March i, 1892.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
653 
cial water supply. Irrigat ion in India spells immunity 
from famine ; there its mission begins and ends; and 
by this knowledge every one of its phases must be 
interpreted. The threatened failure of the Kaveri, and 
the actual failure of the Qodaveri supplies, led to the 
initiation of works in the South, while the several 
stages of irrigation progress in the North were marked 
in each instance by the reourrence of famines. That 
the schemes have been made to pay on the whole, 
and that the expenditure taken in the aggregate leaves 
good interest, is satisfactory, but it must be admitted 
that the State is in every c semore lenient than private 
proprietorslwould be, and that taking into account the 
charges, the frequent remissions, and the princely 
scale of many ot the schemes, the marvel is that so 
favorable a result is secured. 
Our own circumstances have offered but a faint 
reflex of these ; we have had water famines, and we 
always shall have a considerate Government, abun- 
dantly content if it receives interest upon its advances 
to the farmers. But there the likeness ends, and it 
will not bo until our population multiplied many 
times over, comes to press upon the means of sub- 
sistence with a terrible intensity, that we can conceive 
the same urgency for expenditure on water supply 
for agriculture as has existed in Asia. Our irrigation 
is undertaken to develop new cultures, and especially 
highly priced products, such as fruit and wine, while 
at the same timo steadying farming generally, by 
guaranteeing pasture for flocks and grain for the mill, 
in droughts as well as in propitious seasons. This 
being the case there is no need for any undue haste 
or excited adoplion of undigested projects. We have 
made a good start, and what remains is to develop 
our water resources quietly but unceasingly, on sound 
lines. This is not to be done in an instant ; indeed, 
it is a work that will never be absolutely finished. 
The best executive ofBoers reckon that their practice 
is altered materially every five years. Indian engineer- 
ing is thoroughly progressive, and so keen are the 
wits, and so restless the energy of those employed 
upon it, that they are always leaving theic former 
achievements behind, and pushing on to better things. 
It is not simply tb&t each generation, brief as is its 
stay in tho country, improves upon its predecessor, 
but the same officers confess that they have learned 
to avoid errors, to cheapen construction, and to make 
administration more efficient. There is now nearly a 
century ot accumulated experience to work upon 
although the great undertakings have only been com- 
menced in the latter half of it, and still there is a 
buoyant confidence in the accomplishment of larger 
successes than have yet been gained, which is in itself 
one of the most encouraging features of the system, and 
a bright augury for its future. Although State directed 
and State controlk d, there is no visible stagnation among 
the professional officers of the Water Supply Department. 
Australia will do well, therefore, not only to secure 
the present experience of the empire but to take care 
to keep abreast of its development from time to time. 
To sum up then, the legislation of India has Hot 
much to teach us, its administration little, its practices 
little, its relations of State department and people 
little, its agriculture very little, but its methods of 
construction, management of canals, conservation and 
distribution of water can teach us a great deal. The 
circumstances out of which irrigation began are not 
unlike ours, but we may hope that its final outcome 
with us will be very unlike that which it is reaching 
in Asiatic realms, where it provides fresh food fast, 
only to find the population increasing faster, and not 
periiianenlly rising, or likely to rise, in the social, 
moral, or intellectual scale, to even a European 
standard. Given a rational and equitable riparian law, 
a generous onoourngemeut to farmers who enter upon 
new culture, or face the outlay necessary to prepare 
their land for irrigation a keen supervision of trust.", 
by the department, and an intelligent criticism by 
their constituonts of all their prooeedingSi coupled 
with such study and practice at our agricul- 
tural colleges as shall hoIvo local problems in 
a practical manuor, and there need bo no doubt of 
the foture auooess ot irrigation. Thu rroncU system 
of small holdings, Italian skill in dairy farming, 
American methods of co-operation and enterprise in 
making markets are well worth acclimatising, as are 
Indian engineering designs and devices. The outcome 
of the writer's observatiouB in India are at least as 
stimulating and encouraging as those which six years 
ago were embodied in his report upon the irrigation 
of Western America. Clearly existing systems have 
much to teach us, and it will be well for us if Aus- 
tralia, the last continent to be colonised by white men 
and the only one built up solely by Anglo-Saxons, 
should come to be noted for its openness to new ideas, 
its freedom from the prejudices of custom, its readi- 
ness to adopt improved practices wherever they can 
be found, and its progressiveness even in agrioiiltare. 
Our people have been commended for the warmhearted- 
ness of their welcome to strangers. But if they can 
become as well hospitable in thinking, methods of 
working and mode of living, acclimatising and aBsj- 
milating the best of all that has been and now ia, 
they will make no ordinary history and merit no 
ordinary reward. 
THE DUTCH MARKET. 
OiNCiioNA.— The 4,533 bales and 229 cases Java bark 
in sale on December 21st at Amsterdam contain ac- 
cording to the published analyses, 17,350 kilos, sulphate 
ot quinine, or about 4'34 per cent on the average, in 
the roanutactures' bark and 506 kilos, in drnggista 
bark.— -Cocoa-butter : Contrary to their former policy, 
Messrs. Van Houten and Zouen, the cocoa manufacturers, 
have sold in the last two auctions (December and 
January) their produce without reserve. The price 
declined as far as 51c in December (average 55§o), 
and 53c in January (average 54^c). The market has 
become rather unsettled consequently, and although 
the buyers of cocoa-butter at the last auction oould 
realise some profit, the present value being 58c a J 
kilo., it is probable that the market will follow the 
same course as in 1886, when Messrs. Van Houten 
sold also without reserve, until the value had gone 
down to 35c. It is scarcely to be expected that the 
consumption, which is a limited one, will increase in 
proportion as the price falls. — Chemist and Druggist, 
Coconuts in North Borneo bear in five years, and 
the betelnut palm in four years, but the demand 
is so great that cooonut trees in bearing in 
Sandakan let for $2. a year each. We understand 
that Mr. Abrahainson has leased 500 acres at 
Kudat for a coconut plantation. — British North 
Borneo Herald. 
The Sale of Ceylon Golden Tips in Melj 
BODRNE is thaa referred to in the Australasian o 
16tb Jan., the tea being, however, described as 
Indian : — 
Some very high prices have been paid of late for 
small parcels of fancy tea sent to London, and a small 
lot of Indian which has been sent to Melbourne was 
sold at auction on Tuesday by Greig and Murray 
Limited at the highest price at which tea has ever 
been sold in this part of tho world. The parcel con- 
sisted of only five pounds, and was described aa 
Indigenous Golden Tip Fiowory Orange Pekoe. Four 
pounds was packed in a glass cise, and the other 
pound was packed in two tins ; and the selection of 
the leaves lias been going on for the last three years. 
A large number of those interested in the tea trade 
had assembled in the saleroom. The tirat bid received 
was 10s, per pound, duty paid, followed by bids of 
two guineas and three guineas per pound. The next 
advance was to £3 :>s per pound, and after suoceisive 
advances, at first of 5s per pound each, and afterwards 
of 103 per pound, the parcel was finally knocked down 
at ten gumoas per pound. The purchasers were 
Messrs. Alfred Harvey & Co., acting on bohalf of the 
Mutual Store, by whom it is understood the tea will 
bo k«)pt for e:ihibitioa. 
