Oct.  I,  1895.]  THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURL:;T. 
239 
anil  it  is  tlie  K.annani  wlio  lias  tlie  cow : bnt 
sncli  a cow  ! Recently  a doray  tired  of  the 
tinned  article  resolved  to  tre.at  himself  to  a 
little  real  milk  and  sent  his  kitchen  coolie  for 
a supply  from  the  lines.  Would  the  fat  share- 
holder as  he  reclines  in  his  armchair,  like  to  see 
the  dairy  arrangements  on  his  estate  ? Let  him 
follow  me  in  imagination,  down  the  rugged 
path  to  yonder  lines  and  along  the  not  over 
sweet-sineiling  verandah,  in  the  farther  end  of 
which  stands  a poor  corrugated  little  cow,  suffer- 
ing somewhat  from  diarrhoa'a,  but  this  is  her 
normal  condition  ; beside  her  stands  the  abtenu= 
ateil  ghost  of  a calf,  weak  and  trembling  from 
sheer  starvation.  But  here  comes  the  milkman, 
see  him  as  he  cro.sses‘  the  stream  which  runs 
past  tbe  sick  coolie  line,  hastily  washing  out 
the  ojd  meat  tin,  leaving  a little  in  the  bot- 
tom with  which  to  begin  operations.  Need  I 
describe  the  tugging  at  the  poor  torcureil  crea- 
ture ; the  sup[dy  was  indeed  meagre,  but  the 
ini.Kture  was  suthcient  to  do  its  deadly  work  at 
the  bungalow.  Will  any  man  marvel  to  hear 
that  this  doray  got  typhoid  and  shall  we  longer 
wonder  that  labour  is  getting  scarce? 
A CEYLON  PLANTER  IN  CALIFORNIA. 
San  Francisco,  California,  U.  S.  A.  -July  10th  1895: 
I have  been  to  see  several 
TEA  PEOPLE 
lately,  and  the  demand  for  “ Ceylon  ’ keeps  iucreas. 
ing  I am  glad  to  say. 
I met  Mr.  Leechman,  a brother  of  the  worthy 
Colombo  merchants,  he  is  a broker  with  good  con- 
nection : Mr.  Dent,  an  old  Ceylon  and  China  man, 
is  now  the  Tea  man  of  Messrs.  Levy  & Co.,  a very 
wealthy  and  large  wholesale  Grocery  housej  they  are 
doing  well  and  are  'p^^sbing  “Ceylon”  in  this 
market.  A new  man  has  come  here,  a Mr.  Coppin, 
well-known  on  the  London  market  ; be  intends  to 
work  up  the  Indian  and  Ceylon  teas  here,  he  does 
not  do  anything  with  Chinas  or  Japans.  M.  J 
Brandenstein  & Co.,  the  largest  handlers  of  teas  on 
this  Coast,  tell  me  the  demand  for  your  teas  is  in- 
creasing slowly;  I do  not  think  they  are  imulnny  our 
teas,  however,  and  I must  talk  to  them  and  try  and 
convince  them  of  the  error  of  their  ways! 
Mr.  R.  -V.  Webster  is  due  in  New  York  today 
having  been  to  Canada,  Chicago,  &c  , since  he  left 
here  four  weeks  ago  : He  has  done  very  well  so 
far,  this  trip. 
LIBERIAN  COFFEE  PLANTING  IN 
SERDANG— SUxM.ATRA.— NO.  X. 
The  nervous  man  of  Kandy  raises  two  very  inter- 
esting questions ; (1)  is  Liberian  coffee  impi'o\'ing 
with  acclimatisation  ? and  (2)  does  it  not  bear  earlier 
than  it  used  to  ? 
The  first  question  is  a very  wide  one.  In  this  dis- 
trict I know  three  clearings  all  the  same  age  : the 
conditions  are  very  similar  ; and  the  seed  is  all  from  tbe 
same  source.  Two  of  the  clearings  are  very  fine,  grow- 
ing broad  pyramid  or  cone-shaped  bushes,  all  tlirow- 
ing  out  their  primaries  close  to  the  ground,  having 
a sturdy  compact  look,  with  only  aruu-away  here  ana 
there.  The  other  clearing,  planted  under  ex.actly  the 
same  conditions  and  from  the  same  seed — from  the 
same  nurseries,  in  fact,  as  one  of  its  neighbours — 
is  almost  entirely  composed  of  run-aways ; great  long- 
legged  spindly  things,  six  or  seven  feet  in  height, 
and  no  sign  of  a primary.  Succulent  green  wood 
all  the  way,  no  sign  of  its  ripening ; and  the  more 
you  cut  it  the  more  it  runs  away  again.  The 
only  thing  to  do  with  such  a beast  is  to  cut  it  out 
and  supply  it ; or  to  let  it  grow  at  its  own  sweet 
will,  for  there  is  nothing  on  it  to  handle ; and  it 
refuses  to  answer  to  the  knife.  The  question  is,  how 
do  you  account  for  it?  There  are  of  course  always 
30 
some  run-aways ; but  for  three  quarters  of  a clearing 
to  grow  in  this  provoking  way — “ Oh,  now,  this  is  fair 
redek’lous  ! ” 
THE  AGE  OP  BEARING 
is  an  easier  question  to  tackle ; for  we  can  fall  back 
oil  “ chiels  that  winna’  ding.”  For  instance  Mr, 
Hill  in  his  figures  which  he  has  given  to  the  public, 
shows  us  that  on  Linsum  estate  in  1884,  28  acres  under 
four  years,  and  12  acres  under  three  years,  together 
gave  99  cwts,  on  S lian  Estate,  also  in  Sungei  Ujong 
gave  92  cwts.  from  8 acres  under  four  years,  and  28 
under  three  in  1885.  Weld’s  Hill  in  Selangor  1886 
produced  325  cwts.  from  10  acres  under  four,  aqd 
36  acres  over  four  years  old  : while  Batu  Caves  in 
Selangor  in  1888  gave  78  cwts.  from  llj  acres  under 
four  years  old. 
