396 
THE TR0P10M- AQRItSOLTURlST. 
[December i, 1890, 
LETTERS FROM JAMAICA : NO. 82. 
WEATHEE — COFEE CROPS — PRICES FOE COFFEE IN LON- 
DON — CEYLON VERSUS JAMAICA — LABOUR SUPPLY — THE 
FORTHCOMING EXHIBITION— RAILWAY EXTENSION. 
Blue Mountain District, for Packet of Aug. 12th; 
Dear Sir, — It is quite six months since I ad- 
dressed you ; the only excuse I can make is that I 
have not had sufSoient materials for a letter. 
First, as to weather among these Blue Mountain 
hills : we had during the five first months of the 
year, more rain than we needed — not that it was 
heavy, but continuous showery weather with very 
few intervening fine days, so that it was impossible 
for us to do much coffee preparation till June, for as 
you know we have to prepare our coffee on the estate 
ready for shipment. On the other hand other parts 
of the island, even those below us and not far off 
as the crow flies, have sufiered from drought, and 
I fear it will cause light and short crops in the low- 
lying districts of the island which are mostly owned 
by settlers, and would in Ceylon be termed native 
coffee. My own coffee in the high fields in exposed 
places Bulfered very much from the cold cutting 
N.-E. winds, and the constant showers ; the ends of 
the branches turned black and had quite a frost- 
bitten appearance. It was only in the highest coffee 
in Ceylon, and in hollows, that I have seen the like. 
It is evident that 4,000 should be the limit at which 
Jamaica coffee should be planted; 3,000 feet is by far 
the best height, as we are so much more to the 
northward, and have quite a marked winter. I am 
glad to say that most of my neighbours had good 
crops and did very well ; on old Jamaica properties 
crops seem to alternate : after a large yield. One 
must look for a shorter one the coming year. 
As to prices, Ceylon appears to have done better 
in London than Jamaica in Liverpool. I saw in 
the T. A. list that one Ceylon property had touched 
I32s and 133s ; this is what our best marks 
usually obtain for number one quality. I fancy 
the highest price is given in London for “ pea- 
berry,” but this is seldom separated in Jamaica, 
as the sizers do not seem to be perforated to extract 
the peaberry : my sizer, one of the old fine sort, 
does not. Some little time ago I noticed in one 
of the Tropical Agriculturists a letter from a 
Jamaica planter, who was evidently not a Blue 
Mountain but a Manchester coffee planter. In one 
of my previous letters No. 22, 1 described Manchester 
coffee, and how totally it differed from ours, being 
grown under the shade of trumpet trees, without 
which shade it strangely cannot thrive : the land 
is flat, the soil red, as in parts of Devonshire ; 
and there is a subsoil of marl which is fatal to 
the coffee tree if the roots reach as far. On the 
other hand our hills are very steep, suitable land 
has to be picked out, and the conditions far more 
favourable than those of Udapussellawa andHaputale 
in Ceylon, but we have no open patanas, the sea 
is only some ten miles off, and the hills altogether 
are very much more scarped and abrupt. 
As regards Immigration, it is to be again 
resorted to, but not before an attempt has been 
made to obtain indentured labour locally, by a 
system of yearly contracts, the employer to pay 
Government the sum £2 10s for each labourer so 
supplied, over and above his daily wages. £2 of this 
sum is to bo handed to the labourer as a premium 
at the end of his contract. I am not of opinion 
that this plan will meet with much success, and it 
certainly will not be popular amongst the planters 
and other employers of labour, who will not care | 
to pay the £2 10s extra yearly for labour procured . 
locally. In the case of East Indian coolies it is I 
different, as it is natural the planter should bear the , 
principal cost of importation. Neither do I think 
the 3s 4d extra a month will induce our local 
Jamaican to bind himself to any such ar- 
rangement, as he loves his liberty too dearly, 
and might fancy it was a dodge to introduce a 
species of slavery. As to the local coolies who 
have served their time, a few might be induced to 
tender for the sake of the £2 bonus, but they 
mostly prefer to become keepers of rum and other 
shops. As to such coolies who are free and are now 
working on some of the sugar estates, this new plan 
ought to suit them, as by binding themselves for a 
year they would get two pounds a year in addition 
to their present wages. It would in my opinion be 
best to send for coolies at once, and if they could 
be got from the Madras Presidency instead of 
Bengal, a much better working man and physi- 
cally stronger, would be obtained, some perhaps 
with experience of Ceylon or Mauritius. 
Our Exhibition buildings are, from the account I 
read in the newsparers, progressing satisfactorily anil 
there is the hope that they will be all but completed 
by the middle of January. The Governor has been 
visiting various parts of the island and stirring up the 
people to action. The consequence is that two 
or three local exhibitions in other towns in the 
island are to be held so that the people will get a 
good idea of what the large Exhibition is intended 
for. That the Exhibition will draw attention to 
Jamaica and her products, and make her to be 
better known all over the world, there is no doubt ; 
but no one seems to expect a financial success, as 
our own population is not sufficient to make it pay, 
the expense of travelling will deter many from 
visiting it, and it is too long and expensive a trip 
to expect many to come from Europe where they 
can see very much finer exhibitions ; but no doubt 
it may induce many Americans and West Indians 
to visit us, if sufficient accommodation is available. 
With this view a law has been passed to induce 
people to build hotels without delay. Government 
guaranteeing 3 per cent interest on sums so legally 
invested, so it is hoped sufficient accommodation 
may be available by the time the Exhibition opens, 
towards tho end of January. I hear also that the 
railway is being pushed on, and that the first 
12 miles will be ready by contract time, i.e., one 
year after commenceinent; this is the section of 
main line to Montagu Bay ; the branch to Port 
Antonio has not yet been commenced. W. S. 
GEMS GALORE ! 
The big catseye found in the Morawak Korale 
has been purchased by the same Moorman dealer 
who had collected together the fine gems recently 
desoiibed in our columns. His offer of R16,000 
for this latest find has been accepted and the 
Moorman has started off for Galle to take over 
this precious stone. — The Eangwelletenne sapphire 
reported to us as worth £100, is now being out 
under Mr. Siedle’s care and is pronounced worth 
at least £200. A few more of such stones wiU make 
a handsome dividend for the “ Gemming and 
Mining Company of Ceylon Limited” apart from 
their other returns. 
The Experiment which Las been made to cul- 
tivate tea in South Afiiea has not been successful. 
The Natal Tea Company has decided to perform a 
“ happy despatch ” by voiuniary liquidation. The 
first subscription of £3,000, it appenrs, is all spent, 
while the tea produced last year did not pay the 
working expenses. The chairman’s explanation was 
the familiar complaint — insuffioiont capital. — 
anil C. Bxpress. 
