July  i,  1896.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
7 
“ The  process  of  topping  is  restored  to  in  Jii- 
'•beria  tnongh  wo  are  not  told  at  what  height,  tlie 
objects  being  cheap  gathering  (the  crop  being 
“ hrongVit  within  the  coolies'  reach)  and  additional 
“spread,  which  of  course  means  a larger  plucking 
“ surface,  whilst  the  other  advantage  claimed  for 
“ wide-spreading  trees  is  that  they  keep  the  grass 
“ down  more  than  those  which  are  allowed  to  run  up. 
‘ We,  how'ever,  weed  our  estates  so  regularly  over 
“ here  that  though  the  greater  the  spread  the  coffee 
“ acquires  the  less  is  the  cost  of  weeding,  this  fact 
“ even  combined  with  cheap  harvesting  would  not  be 
“ considered  a sufficient  reason  for  topping  our  coffee. 
“ There  are  many  of  us,  however,  who  believe  that 
“ by  cutting  the  heads  off  our  trees,  we  not  only 
“drive  the  strength  of  the  treet  outwards  into  the 
“ primary  and  secondary  crop-bearing  branches  in- 
“ stead  of  letting  it  run  off  into  “top,”  but  by  this 
“ process  also  secure  a sturdier,  healthier  and  equ- 
“ ally  heavily  cropping  tree.  As  nevertheless  opi- 
“ nions  are  divided  on  this  subject,  some  planters 
“claiming  that  trees  allowed  to  run  up  give  larger 
“ returns,  it  is  important  to  note  that  nowhere  does 
“ Mr.  Johnson,  who  would  scarcely  be  likely  to  lose 
“ sight  of  such  a material  point,  make  any  allusion 
“ to  this  whatever.  By  inference  therefore  the  Li- 
“berian  coffee  tree  in  the  habitat  to  which  it  is 
“ indigenons  yields  no  less  when  its  growth  is  arti- 
‘ ficially  cut  short  and  directed  in  an  unnatural 
‘ direction.  It  appears  to  me  perfectly  clear,  then, 
“ that  we  can  gain  nothing  in  the  way  of  increased 
‘ returns  by  letting  our  cofce  run  up,  whilst  the  dis- 
“ advantages  of  this  system,  some  of  which  have 
“ been  already  noticed,  are  innumerable.  The  ques- 
“ tion  we  now  have  to  solve,  is  at  what  height  to  top.” 
This  question  of  topping  is  a most  important  one, 
I have  lately  seen  a lot  of  trees  on  two  estates  in 
North  Borneo  which  were  undoubtedly  much  dam.iged 
by  being  topped  too  low,  but  there  was  still  one 
point  not  clear : whether  they  had  not  been  allowed 
too  great  a growth  before  being  topped ; however 
this  may  have  been  in  a great  many  cases  the  trees 
almost  died,  and  had  not  fully  recovered  their  crop- 
ping power  at  the  end  of  two  years,  while  others, 
i»n  topped  growing  close  by  were  clothed  with  a 1 luxu- 
riant foliage  and  were  heavy  with  fruit.  Speaking 
for  myself  7 feet  is  (nowj  the  lowest  height  at  which 
I would  fop  while  I am  sure  that  trees  should  not 
be  topped  too  far  down  when  they  have  once  grown 
up,  always  keeping  in  mind  on  the  other  hand  that 
to  top  green  wood  stems  is  to  kill  the  tree  bark 
for  a foot  or  18  inches  lower  than  the  cut  top. 
In  Mr.  Lyall’s  half-yearly  report  on  coffee  in  the 
Straits'  we  read  “ coffee  to  3’ears  has  parted 
hands  at  from  “fSOO  to  jjiGOO  per  acre,  and  it  is 
reported  that  $700  has  been  refused  for  some  ,5.^ 
years  old  coffee.”  These  figures  are  worthy  of  the 
w-tmost  consideration  by  all  interested  in  North  Bor- 
neo. Mynah. 
— British  North  Borneo  Herald. 
♦ 
THE  TRADE  OF  JAVA. 
BY  M.  QUILLET  ST.  .\NGK. 
