THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [August i, 1891. 
and their musty smell was with ua for furlor gs at a 
■■ time. At last we reached our destination, and werf 
glad indeed to get a Iour driuk. 
The coffee in East Java is wonderful. As in other 
countries, there aro failures : but the succesees are 
marvellous beyond description. All the oolI< e is grown 
under dadap shade ; and where the soil has any 
inclination to stiffness, it is constantly worked up with 
ohangkol. The young coffee is v. ry forward ; but 
perhaps figures of actual results will be more interest- 
ing than the most glowing descriptions of appraraiice. 
One estate that I went over givea tbe foWimn^, re- 
turns: — Total area 450 bonwp. Age of coffee 12 yi ars 
oM to 2h years old. All expenses, including the cost 
of the young coffee net yet in bearing, are paid : and 
the coffee has further given a clear profit of two 
hundred and fifty thousand rupees over and above the 
capital invested. Ye goda and little fishes ! Let us 
pray that the Malay Peninsula may erupt heavily. 
The old saying is, "It's money that makes the mare 
to go." I am sure that it's volcanic actioa that 
makes the coffee to grow. 
I am more or less sensitive about being called an 
Ananias : so I give the following figures taken from a 
Dutch Directory. The rssults are extraordinary, but 
I simply tell the tale as it was told to me. The ap- 
pended table will, lam su:e, be of interest to many 
a planter ; — 
r p 
H 
to 
o 
O 
m 
(=> O 
O O 
1-4 CO CO CO rH (Si 
O O O 
CO O O CO 
O Tjl lO 
(M O O O 
CO o o o 
o t- o c> O O o 
fiJ iC t-- ^ ^ O 
rH CD o) O 
CD l>- '-^ 00 
— CO "5 S o o 
CO O CI ^ --^ CD 
CO " " CO CO 
t-i o o 2 o o 
T^t CO o "5 S o o 
o lo ri 12 o o 
CM ira ^ CD CD 
o o o ^ ^ o o 
O O CO o O 
CO '•^ E2 CO CO 
CO ca CO ^ CO CO 
ifS o o o ^ . o 
O CO 
O O CO 
CD to 
o o o o 
. O O o o 
o 
a 
cr 
cd 
a 
m 
o 
'3 
g 
ce 
tm 
a 
Ml 
'a 
o 
a 
0 
c5 
o 
^ 
n 
i 
% 
Let any practical planter work out these figures, and 
be will find a very healthy average at the end of 
them. The estimate for Limburg this year is 11,000 
piculs ; and there is every reason to expect that it 
■will be realised. 
I have B(-eu no poor soil. All is very rich, and of 
volcanic formation. The strongest complaint that I 
heard was that there was too much a'^h in it. Con- 
sidering that the analysis of tho ci.ffse bean shows 
over 60 per cent, of potasb, ash must be indeed abundant 
to be a sense of ooiiipl«infc ! 
The hospitality of Bast Java is unbounded. Horses, 
cirriagos— everything in fact is put at your disposal; 
and tbe merest stranger treats his visitors right royally. 
Another inau and myself went to an es^cte the mana- 
ger of which was unknown to u-i. Wo introduced 
ourselves and aske I to be allowed to see his coffee. 
He took I S oviT the wbole himself, and then after 
liquoring n^ up and asking us to stick up a cigar 
seegar obstaken) ho iuui.itpd on lending us his car- 
riage to go on with, as wo should find it inconveniently 
liot to go on cidiug. 
The Java syttera of cultivation is thus : they work 
the soil, not the bush. But little is done to the 
bushes after topping, except taking ofl? tbe suckers 
but the soil is krpt constantly worked up and open. 
Very little manuring is done : in feet one planter said 
to me " If my coffee needed manure I should aban- 
don it at once." I went over one estate that had just 
given 10 piciils per bouw. The coffee looked well and 
iu good hearr, a.id able to be the same next year. 
With resui's ^ucl) es I have given it is not surpris- 
inj; (hat thtre should have been a heavy rush after 
coffee lands lately, and almost all available land has 
b' en takf n up. A frieud of mine has just got a con- 
cession of 7,600 bouws, and this I balii=ve is practically 
the last land to be got in Bast Java. I hear however 
that the Assistant Besideiit of Bawean is rather sore 
about the rush oa Eisl Java, assorting that he has 
better lands on his iiilai d, which being thickly popu- 
lated, offers a sure supply of cheap labour. Bawean 
is iu regular commnnicntion with Java, and is only 
8 or 10 hours' sie^-m from Soembaya. 
Tbe climate of the hills is delightful ; cool and 
bracing : and I think that if Singaporeans realised that 
such it celightfui litila sanatarium as Prigin could be 
reached at soch a cheap cost, more would avail them- 
selves of it. 
I aho heard much of a sanatarium at Tosari, 
6,000 ft. elevation, but had no time to sample it 
myself. 
Tbe country swarms with game. A few days aeo a 
planter shot three tigers tbrte nights running. You 
can scarcely go a hundred yards without finding pig- 
track ; Rnd there is otht-r game in abundance. 
Anybody contemplating the trip direct to Soerabaya 
should go by S. S. "Bawean." She is clean and 
comf<irtable wi h gt-od f jod, a first rate Captain, artist, 
muBioian, raconteur, and general good fellow. 
I have omitted one thing which struck me especially, 
and that was the extraordinary readiness of the Java- 
men to give you their figures. If you say ''■By Jove! 
that, sounds healthy." The reply is " Weil, here voa 
are; you can copy the figures if you like" and out 
come tlie books. One man was so kind as to have his 
account , which were in Dutch, copied out in 
English for me. During my trip I came in contact 
with Scoich, English, Dutch and German ; and upon 
my word ii is hard to eay wh i h showed the greatest 
kindness to a stranger in a sti ;i.,go land. 
A young Englishman caught a boa-constr'ctor a jEew 
days sgo. He was out with two coolies, when he sav? 
the snake, and immediately rushed and seized it by 
the tail, calling oa his coolies to do the same. They 
pluckily did so : but the great brute dragged them all 
along after it. Seeing it was hopeless to capture it 
thus, the mester told his men to hang on to the tail 
while be ran swiftly along the body and collared it by 
the neck. After a fierce struggle they noosed it and 
got it home, nnd caged it secur^ ly. Being at the 
bungalow shortly afterwards I asked to see the snake. 
" Oh certainly " said my host ; " but he will be in the 
water now ; however, I daresay I can stir him up. 
The bep-st was 30 feet in length. The same young 
gentleman had unexpected visitors some time ago, and 
as is not u[iusual in the jungle the lardi-r was empty; 
however he managed to put on the table some very good 
steak which, after they had enjoyed it thoroughly, he in- 
formed them was moiikey-fl&sli. They wore horrified and 
disgusted ; however they called on him OQ their return 
journt-y a few days afterwards, when in a loud voice 
he called out to his boy to "Kill a monkey." His 
uuests smole to each other. Iu due course tifHu arrived. 
First came soup — and then the steak. The guests to 
each other wunk an evil wink, arid handed their steaks 
to the dogs. The host meanwhile ate calmly on, being 
mucin bantered by his friends about eating that 
"beastly monkey flesh." \Vhon he had quite finished, 
ht; lay calmly back in his chair and said "Well, do you 
know, I think I have scored off you fellows again: 
the meat which I ate nnd which you gave to the dogs 
was good beef-st(-ak : but tho soup which you seemed 
30 to ei'joy was monl^ey-^oup." 
Before I closa these jottings I must sound a note of 
warning. Let no aspiring young planter wishing to 
