see any available 
halanoes spent on the irrigation of land for rice culti- 
vation If we had the funds I should push on the 
road which was begun ten years ago to get into the 
hieh land which divides the States of Perak and 
Pflhans In that region there is a wide extent of 
rnaulating country at a height of 4,000 feet, and this 
must eventually be planted and will afford a really 
healthv climate, where some day a great European 
Son may be established. The district is under 
fortv miles from an existing railway, and some thirteen 
miles of the cart-road have been already constructed, 
but the rest must wait until more urgent work has 
been completed. 

■ noFFEE raoSPECTS.— Discnssing tlie^e in Brazil 
-the ZJio News of Jan. 3icl says:-Tl.e coffee crop will 
■he large and prices will continue low, t iou?h some 
fmpmemeut may, perhaps, expectea later on. 
RWIIK CULTIVATION IN THE FAK EAST. 
In response to request for i- formation, the Ui>it«d 
States Government sent instructiona to certain Cou- 
Bular officers in China, Japan, tha Straits Setile- 
ments, (L'c, asking det>viU iu regard to the cultivatiou, 
m3,rketing, prices, foreign trade, manufaclutr, d'c. of 
ramie. The replies to these questions have now been 
published in an official paper, from which we make 
the following extracts : — 
AMOY. 
The growth and manufa':ture of ramie in Southern 
Chimi, Formosa, and tha Straits setilenients have 
lung constituted a distinct and well defined industry. 
Grass cloth, which is manufactured from the fibre, 
is of various grades, ranging from the delicacy and 
fineness of silk to a coarse cloth used bv the oooliea 
class as garments, or iu the manufacture uf rope, 
finb nets, and barlnp. The fiii^tst qualities are grown 
along the YangtKze, ou the Inland of for-jioss, and 
in the Sttaits Uettlments. The greater portion of 
the Chinese exports of the cloth comes from the 
valley of the Yangte/.e. The coarse goods come in 
competition with imported cotton in ropplying the 
masses with clothing. Fine qualities of grass cloth 
which compares favourably with good liuen, retail 
for about c.30 to 50 silver per yard (c.l5 to '25 gold). 
Tha greatest obstacle to the prodnctiou of grass 
cloth is the tedious process of decortication, which is 
done by hand. 
CHUNGKING. 
Th«3 are five classes of ramie — the ch'ing-ma, chu- 
ma, hwo-ma, t'cng ma and the choh-mi. The ch'ing- 
ma is the most productive, and it is exoecled in 
bundles wrapped in niattin to llaukow and Canton ; 
and the most valuable is the chu-ina, from the fibre 
of which cloth is woven. Ramie grows in nearly all 
the provinces in China. The chief hemp clolh fac- 
tories ill this province are those of Kiaug Ching, 
Lung Ch'ang, and Yung Ch'ang districts. The an- 
nual transactions in this city in grass cloth alone 
amount to over Tls. 100,000. 
FOOCHOW. 
In this part of Southern China ramie grows wild, 
and is not cultivated exten^iively. It is not a com- 
mercial commodity to the extent of being shipped 
to foreign ounlries, although the climate, soil, .jtc., 
are most f^voarable for its cultivation. What is 
raised is collected by the natives, scraped and pre- 
pared for use by women and children by hand pro- 
cesses, and manufactured into grass cloth, fishing 
nets, &o. When degummed in this way it cannot 
be purchased in sufficient quantities and at a price 
to wan ant its being sent to European or Amerioaa 
markets. 
HANKOW. 
Two kinds of C'uina grass are extensively grown 
here white and green, principally in K:akiang and 
Szechuan. They m-^ke a much finer fabric than that 
raised in Missouri, Kentucky, and other of the Ameri- 
can States, the white variety bleaching nearly the 
colour of flax. Most of the white hemp is raised in 
Kiukiang, and always finds ready sale on the ground, 
clean, at Tls. 9 (about $6 50) p^r picul (133J pounds). 
It is used mainly for the manufacture of thread, 
twine, and coarse fabrics. The green sells readily 
at Tls. 10 (S7.20) per picul, and is used for the 
manufacture of ropes, nets, inets, and household 
articles. There is an increasing demand for this hemp, 
and if an invention of some kind could be derised to 
extract the gum, large quantities could be shipped from 
here to the United States. 
JAPAN. 
The Consul-General at Yokohama writes : — " The 
most important place for the cultivation of the 
karamnshi, as the fibre is called in Japan, is Yama- 
gita Ken ; next in importance are Aizu in Fuku- 
shima Ken, isiigata Ken, and Nara Ken. In the dis* 
triots of the North-east and Central Japan, Kynsha 
and Shikoku, karamnshi frequently grows wild at the 
ba^e of the mountains. The market price is from 
».5 (9 i ;eu (11.75 to ,$2) pe; § \\), o{ the con* 
