hvt 1. 1903.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
any fungous or bacterial disease, as the condilions 
of shade and moisture under n-hich cardamoms 
flourish are favourable to such enemies. 
The production of Pepper- lias been about the 
same as 1901. The crop has been slightly above 
the average. No disease has been recorded which 
has doue serious damage. Tlie pepper in South 
India has been suffering froua a parasitic disease, 
the nature of which has not yet been discovered, 
and it is therefore most important that any disease 
of pepper plants in Ceylon should at once be 
brought to the notice of the Governuient fdycolo- 
gist. The cultivation of pepper in Ceylon is only 
as a subsidiary product un cacao and other estates, 
and it IS consequently not of very high ijuality, 
and no special efforts hare been made toimprov* it. 
Vanilla planting has been but little extended, 
and the quantity and quality of the pods have 
not improved. The visit of Mr Dupont, Curator 
of the Botanic Station, Seychelles, to Ceylon has 
enabled us to get information about metliods and 
cultivation which should help in this industry, a 
most profitable and suitable cultivation f»r small 
holders who can give their personal attention. No 
serious disease has attacked the vanilla plants, bu» 
in many places the plants hare not flowered, or 
flowered very sparsely. A series of picked plants 
will be obtained during this year from Seyehelle* 
for experiment aad observation. 
THE COLONIAL OFFICE AND KEW 
GARDENS, 
Probably few people are aware that Mr Chamber- 
lain has a " Botanical Adviser," bat this diatin- 
guished of&ee was conferred on Sir W 1 Thiselton- 
Dyer, Director of Kew Gardens, last year, and since 
then relations with the botanical institutions of the 
Colonies have been maintained by semi-official 
correspondence. For some time past Kew has been 
lerving as an advanced horticultural school for the 
training of gardeners for Colonial service ; some sixty 
men botanically educated at Kew are now in official 
employment in various parts of the Empire. Colonial 
botanical institutions fall roughly, into three classes. 
The first class are administered, like Kew, by a 
scientific diiector ; the second class are in charge 
of a skilled superintendent ; while the third class 
consists of " Botanic stations," which are small and 
inexpensive gardens devised to afford practical instruc- 
tion in the cultivation of tropical crops. Each is in 
charge of a curator, who is an expert gardener 
trained at Kew. At the present time the moat im- 
portant Colonial botanical institutions in intimate 
relation with Kew Gardens are those of Ceylon, 
Jamaica, and the Straits Settlements, and the number 
of smaller agencies in communication with the 
Gardens is annually increasing. — Westminster Gazette. 
A VISIT TO THE FIJIAN ISI^ANDS. 
(By James Pinnock.) 
Writing from the Fijian Islands, Mr James 
Pinnock says ;— 
[ left Sydney, New South Wales, by the Union 
Steamship Company's isteamer the "Manipouii" 
named after one of the lakes in the south or middle 
island of New Zealand, for the Fijian Islands, 
On the seventh day out we arrived at Vitu Levu, 
the chief island of tbe group, of which there are a 
very great number, nearly 800, counting the innu- 
merbale small islets and large rocks. 
I arrived the following day at Suva (British), tlie 
capital and seat of Government of all the Fijian 
Islands, A new Governor has recently come out- 
Sir Henry Jackson— who came over with us from 
,-jouthampton iu the Koyal mail steamer " Para,'' 
when we started our present tour in 1901, to the 
P'overnorship of Antigua, in the West Indies, 
After a few months' residence there, lie was re- 
called to England, and appointed to the Fijian 
Islands, vice Sir George O'Brien. The natives 
appear to have had terrible grievances in the past 
at the hands of the Government, and have most 
bittu-r complaints, the details of which have, I 
believe, been lepresented to the Home Secretary, 
but 80 far as 1 am aware never made public. I 
believe it has been under consideration — the 
accachment of Fiji to New Zealand, which would 
be much to the advantage of the former. Fiji has 
advanced but very little under Britisli rule, though 
we have held it for nearly thirty years— viz, since 
1874, when it was taken over by us as a Crown 
cDlony. 
Your readers would like to learn something 
of the trade of the country, its imports and 
exports, and whether a held for emigration, &c. 
For the latter certainly not, and the former is 
too petty to be . wortu repurtinj?. There is a 
considerable quantity of copra, the dried fruit 
of the coconut, prepared by the natives. This 
simply means that the outer husk is chopped off 
the nut, then the shell is broken in half, and 
the fruit, so well known and liked by the middle 
and lower class children in England, is taken 
out with knives made for the purpose, as nearly 
as pos^iible in two pieces, and put iu the hot sua 
to dty. When it is ready for shipment, and on 
its arrival in Europe it is sent to the crushing 
mills, and the oil — coconut oil, of course — is 
made , and the refuse converted into coconut- 
cake fur feeding cattle. The islands abound with 
these trees ; they are simply everywhere. The 
land is covered with them, and if counted it) 
would be in millions. ilie copra is collected 
from all the various islan Is. 
I must not omit to mention a new industry 
which in the future may be one of very great 
importance— namely, the production of cocoai 
1 went across the bay iu a smart six oared gig 
manned by natives, ana visiteci the Lami River 
Estate, which is being worked by two very 
enterprising, hard working Englishmen, Messrs 
Powell liioihers, originally from London. The 
estate consists of 300 acres, which they have 
leased from the Colonial Government for hfiy 
years at an annual reutal of 3s per acre. They 
have cleaied the land with Polynesian labourers, 
and covered the same with hne young cocoa 
plants, which are doing exceedingly well, and as 
the cocoa plants require shade they have planted 
bananas between each young tree, selecting the 
choicest banana roots from China, and, being of 
rapid growth, they are already shipping large 
quantities to both New South Wales and New 
Zealand, where there is always a ready sale ; 
and, whilst waiting for the cocoa trees to 
develop and bear fruit (which takes five years 
to mature), they (the Powell Bros.) are already 
rapidly recouping themselves for their great 
outlay and labour, and making money in the 
meantime out of the sale of their bananas. 
Of this I had most absolute proof, and they 
deserve the highest commendation. I many men- 
tion that a good cocoa plantation is a small over- 
yielding gold mine. Tue climate is one of the 
liealthiest in the world for Europeans, and 
though 1 have deprecated. Fiji eomewhut as a, 
field for emigrants, nevertheless men of good grift 
with some capital might follow in the footsteps of 
