37^ 
THE  TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
[DfC.  2,  T895, 
well  prepared  as  possible;  it  is  largo,  well  picked,  and 
very  clean-looking,  smooth  and  oven,  and  of  bright, 
deep  hlusli-green  colour,  and  worth  in  this  market 
about  85s.  per  cwt.  in  bond.” 
In  connection  with  the  preparation  of  the  above 
sample,  I am,  in  justice  to  it,  entitled  to  state,  that 
I had  had  no  experience  whatever  in  preparing  coffee 
prior  to  iny  sending  away  the  sample.” 
As  this  is  merely  an  outline  we  are  not  able  to 
go  into  the  details  of  Mr.  Buchanan’s  efforts  in 
sugar  planting  in  which  he  was  ably  seconded  by 
his  brother  David  Buchanan,  w'ho  Joined  him  in  1883, 
nor  to  relate  how  he  made  a wooden  cane  crushing 
mill  and  afterwards  a wooden  waterwheel,  but  we 
note  that  in  1880  he  was  able  to  write  as  follows:  — 
“ There  are  now  growing  in  the  Blantyre  garden 
orange,  lemon,  fig,  pomegranate,  peach,  loquat,  guava, 
apricot,  nectarine,  custard-apple,  granadillas,  and 
several  others.  ” 
From  1885  onward  was  the  period  of  the  Arab  war 
and  Portuguese  complications  and  the  records  of  these 
years  are  chiefly  in  the  archives  of  the  Foreign  Office. 
In  1887  it  was,  we  think,  that  Mr.  Sharpe  came  into 
the  country  elephant-hunting,  which  however  had  to 
bo  exchanged  for  the  more  serious  business  of  fight- 
ing the  Arabs,  a work  in  which  the  late  Mr.  L.  M. 
Fotheringham  had  his  full  share.  In  1888  the  fllant^re 
Jfitisioii  iSuppletiient”  was  first  published  and  a few 
stray  notes  here  and  there  helj)  us  to  follow  the 
progress  of  events.  It  was  in  the  same  year  that 
the  present  writer  came  int®  the  country.  At  that 
time  one  could  almost  count  the  Europeans  engaged 
in  planting  or  trade  on  the  fingers  of  one’s  hand 
and  the  chief  stations  were  Blantyre  and  Mandala, 
Chirazulo,  Zoniba  and  Domasi.  Mr  Robert  Buchanan, 
who  came  out  in  1885,  was  at  that  time  in  charge 
of  Zomba. 
In  1888  both  Messrs.  Lindsay  and  Smirie  had  been 
tometime  in  the  country  and  Mr.  Simpson  was  on 
she  low'er  river.  In  March  on  the  same  year  w'e 
read  that  “ the  Brothers  I’ettitt  are  still  holding  their 
own  in  the  country.  Mr  Pettitt  and  Mr.  Marshall 
are  on  their  j'oad  to  (Juilimane  in  the  course  of  their 
trade  ” and  in  May  w e hear  of  Mr.  Steblecki's 
arrival. 
In  December  the  Supplement  reports  Mr.  Sharrer 
as  “ being  on  his  way  up  ” and  having  brought  his 
streamer  as  far  as  Katunga's  filled  with  his  trade 
goods  and  two  months  later  a note  is  made  of  the 
purchase  of  the  site  of  his  present  head-quarters 
from  Kapeni. 
In  April  1889  the  following  paragraph  marks  the 
progress  of  the  Mission  agriculture: — 
“The  Mission  tea  bushes  are  doing  extremely 
well  ; the  gums  have  seeded,  and  we  have  now  plants 
from  them ; Mocha  coffee  is  sown  and  springing 
oranges  are  maturing,  and  there  has  been  a supply 
of  vegetables  for  some  time  past.” 
With  I'egard  to  “outsiders”  we  read: — 
“ Coffee  seems  to  be  doing  well  this  year.  T’he 
Mission  patch  shows  some  light  berry  in  one  small 
part  but  not  so  wide  spread  as  last  year.  The  acres 
of  the  Buchanan  Bros,  in  the  Michiru  valley  are 
perfect;  level  symmetry,  lovely  green  and  laden 
shoots  have  transformed  the  rough  bush  into  a fairy 
land.  The  plants  are  all  young  and  of  the  same 
age,  so  there  is  neither  lightness  in  berry,  borer  in 
stem,  nor  irregularity  in  the  rows. 
Mandala  coffee,  much  older  and  of  course  more 
tried,  is  doing  well.” 
In  October  1889  our  present  Commissioner  passed 
up  to  the  North  End  (of  Nyasa)  on  his  mission  of 
peace  and  shortly  after  the  country  was  declared  a 
British  Brotectorate. 
In  1889-90  the  late  Mr.  Robert  Cleland  was  fre- 
quently at  Mlanje  arranging  for  the  opening  of  his 
station'  there  and  we  well  remember  with  w’hat  en- 
thusiasm he  spoke  of  the  soil,  the  forest,  the  rain- 
fall, and  the  general  suitability  of  the  place  for  coffee. 
During  one  of  his  visits  he  made  a determined 
attempt  to  reach  the  highest  point  of  Mlanje  but 
failed,  and  he  was  the  first  to  discover  the  well 
known  Mlanje  pine. 
