700 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
[April 1, 1902. 
To the Editor. 
PLANTING IN FIJI : COFFEE, CACAO, 
TOBACCO, TEA, &c. 
March 14. 
Dear Sir,— You will recollect the letter ia 
your Observer issue of 21st November, 1901 from 
"a Fijian correspondent and the useful informa- 
tion you supplied re^^ardin^ Fiji, three days 
later. ' Having lately had a long and courteous 
letter from the same gentleman, I purpose giving 
you a few extracts from it for the purpuse of 
placing before such of your planting readers as 
may be seeking "pastures new," a truer version 
of the state of affairs in Fiji today than we 
are accustomed to hear in Ceylon ; our informa- 
tion being taken from tlie experience of men who 
went there 20 and 15 years ago and had to 
leave it, disgusted with the ante-European 
governments of Sir J B Thurston etc. All that 
is now changed. And here is what he says :— 
" I regret to say that in the whole of this 
group there is not a single planter or a plan- 
tation such as is understood in Ceylon but the 
country is crying ouc for good men' with a little 
money and I know every possible assistance will 
be ' given by the Governmemt and Banks to 
proper bona fide planters who may come here. 
" Under the late Sir J B Thurston's adminis- 
tration everything was done to check and 
baulk ihe influx of Europeans but that order 
of things has passed. We have now new lines 
of steamers and shall have cable communication 
before the end of 1902. 
" You have probably been told that coffee had 
leaf disease here ; soil may possibly have had— 
but the principal grower 20 years ago fell out 
with the Governor, Sir J B Thurston, and the 
estate was destroyed by order of the Govern- 
ment, more out of personal enmity than because 
of the leaf disease ! Another small coffee planter 
who had not satisfied the native owners of land, 
lost all \iis coffee ; bub we happen to have aa 
neighbours the very natives, v;ho declare that, 
to get rid of him, they filled bamboos with 
.salt-water and irrigated his nursery and young 
plantations with it at night. All I can say is, 
let any one come and see the cnffee growing 
wild aiid the cacao too. My brother and I have 
pnt in the first 100 acres of cacao in Fiji with 
seed and plants obtained from the Govern- 
ment Botanic Gardens, and the present 
administrator and all residents are mostly 
interested in the growth and progress of this, 
because very high returns are being made in San)oa 
from cocoa. This is the only small patch in Fiji 
being propagated commercially but there are some 
thousands of single trees scattered through the 
group and L'rowing in native villages, giving im- 
mense returns per tree. 
" Unfortunately we cannot give all our time to 
the cacao as we have to make expenses out of 
the shipment of bananas, which also act as shade 
to the young cacao, and are now more than 
paying all costs. There are some 20 or 30 banana 
planters who grow nothing else. The largest of 
these has under 500 acres, and one and all know 
/ittle of the plant they cultivate, nor do they 
study the question. They stick in a sucker and 
wait 9 to 15 months for the fruit, where a Ceylon 
man would thrash out the matter and find out 
the banana most suitable for the country and 
the market and ascertain how to proQuce large 
healthy bunches of uniform size, etc. 
" Coffee, pimento, vanilla, pines, rubber, and all 
citrus fruits are thriving splendidly on our place. 
Vanilla grows wild everywhere; it has been intro- 
duced in the group, but only one planter cures 
it at present. Kice cultivation was started 3 
months ago and promises well, and cardamoms 
were introduced last mouth and seed just g'er- 
minated. 
" Tobacco is first-class but we have only one 
maker. All the cigars sold here are manufactured 
in thegioupbut they are not sufficiently made 
to export. Copra— very little— is being planted, all 
the present owners of copra estates having bought 
in at nominal figures 10 years ago when the price 
dropped and the few enterprising men could not 
afford to hold on ; bub prices are good now and 
there is much money in copra (coconuts). 
" Personally I know nothing about tea but, as fai 
as I can judge, I should leave it alone iu favor 
of copra, coeoa or coffee. There is only one tea 
estate managed by a man from Ceylon and owned 
by a storekeeper who is desirous of selling, as he 
has other interests to attend to. It is 600 acres, 
of which 300 are planted up (age not stated). 
Their out-put is about 40,000 lb. per annum but 
they can barely supply the local demand. All 
Fiji-grown tea is protected by a duty of 6d pei 
lb. The above is a good going concern with 
modern machinery and is run by Indian coolies 
indentured." 
I gather from my correspondent that there ia 
not the slightest use in going to Fiji on the chance 
of picking up employment as a planter, but to 
one who has a little capital and a fair knowledge 
of planting there is every prospect of success. ] 
am not at liberty to disclose publicly all of my 
corresponient's letter — and this is not an adver- 
tisement, but is meant for the benefit of those 
planters who are obliged to look out elsewhere— 
at the same time I shall be glad to give anj 
further information in my power,— I am, denr sir, 
yours faithfully, MACARONI. 
"KAINIT": A NEW MANURE FOR 
COCONUTS. 
Colombo, March 18. 
Dear Sib, — We beg to hand you enclosed 
copy of our leaflet. The value of Kainil 
which we think will be of interest to a\\ 
your readers of the planting community, 
Kainit should prove a great success witb 
all those who grow coconuts and keep cattle, 
etc. The experiments made at home are a 
striking proof of its use in connection wit! 
farm manures.— We are, dear sir, yours 
faithfully, 
FREUDENBERG & CO. 
[We quote one paragraph, and furthei 
particulars will doubtless be supplied to en- 
quirers, by Messrs. Freudenberg & Co. ;— 
"Kainit" prevents the loss ot nitrogen and 
humus matter. A considerable amount of niiro- 
gen and humus matter is lost when farm manure 
lies in large piles exposed to the air for any length 
of time. This loss can be prevented by scatter 
ing Kaiait over the piles, The eost of Kaini 
