igo 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTUKIST. 
[Sept,  i,  1896. 
sional  dry  intervals  in  August  or  September. 
In  some  parts  the  rainfall,  inust  be  more  abun- 
dant in  the  far  West  State,  for  Mr.  Shand 
speaks  of  one  extensive  forest-covered  plain  in 
the  Concession  he  went  to  report  on,  whicli  he 
compares  to  the  Dumbara  Valley— a tliousand 
feet  above  sea  level — but  with  150  inches  of 
rainfall.  And  this  brings  us  to  tlie  one  great 
factor  on  wliich  the  two  countries  ditt’er  : the  far 
richer  soil  and  consequently  bigger  forest,  larger 
and  stronger  cotl’ee  bushes  or  trees  and  immensely 
superior  coti’ee  crops  per  acre,  gathered  in  Costa 
Kica.  On  this  point  there  can  be  no  mistake ; 
all  evidence  goes  to  show  such  returns  up  to  a 
ton  or  two  tons  of  cotl'ee  per  acre  (from  limited 
areas)  as  fully  justilies  an  estimate  of  15  cwt.  per 
acre  average  over  no  less  than  1,500  acres,  wliich  it  is 
Soposed  to  open  and  plant  on  the  Concession 
r.  Shand  has  inspected.  For  ourselves,  who 
have  never  seen  Costa  Rica — and  with  the  ques  - 
tion  of  sufficient  labour  to  be  considered — we 
sliould  have  been  ready  to  put  the  estimate 
down  at  10  to  12  cwt.  ; but  the  return,  as 
estimated,  shows  so  large  a margin  of  profit — 
the  estimates  being  by  mercantile  men  who  liave 
anotlier  independent  report  besides  Mr.  Shand’s 
to  guide  them— that,  even  if  half  were  taken  off, 
there  would  still  be  ample  justification  for  going 
on.  Then,  as  regards  the  iiiode  of  planting,  cul- 
tivation, harvesting  and  especially  of  preparation, 
it  is  interesting  to  learn  that  Mr.  Shand  does  not 
really  tliink  there  is  much  to  be  taught  the  Co.sta 
Ricans.  The  Ceylon  system  of  clean  weeding  is  quite 
inapplicable.  The  soil  is  so  rich  as  to  bear  any 
strain  put  on  it.  From  300  to  400  coffee  trees  per 
acre  are  enough  to  yield  the  crops  spoken  of : and 
to  clear  and  help  ' up  the  earth  for  a limited 
space  round  each  tree  seem  (piite  enough.  In  pre- 
paring coffee,  especially,  the  people  with  the  aid  of 
“OorTlon  Pulpers”  chiefly — the  late  John  Gordon 
at  one  time  had  a factory  in  Kandy,— extensive 
stores  and  barbacues  (all  called  “ beneficios  ”) 
excel,  Costa  Rican  coffee  selling  up  to  107s.  per 
cwt.  The  great  difficulty  is  in  the  “ harvesting” 
since,  owing  to  the  scarcity  of  labour,  there 
is  only,  as  a rule,  one  “plucking”  when  ripe 
and  unripe  cherries  are  all  pulled  off  together, 
so  making  the  outcome  often  very  unequal. 
In  this  direction  there  is  room  for  reform  if  only 
the  needful  number  of  “hands’  can  be  got. 
It  is  surprising  to  learn  that  the  native  Indians 
do  no  work  on  the  plantations,  only  the  Costa 
Ricans  who  pride  themselves  on  being  pure 
Spaniards  ; and  the  President  and  his^  Cover n- 
nient  are  very  anxious  to  have  more  Europeans 
poorSpaniardsor  Italians— introduced  anti  settled 
in  the  country,  to  develope  coffee  lands  while 
supplieil  with  huts  or  cottages  and  gardens  for 
their  own  use. 
So  far,  the  part  of  the  country  chiefly  planted 
with  coffee  has  been  that  called  “The  Interior’ 
surrounding  the  capital,  San  Jose,  and  along.side 
the  railway.  In  many  places  such  gardens  or 
fiehls  have  been  used  up  .so  far  as  coffee  is 
concerned  ; and  then  the  trees  are  pulled  up, 
gra.ss  or  jungle  encouraged  for  a few  years,  and 
then  sometimes  coffee  planted  again.  Rut  Mr. 
Shand  found  also  a good  deal  of  the  old  cotlee 
country  yielding  such  poor  results,  that  it  is 
thoimlit  very  likely  the  people  working  on  it 
would  be  glad  to  be  transferred  to  the  Sarapiqui 
ConcessioiC  where  they  could  earn  more  an<l  be 
better  off. 
Pendiim  the  publication  of  the  reports  referred 
to  and  t7ie  Prospectus  of  the  Saraiiiqui  Estates 
Company-which  is  likely  to  be  supported  by 
several  Ceylon  men  in  liondon— we  need  not 
enter  more  into  detail.  The  Company  is  to 
have  a capital  of  £120,000  and  deals  altogether 
with  a Concession  exceeding  22,000  acres,  most 
of  it  magnificent  forest-land  for  cofiee,  and  run- 
ning from  1,000  to  7,000  feet  above  sea-level. 
