December i, 1891.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
THE AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS OF 
MADAGASCAR. 
M. d'Anthouard, Chancellor of the French Kesi- 
dency at Antauanarivo, has recently made to the 
French Government an interestinK report upon the 
eoonomio condition of Madagaeoar, a translation of 
which appears in the Journal of tlic Society of Arts 
for July 3l8t, and is reproduoed in Science. In that 
portion of the report which is devoted to the con- 
sideration of the agricultural development of the 
island, it is stated that the chief agricultural pro- 
ducts are sugar, coffee, cocoa, vanilla, cloves, rice, 
potatoes, tamarinds, indigo, wine, oranges and lemons. 
Sogar cnltivation was first commenced in 1842; and 
two factories were erected at Manangary. Good 
results were obtained in the first two years ; but, 
during the third year, riots took place among the 
workmen, and the plantations were destroyed. In 
1878 three new factories were established in the 
neighborhood of Tamatave ; and in 1883, on the out- 
break of hostilities between Prance and Madagascar, 
they were in full working. At the present time, the 
number of plantations round Tamatave has greatly 
increased ; and also in the south, towards Mahanoro 
and Vatomandry. 
Coffee trees grow well in Madagascar, and it is 
stated to be by no means an uncommon thing to 
see plantations that are 45 years old, and even more, 
which liave never ceased to yield good resuUa. A large 
plantation has recently been established ia Imfriuo by 
a French corrpany ; it extends over an area of about 
800 acres. Great results are expected from the deve- 
lopment of the coffee industry of ]\Iiidaga<?oar, aa the 
difference between the cost price and the price it 
realizes in European markets allows of a coEsiclerable 
outlay on its cultivation and then leaves a large mar- 
gin of profit. 
The cocoa tree was introduced Jnto Madagascar by 
tneans of seeds brought from the Mauritius and Ee- 
unioD, in which places it hag been for a long time a 
source of considerable revenue. The tree commences 
to bear at the end of three years, but it is only in full 
bearing at the end of the fifth year, and it so remains 
for thirty years. The coat of cultivation is less than 
that of coffee. The cocoa tree is chiefly cultivated in the 
Eastern portion of the island, and it is only of recent 
years that the industry has assumed any importaace. 
In 1883 there were not less than 5,000 or 6,000 trees 
round the ooasf, and these were abandoned when the 
war broke out. After the war it was found that, 
notwithstanding the want of care and attention, the 
young cocoa plantations were still flonrishing, and this 
phenomenon encouraged the plaviters to pay greater 
attention to the development of this cultivation. This 
development dates from the year 1838. Like cocoa, 
vanilla is one of the agricultural product? which has a 
great future before it in Madagascar, and its cultiva- 
tion is largely engaged in, in Vatomandry, Mahanro, 
andMahela. Vauilla plants commenoe.to yield after the 
third year, and in the fourth they are in full bearing. 
The cultivation of rice, which is well developed in 
the interior of the island, is very much less so 
on the coasts, where the land is more fertile. While 
in the latter districts the inhabitants are content to 
sow the seed without any preparation of the ground 
but the burning of the trees and grass, the Hovis and 
the BeSsileoa, having a much poorer toil, take more 
pain to develop and perfect their system of cultivation. 
In some instances, for example, in the teighbourhood 
of Antananarivo, they have transformed immeufe tracts 
of marsh land into lice plantations. The plains o£ 
Betsimitatatra, towards the west of the capital, which 
are watered by the Ikopa, Androaiba and Siiaony 
rivers, now the centre of the rice produotioLi in Imerina, 
have been drained and cleared, irrigating canals have 
been pierced, and everything has been done to fdvour 
the production. Similar well cultivated plains are 
found in great number in the soulh of Imerina and 
in Betsileo. In the mountain districts the rice 
grounds are laid out in terraces on the b1o])os of tho 
moQutains and hills, and rice grounds are frequently 
met with rising tier upon tier up to tho very summit 
of the high mouotaiua. 
Potatoes are largely cultivated in the districts round 
Ankaratra. Tamarinds are comoion all over the west 
coast, where the plants form immense thickets. The 
Sakalaves distill spirits from the fruit. Peaches grow 
almost wild all over the island, and the same mav be 
said of tho indigo plant. 
As regards vines, there are different species in 
Madagascar. One variety was originally imported from 
Portugal ; another variety appears to bo indigenous 
to the soil. In Imerina attempts have been made in 
recent years to acclimatize vines, but some which 
were brought from Bordeaux have not succeeded. 
On the other hand, American vines have prospered, 
but the grapes are not of a superior kind, and the 
wine made from them is very poor. Orange and 
lemon trees are found all over the island, growing 
in a wild state on the coasts, and cultivated in the 
iniQxiov.—- American Grocer. 
^ . 
TEA IN JAPAN. 
There is no more curious incident in the history 
of the fool siipplies of the world than the great and 
sudden change that has occurred in countries as the 
homo of tea. It is but a feT years, and easily within 
the memory of all of us, when the mention of tea at 
once brought to mind visions of the celestial empire, 
and cultivators in picturesque emooks and long pigtails 
find the fact that on a few bills in Northern and Sou- 
thern India and in the steamy lowlands of Assam, Eng- 
lishmen could be found who devoted their time and 
attention to the cultivation of this shrub was regarded 
almost as a freak of nature, while the men themselves 
were looked oa iu much the same light as farmers, who 
pass their lives growing fruit-trees for the sole purpose 
of converting their yield iato jam. But the Chiuamau 
with the yoke and buckets is now almost defunct in 
the imagination of the British puolic, and Ceylon 
and India stand out prominently as the countries from 
which the breakfast tables of the Western world are 
to be supplied with that leaf, so long considered as a 
luxury only accessible to the very rich and wealthy, 
but now a necessity for the mechanic and labourer 
in fact no working-man who aspires to the smallest 
show of comfort would be content without his cup of 
tea. One of the effects of this sudden change in the 
cultivation of tea has been to prove that there is no 
particular difficulty attached to its growth and 
manufacture, and so long as a land possesses soil 
that is fairly productive, and a climate which is 
fairly moist, the shrub will flourish and crop 
well. Consequently we find throughtout tropical lands 
a general desire to participate iu the profits be- 
lieved to exist in its cultivation, and Java, Japan 
Borneo and the Fiji Islands are all converting their 
jungle into tea-gardens. The result naturally is a 
e.\treme risk of over-production, which will, of course 
be felt first in those countries whose labour supply 
is not perfect but expensive, and which do not 
possess the best faculties for cheap manufacture and 
cheap transport to the markets of the West. 
(-1 British Consul in his report of the trade of 
Hiogo ftud Osaka has given recently au interesting 
account of the cultivation and the trade of tea ia 
Japan, where it has only been recently taken up. 
There is not much tear of this country ever becom^ 
ing a very serious rival to Ceylon and India in the tea- 
msrkets of Europe, but it is said that the United 
States have shown a mitked preference for the 
Japanese leaf, which is likely to retard the sales 
of British-grown kinds in that country, ]\Ir. Consul 
Boslie iu his report states that, owing to tho inces- 
sant rains having forced the growth of the leaf, the 
quality of the ficdt crop provel disappointing, 'and 
had it not been for tho effect which tba marked 
advanco iu silver had on exchange (higher rates 
preventing later tois from being laid down as cheaply), 
the re (!au be little dottbt ttiat the season would 
li.ive proved an unsatisfactory one to shippers. As 
eupplies incrcisod, price- gradually declined, until they 
showed a drop of from two to three dollars on the 
earlier prices for tho better doaoriptions of leaf, aud 