Mr.  Duncan  started  his  present  estate  at  Upper 
Mudi  early  in  1890  and  in  July  of  the  same  year 
we  read  of  a great  storm  of  hail  passing  over 
Hlantyre.  “ The  hail  was  woi'so  than  wo  have  over 
seen  hei'o  befoie.  ft  lay  for  days  after  and  the 
natives  gathered  it  in  basketfuls.  ” 
111  1891  there  are  several  arrivals.  Mr.  Bradshaw 
)iassed  up  the  river  and  settled  at  Mlanje  where 
Mr.  Brown  of  Ceylon  had  preceded  him.  Mr.  Brown 
opened  up  for  the  A.  L.  C.  what  is  now  Mr.  Moir’s 
Ijauderdale  Estate.  Mr.  Hastings  also  arrived  and 
took  uji  land  at  Chiradzulo  while  numerous  other 
purchases  were  completed  and  ratified.  Mr.  Adamson, 
now  at  Cholo,  arrived  shortly  after  Mr.  Has- 
tings. 
The  Supplement  has  a doleful  note  in  April  of 
that  year — “ Coffee  is  being  planted  in  all  direc- 
tions  Coffee  plants  have  been  unable  hitherto 
to  hold  out  above  four  or  five  years.  ” The  same 
note  is  struck  in  September  1892,  at  the  time  of 
Dr.  Johnston’s  visit,  but  we  notice  tliat  these  views 
are  contradicted  in  their  issue  for  June  of  the 
present  year  where  despondent  planters  are  told 
to  take  a “little  heartening”  seeing  that  the 
pioneer  patch  of  coffee  in  the  Mission  garden,' 
which  is  fourteen  years  old,  is  “ as  flourishing  as 
ever  ” 
In  August  1891  it  records  the  aim  of  “ The  Buch- 
anan Bros.”  to  reach  the  number  of  1,000,000  coffee 
plants  that  season. 
“ This  sounds  w'ell  and  is  no  empty  sound,  for 
even  the  empty  berry  foe  seems  to  be  succumbing 
to  treatment,  as  did  the  borer  and  leaf-scale.  The 
highest  price  quoted  is  w'e  believe  this  very  Shire 
Highland  coffee — we  want  some  good  name  for  it 
— the  quotation  being  112s. 
“ ilr.  Sharrer’s  plantation’s  arc  said  to  have  laid 
more  ground,  than  any  one  else,  under  culti- 
vation.” 
But  it  is  time  to  stop  as  we  are  now,  so  to  speak, 
on  the  very  borders  of  the  present  regime,  seeing 
that  our  Commissioner  arrived  in  July  1891  by 
the  Chinde  mouth,  and  the  history  of  the  last  four 
years  must  be  tolerably  familiar  to  most  of  us  and 
if  not,  is  it  not  written  in  the  recently  issued  Blue- 
book  ? to  w'hich  we  refer  those  desirous  of  acquiring 
the  latest  information. — Central  African  Planter. 
Cotton,  Coffee,  anu  Vanii,l.\  Cultuuf.  in  Tahiti. 
— Referring  to  the  cultural  industries  of  Tahiti,  the 
British  Consul  states  th.at  Cotton  has  alw.iys  been 
the  favourite  culture  of  the  native  population,  but 
owing  to  the  extremely  low  prices  that  have  latterly 
ruled,  both  locally  and  in  Europe,  its  cultivation 
is  being  gradually  abandoned.  Tahiti  Cotton  no 
longer  pays  to  produce,  and  it  would  be  an  ex- 
cellent thing  for  the  island  and  for  some  of  its 
dependencies  if  the  natives  could  be  induced  to 
undertake  in  its  place  the  culture  of  Coffee,  which 
grows  in  the  island  under  the  most  favourable  cir- 
cumstances. The  quality  tias  boon  declared  by 
European  and  American  experts  in  Liverpool  and 
New  York  respective!  v to  equal  West  Central 
American  in  aroma  and  in  general  qu.ality.  Coffee 
would  be  the  ideal  culture  for  the  natives,  but  so 
far  only  a few  of  them  have  been  induced  to  set 
out  small  patches,  for  the  reason  that  as  they  only 
live  for  to-day,  they  cannot  as  yet  be  persuaded 
to  undertake  an  enterprise  from  which  a return 
can  only  be  expected  after  the  first  three  years. 
The  one  attempt  made  by  any  foreigner  in  this 
direction — a small  plantation  of  seven  acres,  planted 
some  three  years  ago — shows  conclusive!)'’  that  this 
enterprise  could  be  made  to  pay.  The  annual  pro- 
duction of  Coffee  is  at  present  3 to  4 tons  only. 
The  cultivation  .and  curing  of  Vanilla  in  Tahiti  is 
being  neglected  in  consequence  of  the  inferior  quality 
as  compared  with  that  ot  Mexico,  Bourbon,  and 
Seychelles,  and  the  corresponding  low  price  that  it 
comniiinds.  A hope,  however,  is  current  in  the 
island  that  the  market  value  may  be  increased  by 
the  adoption  of  a more  efficient  method  of  curing 
the  bean  than  that  at  present  in  use.  The  annual 
export  of  Vanilla  is  about  15  tons. — Gardeners' 
Chronicle. 
