484 
Ty.P fmP)OkL AQRIOULTURlftt. fjAifUARV 1, 1898. 
supervision in aucb ease being requited ss it is easy 
to see whether the ground be well cleared or not, 
aud the size of holes be:ng determined previously, 
there oati be no dispute about the matter afterwards. 
It is surprising how muoh better tbe Chinese work 
when they are paid by tbe task rather than the day, 
aud singular enough they are better coatent, working 
harder and earning less by the former system than 
the latter. Few labourers in the world can equal them 
when working on their own account, but on regular 
wages they »re most complete eye servants: thfy are 
however upon the whole the best class of field 
labourers. The usual monthly pay to good strong men 
is 3 to 3J Spanish dollsrs per month, but those 
who have become expert at any particular work very 
soon discover their value and cannot be kept without 
an increase of wages. Malays are to be had for 
dollars 2J per month, and it is well to mix tliem 
with the Chicese; in making sheds for trees and all 
work where the rattan is used, they are more expert, 
they are also more to be trusted, and are a very 
wholesome check upon the vagabond tons of Han. 
Patience and temper are eminently necessary to get 
on with the Malay; they are not to be driven, but 
kindness and a little banter occasioaallv have excellent 
effect upon them. The Boyans are the most quiet, 
the most honest, and the most to be trusted of any 
of the races we see here ; they are very slow and 
not over bright, but they perform their work as well 
in the absence of the overseer as before him, and they 
are by far the best nut gatherers. The Klings, or 
natives from the coast of Coromandel, are good 
workers if they choose to exert themselves, but they 
are the mo°t wretched eye servants, and seem to de- 
light in cbicauery of all sort^ : unlike the Malay, fear 
is tbe only motive capable of excitins thsm to action, 
and the application off-ie Mundoyr'sor Superintendent's 
rattan sf ems the only argument they understand ; they 
are chiefly valuab e in taking care of hordes or oattl», 
cutlirg pra^s and driving carts, all other work is 
better done by Chinese or Malays; their wages is 
about the fame as Chinese labourers, that is from 
3 to 3i dollsra per month. 
Manuring, making theds over yoang plants, and 
extirpating bad ffrasfes, sre works which had better 
be performed t>v the regular monthly labourers on 
the estate, aud indeed so fo^n as a plsntati )n comes 
iuto bearing all contract labour must cease, as by 
rdmittiug btraugers the facilities f'^r robbery would 
be more than any supervision could frustrate. The 
number of men to bs kept on an t state, to preserve 
it in first rate order, after it has come into bearing, 
must depend of course upon the size of the plantation, 
but in general one man ftr every 100 trees will 
be found sutficieut, proviJeu there be some 4 to H 
thousand trees. On a small scale the proportion 
must be greater, as the idlers, such as those who 
take care of and j repare tliH spice, gatiher tbe nu's, 
and mrma^e tli'i hor es and carts, tell more upon a 
small than a large scale. A man by plfnliQ^; the 
Guinea grass and feeding cattle may make his own 
manure, aud I believe it to be the best mode of 
proceeMn)?; those who depend upon the town for 
their supplies will frrquently meet with disappointment 
and never obtain suah good manure. The price of 
manure generally speaking is a' out 8 cart loads for 
the doHa', racb cart containirg 20 baskets. I 
coaceive that two such carts with a siiiiila" amount 
of burned earth to bo little enough manure for a 
tree of 12 years of !»ge. It is a'most impossible for 
a Plinter to manure the whole of bis trees in the 
same season, if they amount to several thousands : 
in this case the lest plan is to divide the property 
into f-ections, manuring them in re^'ular rotation, and 
to apply a few baskets of miinure as top dr^jssing to 
aiiv p'irti' u'ar trees that shew .symptoms of flagging. 
The nutmeg I'lantf.ris under tho necessity of kcejjing 
up nurterics thr<;ughoiit the whclo of bis o]ieratio:is, 
for the replacement of bad pliiiits mid redu'Hiaiit males. 