Java’s  commercial  situation  did  not  improve  ap* 
preciably  during  the  last  nine  months  of  IS'H.  But 
the  crisis  became  a little  less  acute  on  account  of 
the  gradual  diminishing  by  sale  of  the  stocks  of 
sugar  which  had  been  lying  in  warehouse  for  over 
six  months.  The  planters  at  last  resigned  themselves 
to  selling  part  of  their  stock  at  cost  price — about 
7 fl.  !)0c.  the  picul  in  warehouse— as  some  of  the 
banks  were  refusing  further  credit,  and  others  were 
asking  exorbitant  rates  of  interest.  On  the  oQier 
hand,  the  rainy  season,  which  usually  comes  to  an 
end  in  May,  lasted  in  1894  till  July.  The  planta- 
tions suffered  severely  in  consequence.  On  large 
areas  of  land,  situated  at  some  distance  from  the 
factories,  the  crops  had  to  be  totally  abandoned, 
as  the  buffalo  waggons  could  not  be  used,  owing 
to  the  softness  of  the  water-soaked  earth.  As  the 
net  result,  the  embarrassment  caused  by  the  plethora 
of  1893  will  be  succeeded  by  trouble  due  to  the  failure 
of  the  1894  harvest.  “Java”  coffee  production  has 
rapidly  decreased,  having  fallen,  in  a few  years,  from 
1,100,1100  to  370,000  piculs,  and  the  situation  is  becoming 
woi  se  and  worse  owing  to  the  ravages  caused  by  the 
heinilcia  vastalri.r.  The  Government,  which  has  been 
deeply  affected  thereby,  is  energetically  pushino-  the 
cultivation  of  “ Liberia  ” coffee,  which  has  hitherto 
appeared  proof  against  the  disease,  but  it  takes  not 
less  than  five  years  for  a plantation  to  produce  a 
satisfactory  crop 
Among  the  smaller  traders,  the  recoil  of  the  mis- 
fortunes of  the  two  great  industries  is  necessarily 
felt,  baukruptcies  being  pretty  numerous.  But  the 
importance  of  these  must  not  be  exaggerated.  The 
bankrupts  are  mo.stly  Chinese  and  other  Ariatics; 
whose  commercial  methods — due  to  excessive  toler- 
ation— are  so  well-known  to  European  merchants 
that  not  even  the  most  confiiing  of  them  allows 
himself  to  be  dragged  into  the  smash  which  is  the 
frequent  epilogue  of  the  Asiatics’  adventurous  spe- 
culations. Europeans  are  chiefly  affected  by  tUe 
stagnation  of  trade  which  causes  them  material 
losses.  Certain  articles — and  they  are  fairly  nu- 
merous— must  be  sold  quickly  in  this  warm,  damp 
climate.  Such  are  provisions,  preserves,  silk  staffs, 
&c. ; if  kept  in  stock  too  long  they  are  injured  and 
have  to  be  sold  by  auction.  To  make  up  for  losses 
of  this  description,  the  retailer  tries  to  make  a profit 
of  70  to  100  per  cent,  on  what  he  sells.  French 
merchants,  I am  glad  to  say,  have  suffered  less 
comparatively  than  those  of  any  other  nationality 
through  the  crisis  which  has  now  lasted  for  over 
a year. 
Perhaps  their  business  would,  however,  be  more 
prosperous,  their  orders  placed  in  France  better 
understood  and  e<ecuted,  it  there  existed  among  them 
that  union  which  assures  everywhere  the  success  of 
the  Gormans.  French  merchants,  • lacking  infor- 
mation themselves,  send  incomplete  instructions  to 
their  agents  at  home,  cousequoutly  the  orders  are 
often  badly  executed,  and  the  result  is  disputes 
refusals  of  paymeni,  etc.,  things  which  are  all  hurt- 
ful to  credit,  and  to  the  progress  of  business  It 
is  to  be  regretted  that  the  French  Colony  is’  not 
large  enough  to  study  the  possibility  of  creating  a 
Chainber  of  Commerce.  I think,  however,  that  such 
an  institution  would  be  a precious  guarantee  of 
success  for  the  increase  of  French  trade  in  the 
Netherlands  Indies,  if  it  included  in  its  member- 
ship a few  men  capable  of  properly  directincr  its 
efforts.  I took  the  initiative  some  time  baffit  in 
bringing  together  the  French  merchants  on  the  first 
and  third  Sunday  of  each  month.  My  object  was 
to  place  before  them  the  commercial  publications 
which  I received,  to  show  them  correspondence 
w'hich  had  arrived,  and  to  submit  to  them  ofers  from 
French  producers.  The  merchants  came  regularly 
at  first,  then  came  more  seldom,  and  finally,  either 
through  indifference,  or  because  they  did  not  like 
to  lose  their  Sundays,  they  ceased  coming  altogether 
I see,  in  reading  tue  reports  of  my  colleagues  of 
the  French  Consular  service,  that  the  same  errors 
are  repeated  by  French  merchants  in  nearly  the 
same  form  in  all  exotic  countries. 
As  regards  everyday  articles  of  domestic  consumn 
tion,  cheapness  is  the  first  quality  looked  for  and 
to  this,  French  exporters  do  not  seem  to  be’  able 
to  resign  themselves.  Apart  from  alimentary  produee 
the  inhabitants  of  the  colonies  are  inapt  to  dis 
tuiguish  good  manufacture  from  bad,  and  if  by  ev 
perience,  they  discover  the  distinction,  their  im' 
providence  prevents  them  from  taking  advantage  of 
the  knowledge.  Fully  understanding  this  appears 
to  me  to  be  the  true  cause  of  the  success  of 
German  industries  in  many  centres  where  French 
industries  fail.  But  if  colonial  consumers  accord 
itt  e favour  to  French  produce  on  account  of  its 
high  price,  they  know  how  to  appreciate  French 
workmanship,  executed  under  their  eyes  It  is  « 
Frenchman,  M.  Roupel,  boot  and  shoe  manufac- 
turer  at  Batavia,  who  has  secured  the  contract 
over  the  heads  of  five  Dutch  competitors,  to  supply 
footgear  to  ^e  army  for  ten  years,  tfie  minimum 
supply  being  2,000  pairs  a mouth.  The  native  soldiera 
of  the  colonial  army  formerly  went  barefooted,  but 
during  the  Lombok  expedition  a great  number  died 