In  Serdang  I have  just  seen  a sample  sent  to 
Europe  from  trees  not  yet  two  years  old  : and  the 
same  trees  I estimate  will  have  produced  more  than 
a picul  per  acre  (133J  lb.)  before  they  are  three  years, 
Regarding  these  trees  tbe  following  blossoming  figures 
miy  be  of  interest.  The  first  blossom  appeared  in 
June  1894  when  the  bushes  were  between  10  and 
11  months  old.  From  this  was  taken  tbe  sample 
I have  just  mentioned.  There  was  again  a blossom 
at  Christmas  : but  the  first  large  blossom  opened  on 
23rd  February  1893.  This  was  a very  fine  one  ; and 
was  followed  by  others,  all  useful,  and  some  distinctly 
good  ones,  on  23rd  March,  24th  and  25th  May,  2nd  and 
iMi  June,  and  3rd  July. 
Now  if  our  neiwous  friend  will  give  us  the  dates  of 
blossoming  and  beai'ing  in  Ceylon  in  the  seventies, 
the  eighties  and  the  nineties,  the  comparison  will 
be  most  interesting.  I am  sure  II.  W.  will  be  only 
too  glad  to  give  us  his  B.  N.  B.  figures  as  well. 
Perhaps  few  people  know  how  much  bucketing  about 
a Liberian  tree  can  stand.  There  is  an  instance  of 
it  here.  Last  Yule  Tide  a two  year  old  tree  was  dug 
up,  put  into  a tub  and  used  as  a Christmas  tree, 
“After  the  opera  was  over”  the  tub  was  removed 
into  the  garden  where  it  stood  neglected  for  some 
months,  when  it  was  noticed  that  the  coffee  tree 
was  throwing  out  suckers.  It  was  promptly  sawn 
down,  and  transplanted,  with  the  earth  round  the 
roots,  to  fill  up  a vacancy,  and  is  now  coming 
on  well,  with  three  healthy  suckers  already  throwing 
out  primaries. 
I should  like  to  know  if,  by  practical  men,  it  is 
considered  good  to  allow  the  first  blossom  to  fruit, 
or  whether  it  should  be  stripped  “ to  allow  the  bush 
to  strengthen.”  I saw  some  double  distilled 
dunderhead  writting  to  the  latter  effect  in  a Bang- 
kok paper  recently.  Beneficent  nature  does  not  like 
her  gifts  thrown  back  in  her  face  ; and  if  she  gives 
you  a good  blossom  and  you  strip  it,  you  may  bet 
your  last  pair  of  boots  that  next  season  will  be  a 
bad  one.  The  old  dame  will  have  it  out  of  you 
one  way  or  another.  Who  does  not  remember 
the  prudent  man  who  was  not  going  to  shave  his 
cinchona  until  a certain  age  ? What  did  canker 
do  for  him  ? And  where  was  the  market  when 
he  came  on  it  ? Take  what  you  can  get  and  be 
thankful. 
COFFEE 
is  going  ahead  here.  In  this  district  another  “contract” 
of  2,000  or  3,000  bouws  has  just  been  taken  up  and  will 
be  opened  forthwith.  But  there  will  be  some  awful 
howling  grief  in  the  future  : and  serve  ’em  jolly  well 
right  too  1 The  idea  here  is  for  a man  who  could 
not  tell  the  diffei'ence  between  K’Koffee  K’Kokkonuts 
and  K’Kabbages  to  open  land  close  by  an  es. 
tablished  coffee  estate,  and  to  copy  the  mode  there 
as  well  as  he  can.  Uublushingly  they  try  and 
suck  your  brains.  More  land  is  shortly  to  be  taken 
up  ; and,  in  short,  it  may  be  said  that  coffee  is 
going  ahead. 
Once  before  I said  that  I would  like  to  penetrate 
THE  BATTAK  COUNTRA'. 
Many  thanks,  old  man,  I’d  rather  take  a split — 
not  too  much  soda.  A short  time  ago  I heard  some-; 
thing  about  the  Battak  Postal  Service.  Just  now  a 
neighbour  has  had  a nearer  experience  of  it : and 
I find  that  on  this  estate  the  Battak  Post  has  been 
used  more  than  once  ; but  before  my  time  1 
