Jan.  r,  1897.) 
TIIK  TROPIC  U.  AGRiCULTaRHT. 
467 
Ido  not  pretend  or  s, ay  tlint  tliifi  dinner  constitutes 
in  itself  the  rehixaton  ; no,  hut  it  is  a tjood 
stait,  and  if  any  planter  wants  nnjre  relaxation, 
why,  he  knows  where  to  «o  and  5,'et  it  (Ianjj;htcr). 
1 said  that  we  have  had  our  crops,  for  some  tlie 
second  or  third,  for  some  their  maiden  crop.  Here 
remark,  please,  how  appropriate  the  word  maiden 
is.  The  striving  after  those  lew  hundred  pounds, 
represented  by  tlie  maiden  crop.  Is  certainly  quite 
.as  exciting,  and  in  its  inner  working  (jiiite  as 
poetical  anti  interesting,  although  not  quite  so 
ple.asant,  as  the  wooing  of  a fair  maid.  You 
remember  when  you  had  decided  to  turn  planter, 
the  looking  lirst  for  the  land,  that  was  to  be  the 
picic  of  the  land,  the  tramping  up  hill  and  down 
dale  ; but  that  w.as  nothing.  Tlie  troubles 
began  when  you  oegan  canv,a.ssing  for  friendly 
advice  (laugliter).  You  went  to  a friend  and 
said,  “ Oh  1 I have  my  eye  on  a splendid 
piece  of  land,  full  of  masiiku  trees.”  “ My 
dear  fellow,  have  nothing  to  do  with  masu- 
ka  land — I kno.v  too  well  by  experience.  Tlien 
you  started  again  and  went  to  another  friend  — 
“ found  the  linest  bit  of  land  out  -deep  loam- 
chocolate  colour — the  very  tiling  to  plant  collee 
on — ” to  be  met  with,  “ Well,  old  chap,  of 
course  the  money  is  your  own  and  you  can  do 
what  you  ple.ase  witii  it,  but  if  you  care  for 
my  candid  opinion,  if  you  want  to  ruin  yourself 
you  could  not  start  better  than  by  buying  that 
laud”  (laughter).  Howe\er  you  linally  take  the 
])lunge,  buy  the  land,  and  there  you  are  land- 
owner and  planter — a country  squire.  Then 
begins  the  whistling  for  labour  which  does  not 
turn  up  and  for  rain  that  won’t  fall,  but  at  hast 
after  all  your  eH'orts  and  exertions  you  .see  then 
the  dower's  on  your  trees,  the  young  spikes  funn- 
ing and  linally  the  young  berries  formed.  Oh, 
those  berries  ! they  are  from  that  moment  the 
children  of  our  hearts  and  we  give  them  all  a 
father’s  care.  We  keep  away  from  them  the 
weeds  .and  the  vermin,  and  when  they  are  ripe 
we  leave  them  to  'oe  plucked  ny  dark  but  comely 
Anf'oni  m.aitlens  and  children.  Then  we  submit 
them  to  the  short  but  severe  trial  of  the 
pulper,  out  of  which  they  come  free  of 
uncoil tlmess,  and  as  “cleanliness  is  next  to  godli. 
ness”  we  wash  them  in  the  tank  prepared  for  them. 
In  this  opera, ion  all  the  bad  characters,  all  the 
refractory  ones,  are  revealed  — uidike  the  child  in 
Pears’  soap,  instead  of  staying  at  the  bottom  of 
the  tank,  these  b.ad  ones  insist  on  coming  to  the 
toj),  and  with  an  aching  heart  we  put  them 
away.  It  is  very  sad  but  cannot  be  bellied— as 
there  are  black  sheep  in  every  dock  so  there 
.are  empty  berries  in  every  crop  (laughter). 
After  the  beans  h.ave  been  w.ashed  .ve  expose 
them  to  the  kisses  of  the  African  sun, 
which  makes  them  ready  for  their  journey 
boil  e,  to  be  admired  by  our  fellowmen  across 
the  sea,  and  be  snatched  u))  as  they  are  offered. 