Of the lat'er, ten per cent seems to bo about the 
b st proi)orti(Jii to ki";r, but 1 would have completely 
JJiyicioiia tri'i-s. 1S'(j person can boast to get a 
iilantatiou completly tilkd up and in perfect order 
mncb Boouer tbao 15 years. Of the iirst batch plaiitcd 
not more than one halt v»ill turn out perfect females, 
for I do not take iuto account Mouseoious trees which 
I have already condemned. The tree shows flower 
about the 7th year, but the longer it is before doing 
so, the bett'r and stronger will it be. I cannot refrain 
from a smile when a sanguine planter informs me 
with exultation that he has obtamed a nut from a 
tree only 3 or 4 years planted out, — so much the 
worse for his chance of suocsss, too great precocity 
being incompatible with strength and longevity. The 
best trees do not shew flower before the 9th year, 
and one such is worth a score of the others; This 
will be evidest when it is stated that I have seen 
several trees yield more than ten thousand nuts ea^h 
in one year, whereas 1 do not believe that there 
is a plantation in the Straits that averages 1000 from 
every tree. This very great disparity of bearing 
shews plainly that the cultivation of the plant is 
not yet thoroughly understood, or greater uniformity 
would prevail, and I think it clearly enough points 
out that a higher degree of cultivation would meet 
its reward. It is not quite safe to cut down the 
male plants upon first shewing flower, as they many 
times show perfectly female flowers the following 
year, and in that ease are generally the strongest 
and finest trees. But there is some indication of this 
in the first mode of flowering. When the racemes are 
many times divided and have numerous flowers, there 
is no chance of its becoming entirely female, but 
where there are only two or three flowers on a raceme 
there is a fair prospect of its doing so. The tree 
has not been introduced in^o the Straits BufBciently 
long to determine its longevity, hut those introduced 
and planted in the beginniug of the present csutury 
as yet shew no symptoits of decay. The exneriment 
of grafting the tree?, which at first view pre-'euta 
so many ad\antages, both in a.-curiug tbe finest 
quality of nut and the certainty of the sex, has still 
to be triel in this cultivation. Some three years 
ago, I succeeded iu gralting several plants by approach, 
thesd are not sufficiently old for me to decide whether 
it be desirable or n jt. for a'thou^h the plants are 
looking well and growing, they as yet hive thrown 
out their branches in a straggling ii regular manner, 
having no lejders, aud coneeqaenfcly they cannot throw 
their brauohes in the regjHr verticles necescary 
for the perfect formatiou of the trea, without whicU 
they must ever be small aud stunted, a:;d cocscquently 
incapable of jieldiyg auj quautity of produce. Tiie 
gratis huvi; succeeded so far as st>ck and scion 
becoming our, and iu time a perpsuuicular shoot 
from the wooi may appear. If after this it should 
increase in size aud rtre 'gth fo as to form a tree 
of full dimeQBioMs the aivantage gained would be 
worth any t oabl.', the quality of some nuts beiug 
so far abov<» that of oiliprs it would mate a d fference 
beyond p-esent calculati m ; in short 1000 such piokfd 
trees at the present prices would jield foire'hing 
equivalent to twenty thousand dollars per annum, 
for $-20 per tree wonid be a low estimate for such 
placts. If this evdr does occur it will change the 
aspect of the cultivation altogether, and I see no 
good reaso.i why it ^hould not, except that tho^e 
possessing trees of the quality a'lu 'ed to, would 
not very wil.iugly permit others to graft from them, 
so it is oaly the already successful planter who can 
try the experiment prope'ly. 
BARK AND DRUG REPORT. 
(From the Chemist and Druggist.) 
London, Nov. 2lBt- 
ClNOHONA.— The periodical actions of cinchona bark 
were barely up to ihe average - b regards quantity offered. 
The total supplj in the Cfttalogues consisted of 
Packages. Packages. 
Ceylon... ... 999 ot which 97a were so d 
East ludiaa ... 400 „ 379 
Java ... ... lua ,. 87 
South America... 193 „ 110 ,, 
1,754 1,548 
Tlie hark ottered cjntained a more than avra^e por- 
tion of Oiticitialis parceU from India and Ceylon, and 
also included a supply of about ilJ packages of Darjtel- 
iugbiirk, a vfirioty which has not boon offered in public 