Cacao,  sugar,  bananas  aud  tobacco  are  spoken 
of  as  subsidiary  products  ; but  it  is  possible  sub- 
sidiary separate  companies  may  be  formed  for 
the.se.  In  respect  of  saving  of  labour,  “snoutiim” 
(or  “flumes”  as  locally  known)  is  likely  to 
largely  used  in  Sarapiqui ; and  no  less  import- 
ant may  be  the  utilisation  of  river  carriage 
to  brin^  the  crops  to  the  sea,  boats  already 
plying  for  a considerable  distance. 
VVe  liave  said  enough,  however,  to  show  that 
the  Sarapiqui  Company,  established  in  London, 
to  develope  coffee  in  Costa  Rica,  is  likely  to  be 
an  important,  and  we  trust,  for  the  sake  of 
enterprising  countrymen  taking  it  up,  a very 
successful  undertaking.  Ceylon  can  have  no 
jealousy  in  respect  of  “coffee-crowing’’;  while 
there  is  no  chance  of  “tea”  oeing  entered  on 
(profitably)  in  any  part  of  the  Americas. 
THE  NEW  DUTY  ON  COCOA-BUTTER. 
On  Thursday  last  the  House  of  Commons,  after 
a short  debate,  but  without  a division,  adopted  the 
following  Government  motion  : — “ That  the  duty  of 
Customs  now  payable  on  cocoa  or  chocolate,  ground, 
prepared,  or  in  any  way  manufactured,  under  the 
pro>isions  of  the  Act  42  and  43  Viet.,  c.  21,  s.  3, 
shall  be  payable  on  that  product  of  the  cocoa-bean 
which  is  generally  known  as  cocoa-butter.”  As  the 
House  of  Lords  no  longer  interferes  with  questions  of 
Ways  and  Means,  the  adopted  motion  has  now  the 
force  of  law,  and  accordingly  a doty  of  2d  per  lb.,  equal 
to  about  15  per  cent  ad  valorem,  is  now  levied  on 
cocoa-butter,  as  it  has  long  been  on  imported  ground, 
prepared  or  manufactured  cocoa,  while  the  raw  cocoa- 
beans  used  by  British  cocoa  manufacturers  pay,  as 
heretofore,  a duty  of  Id  per  lb. 
At  first  sight  the  contention  that  cocoa-butter, 
which  is  the  fatty  oil  extracted  from  the  cocoa-bean 
in  the  preparation  of  the  commercial  product  known 
as  pure  cocoa,  and  therefore  essentially  a product 
falling  under  the  denomination  of  “ cocoa,  in  any 
way  manufactured,”  should  pay  the  same  duty  as 
foreign  prepared  cocoa  appears  entirely  reasonable. 
That  was  the  view  of  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer 
and  of  the  House  of  Commons.  It  would  appear,  in 
fact,  that  cocoa-butter  has  hitherto  been  admitted 
duty  free  by  a pure  misapprehension  on  the  part  of 
the  Customs  officers,  who  have  looked  upon  it  as  a 
vegetable  fat  or  wax.  In  all  probability  its  duty-free 
importation  might  have  continued  to  the  Greek  Kalends 
but  for  the  action  of  the  Geiman  Government  who 
have  recently  extended  to  the  cocoa  manufacturers 
of  the  Fatherland  a drawback  bounty  on  exported 
cocoa-butter  equal  to  that  which  they  have  already 
been  in  the  habit  of  allowing  those  gentlemen  upon 
exported  cocoa.  This  step  has  called  forth  remon- 
strances on  the  part  of  certain  British  cocoa  manu- 
facturers, who  contend  ihat  the  German  bounty-fed 
cocoa  butter  competes  unfairly  on  the  British  market 
with  their  own  product,  and  the  Chancellor  of  the 
Exchequer’s  motion  is  the  result  of  the  British  makers' 
complaint. 
If  this  were  the  whole  of  the  matter  there  would 
scarcely  be  room  for  doubt  that  the  action  of  the 
Government  was  justified  and  no  one,  we  fancy, 
would  have  objected  to  it.  But  the  question  is  much 
more  complicated,  and  the  British  cocoa  manufactnrers, 
it  eems,  are  not  quite  unanimous  in  welcoming  the 
duty.  The  great  firm  of  Fry  ifc  Sons  of  Bristol, 
for  instance,  are  understood  to  be  hostile  to  it,  and 
their  opposition  was  voiced  in  the  House  of  Commons 
by  Mr.  ,T.  Hudson  Kearley,  the  Liberal  member  of 
Devonport,  who,  as  a partner  in  the  wholesale  tea 
and  coffea  firm  of  Kearley  A Tonge,  may  be  ex- 
pected to  know  something  about  cocoa.  Another 
Liberal,  Mr.  Thos.  Lough,  the  member  for  West 