And  now  see  these  beans,  the  children  of  our 
hearts,  closely  elbowing  each  other  in  a b.ag,  a 
nice  bag,  we  shall  say  a hundredweight  bag, 
marked  with  our  brand.  They  .are  lifted  on  the 
shoulders  of  stahvart  M.achingas,  who  start  on  their 
journey  to  the  river.  We  bid  them  God-speed,  .and 
in  that  moment  we  forget  all  past  troubles,  and 
with  a contempt  for  arithmetic,  which  does  us 
credit,  we  never  stop  to  think  what  a small  part 
of  our  troubles  and  money  those  beans  repre- 
sent, and  after  .all  if  we  had  only  ten  bags  for 
the  dfty  we  expected,  what  does  it  matter  ? A 
merciful  Providence  (or  shall  I s.ay  the  other 
party  ?)  looks  after  its  own,  and  the  next 
crop  will  be  a bumper  crop,  and  soon 
re-establish  Hie  balance  of  accounts.  Yes, 
there  arc  good  times  coming,  but  we 
must  wait.  Do  not  take  this  as  a common- 
place ))latitude,  usual  to  be  said  on  such  occa- 
sions no,  sterling  worth  to  be  proved  must 
stand  the  trial  by  lire  and  i he  fact  is  borne  upon 
me  that  we  are  simply  going  through  a neces- 
sary jieriod  of  (irobation.  Men  die  of  black- 
water  fever  or  other  insidious  disease,  cattle  are 
taken  off  by  some  mysterious  pest  we  cannot 
cope  w'ith,  coffee  is  inflicted  with  bastard 
wood  and  other  passing  ills,  but  we  shall 
go  through  them  all  and  triumph.  Th»re 
has  been  a lirst  period  of  pure  and 
simple  i)ioneering  when  people  did  their  best  with 
a rule  of  thumb,  now  we  are  in  the  second 
period  in  which  we  talk  very  learnedly,  very  learn- 
edly iiuleed,  about  shade,  nuanure,  pho.sphates, 
potash,  nitrogen,  but  still  take  care  not  to  go  in 
for  them  as  we  cannot  afford  it.  Then  there  is 
the  third  period  near  at  h.and  and  this  is  'when 
the  man  with  the  00/  (excu.se  the  vulgarity  of  the 
word  but  it  is  very  expre.ssive)  be  he  the  large 
capitalist,  alilicted  with  .a  plethora  of  cash  apd 
seeking  investment  for  his  surplus,  or  the  young 
scapegrace  whom  a noble  family  loves  very  dearly 
but  likes  to  see  far  away  for  a while,  or  the 
thrifty  son  of  a thrifty  father  looking  for  higher 
interest  for  himself  or  his  jiapa,  the  man  with  the 
oof  I say  will  come,  plank  down  his  money,  apply 
all  the  latest  teaching  of  chemistry  and  .agricul- 
tural science— and  succeed.  When  that  time  comes 
we  shall  know  (within  thirty  per  cent  or  there- 
about) what  we  are  worth.  Two  kinds  of  people 
will  regret  this  new  state  of  affairs— those  gifted 
with  a lively  imagination  who  will  no  more  be 
able  to  count  their  wealth  by  thousands  and  sent 
of  thousands,  and  those  hopelessly  despondent 
jieople  who  affect  to  be  in  a perpetual  lit  of  the  blues. 
Gentlemen,  we  could  otter  to  the  home  investor 
2.3  i)or  cent,  15  per  cent  if  we  w.ant  to  make 
sure,  but  for  a dead  cert.ainty  we  can  offer  12  per 
cent.  Nor  for  10  per  cent  men  will  soar  to  the 
skies  and  go  deep  down  to  the  bowels  of  the  earth 
but  after  having  found,  proved  and  established  a 
truth  the  next  thing  is  to  hammer  it  into  the 
heads  of  the  people  and  this  is  the  task  which 
lies  before  you.  Bring  home  to  the  investor  the 
soundness  of  the  investment  we  offer  and  there 
will  be  no  money  left  at  the  Bank  of 
England  in  a short  time  (laughter).  In  the 
meantime  go  on  working  hard  and  be  of 
good  cheer — there  is  nothing  more  manly 
than  a proper  spirit  of  cheerfulness  under  ad- 
verse circumstances  and  let  your  w.ntchword  be 
patience.  Patience  is  a domestic  virtue  that 
everybody  thinks  the  ea.siest  thing  to  pract  se,  in 
fact  a cheap  virtue  .and  is  identified  get  erally 
with  that  humble  but  very  useful  animal  (whicli 
of  all  our  importations  and  improvements  is  cer- 
tainly the  .successful  one)  the  jackass ; but 
patience,  friend,  is  at  the  s.ame  time  the  virtue 
of  the  strong,  conscious  of  good  and  .solid  work 
done— sulking  is  not  patience,  grumbling  is  not 
patience.  I would  like  to  repeat  the  woi’ds  that 
Oliver  Cromwell  told  his  soldiers  on  the  eve  of  a 
great  battle  if  they  might  not  seem  ludicrous  in 
the  mouth  of  a young  man  like  myself — “ Trust 
in  the  Lord  and  keep  your  powder  dry  ” — that 
means  in  our  case,  go  on  extending  and  improv- 
ing, especially  improving  your  estates,  work 
hard  and  cheerfully  as  you  have  done  before, 
and  success  will  follow — it  cannot  fail  to  come. 
At  the  end  of  my  speech  I cannot  help  ex- 
pressing some  disappointment  at  many  of  our 
fellow-planters  not  turning  up,  Many  have 
