478 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [Jan. i, 1904. 
("G Barbadense.") This plant though not 
deciduous, is I believe treated as if it was so and 
Crops in the method described by the Javanese. In 
spiteof the favour with wliich the "Kapas Blanda" 
is viewed by these men I should not be inclined to 
abandon "Kala kala" in favour of the imported 
variety uiiless a series of experiments proved the 
atter had the better commercial prospects. It 
must be remembered that there is a very great 
advantage as regards labour in having to deal with 
crops that do not suddenly necessitate a large 
temporary addition to the labour torce on an 
estate. The cost of engaging one man for 1,000 
days is ordinarily much less than the cost of 
engaging 1,000 men for one day. And if 
throughout the Federated Maldy States all the 
planters wanted this sudden increase in their 
labour force simultaneously, the possible result 
would be that the planters in their attempts to 
attract the available ' floating' labour would have 
to pay such prices as would seriously affect the 
prospects of their enterprise. In cotton-grov/ing 
countries it would seem that during the 'picking sea* 
son' men, women and children who at other times 
are unable to obtain a wage, are eagerly engaged at 
task- work rates which make their earning?, 
during the time they are employed, considerably 
higher than the normal wages of a first class 
labourer for the same lenc^th of time, even dis- 
regarding the question of cost, the nature of our 
population would seem to offer an overwhelming 
obstacle to the general introduction of a form of 
cultivation the success of which must to a great 
extent depend on the possibility of planters being 
able to engage simultaneously a large supply of 
• casual' labour. 
In regard to the general question of the desir- 
ability of a dry climate for growing cotton, it 
would appear that in the United States a very wet 
season is almost as much feared by the cotton 
growers as is a drought. Exceptionally web 
weather is stated to produce weeds and tends to 
make the plant run to wood rather than crop- 
It seems to me to be possible to believe that even 
in the wettest years there is generally sufi&cient 
sunshine here to mature a crop of cotton. I know 
nothing of the climate of the cotton-growing 
districts of the United States, but would suggest 
that there is possibly an unusual lack of sunshine 
during the wet summers and that every hour of sun. 
shine is of great importance when a plant has to bear 
fruit either on a certain date or not at all. After 
the opening of tiie boll there is undoubtedly 
some danger of rain discolouring the cotton if 
left exposed to the weather. Yet I have now in 
my possession some beautifully clean white cotton 
that was purposely allowed to remain on the 
shrub during three days of heavy rain while the 
boll was open. When considering these sources 
of possible disappointment it is only reasonable 
to bear in mind that neither droughts nor gales 
(gales strip the shrubs of blossoms); which fre- 
quently cause immense losses to cotton growers in 
the United States, aie likely ever to cause serious 
loss to planters in the Federated Malay States. 
If, 1 have made out a case for supposing it would 
be worth the while of Government to consider this 
matter seriously, 1 would urge that with a view to 
its doing so, a small Committee, chielly composed 
of planters, should be requested to visit Java and 
observe and record such practical results in regard 
to cotton cultivation as they consider noteworthy. 
Such a Committee should, I would suggest, also 
try to arrive at some anangemeut by which 
Javanese emigration to the Federated Malay 
States might be encouraged. Ihe over-populaiion 
of Java is yearly causing greater concern to the 
Government of that Inland, and for many years 
every encouragement has been offered to labourers 
to leave Java for Dutch possessions, which are 
much in v/ant of coolies. But there is, I understand, 
a strung feeling among the Javanese against emi- 
giating to Sumatra and Borneo. It would seem 
that the same objection does not exist to coming 
to the Federated Malay States, and if it is de- 
monstrated to the Government of Java — as I 
believe it would be possible to do — that Javanese 
emigrants do not generally become permanent 
settlers here, it might be possible for us to come to 
some agreement with the Dutch Colonial Govern- 
ment that would be mutually advantageous. — 
S, F. Press. 
THE COFFEE INDUSTRY OF COLOMBIA 
LANGUISHING FOR WANT OF LABOUK. 
Mr Dickson, British Vice-Consul at Bogota de- 
votes a recent report to the coffee industry and 
trade of Colombia, where the cottee plant is widely 
grown. A few years ago Colombian coffee had a 
high reputation and secured high prices abroad. 
Is was at that time grown in large plantations, 
with good machinery, and was store dried. The 
high prices led to over-planting, and it was thought 
that coffee would replace the quina industry. Bub 
there was nob sufficient labour to keep all the 
new plantations going, and many of them had 
to be abandoned before the plants matured in 
the third year. The revolutionary war which 
broke out in October, 1899, gave the final blow 
to the enthusiasm for cotifee planting, and 
ruined the few plantations which survived the 
previons crisis. At present, matters are even 
worse, for labour is scarcer than ever, by reason 
of the loss of life through war and disease. The 
existing plantations lose half their coffee from want 
of labour ; the greater part of the produce of the 
last three years is still stored in the river ports, 
for there is no way of despatching it, while the 
colfeestored on the estates is deteriorating. Formerly 
the cost of exporting was one-third of the net 
value in .London; this has now increased owing 
to excessive charges both of transport and storage. 
With the exception of a fev/ estates on the Magda- 
Una river, it appears that it does nob pay to grow 
coffee in Colombia when the price on the New York 
market falls below four pence per pound. The 
cost of production cannot be reduced below two 
pence, and the cost of transport is about twopence 
also. A tree from four to eight years old will 
yield, in small and well-cultivated plantations about 
one pound of coffee annually ; in large and less 
cared for plantation the yield is about half that 
amount ; the price in Colombia range according to' 
quality, from 3^d to 5^d per pound on the average. 
Of all the coffee produced in the country only 
a small quantity remains at home in normal years, 
and it is usually composed of beans damaged by 
the machinery. Owing to the disturbed state of the 
country and the increasingly scientific cultivation 
in Brazil, Colombian coffee is losing favour, especi* 
ally as that now being exported is three years old. 
The report describes the different qualities of 
Colombian coflfee and the different processes through 
which it passes before fit for consumption. Before 
1899 the export was, roughly, thirty to thirty-five 
million kilos, and the value, on the averagCj about 
eleven million dollars.— London TUnes, 
