49- 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Jan,  I,  1897. 
— ♦ 
To  the  Editor. 
TEA  IN  SOUTH  CAROLINA,  UNITED 
STATES. 
Billiter  Square  Buildings,  London,  E C.,  Nov.  22. 
Dkar  Sir, — I notice  reference  to  ]\Ir.  Charles 
N.  Shepard’s  Tea  in  South  Carolina  in  yonr 
Overland  Observer  of  27th  October.  When  in 
South  Carolina  myself  last  March,  I spent  some 
days  with  Mr.  Shepard  who  was  most  kind  in 
allowing  me  to  inspect  his  tea  gardens.  He  also 
showed  me  some  extremely  fine  samples  of  his 
productions.  Mr.  Shepard  is  one  of  the  most 
interesting  men  I have  met  and  what  at  first 
astonished  me  much,  was  his  perfect  knowledge 
of  men  and  matters  of  our  island.  This  however 
was  explained  by  his  informing  me  that  he  was  a 
regular  subscriber  to  the  Overland  Observer. 
He  takes  tlie  keenest  interest  in  Ceylon  and  I tried 
to  persuade  him  to  take  a run  over  and  pay  it  a 
visit  and  this  I hope  he  will  do  when  his  domestic 
affair’s  ijermit.  I shall  long  remember  my  visit 
to  Pinehurst  and  when  I come  out  next  month 
for  a few  weeks,  I will  be  very  pleased  to  tell  you 
all  about  his  tea  trees. — Yours  truly, 
J.  M.  MAITLAND  KIKW’'AN. 
THE  DUMONT  COFFEE  COMPANY. 
Central  Province,  Nov.  2.). 
Dkar  Sir, — Do  Me.ssr.s.  P.  R.  Buchanan  & Co. 
really  think  that  anyone  here  ^\ill  take  shares 
in  the  Dumont  Coffee  Company,  Limited,  because 
Mr.  Talbot  wires  home  that  their  coffee  property 
excels  in  luxuriance  anything  he  lias  seen  in 
Ceylon,  Straits  and  Java.  How  often  were  Ceylon 
oftee  planters  led  on  by  the  will-o’-the-wisp  luxuri- 
ance of  their  fields  one  month,  and  the  next 
month  they  had  to  howl  over  a virulent  attack  of 
bug,  gout  or  leaf-disease?  I fancy  Messrs.  P.  R. 
Buchanan  I'fe  Co.  find  the  .syndicating  of  this 
Dumont  Coffee  Company  rather  a trying  business. 
—Yours  truly,  “ ONCE  BIT  TWICE  SHY.” 
COFFEE  IN  THE  CONGO  STATE. 
Greenwood,  Nov.  26. 
Dear  Sir, — I notice  your  leader  of  November 
24th  on  “Coffee  in  the  Congo  State.  ” I do  not 
think  tliat  much  reliance  ought  to  be  attached 
to  the  report  of  Mr.  FI.  Laurent,  Professor  in 
the  Agricultural  Institute  at  Gembloux,  Bel- 
gium, who,  I surmise,  has  never  seen  coffee 
growing  in  the  open  before  his  trip  to  Afiica 
and  had  a special  mission  as  Government 
servant. 
In  1892,  I went  to  the  Congo  as  Director 
of  the  State  Plantations.  Eight  months’  ex- 
ploring brought  me  to  the  conclusion  that  no 
planting  enterprise  could  be  lucrative,  be- 
cause : — 
1st. — There  is  no  local  labour  available. 
2nd. — T!ie  mortality  of  the  imported  labour 
is  excessive,  leaving  alone  the  difficulty  and 
cost  of  importation. 
8r,I. — 'I'lie  soil  is  generally  of  a |)oor  nature, 
covere<l  with  rank  high  grasses.  Gidy  the 
very  steep  banks  of  the  rivers  are  wooded  in 
the  Lower  Congo. 
4th. — The  dry  season  lasts  six  months  with- 
out a single  shower, 
.">th. — The  v:et  season  is  only  a succession  of 
“ tornados,”  strong  winds  accompanied  with 
heavy  showers  lasting  a few  hours,  at  intervals 
of  from  4 to  15  days;  but  sunshine  with  90® 
in  the  shade  meanwhile. 
6th.— The  railway  Co.  had  fixed  the  price 
of  transport  from  Stanley  Pool  to  Matadi 
(when  the  rail  shall  reach  the  former  place  !) 
at  the  franc  per  kilo  of  coffee  (ab  out  F^d 
per  lb.). 
7th. — Irrigation  is  not  to  be  thought  of.  The 
streams  running  generally  in  deep  clefts  in  un- 
dulating tablelands,  would  alone  render  the  cost 
prohibitive. 
Deeming  these  circumstances  insuperable,  I 
sent  in  my  resignation  and  left  a country 
which  may  well  be  called  the  “ Strangers’ Grave”, 
for  the  mortality  amongst  the  Chine.se  and  Negro 
imported  labour,  as  well  as  Europeans,  was  ap- 
palling during  my  sojourn. 
In  a garden,  in  the  station  of  Leopoldville,  on 
the  banks  of  Stanley  Pool,  a couple  of  hundred 
Liberica  coffee  trees  of  five  years  had  a fair  crop 
ripening.  They  had  to  be  regularly  watered 
during  the  dry  season.  A large  amount  of  them 
had  Hemileia  vastatrix  on  the  berries  as  well 
as  on  the  leaves,  but  few  trees  seemed  to  suffer 
much  from  it.  The  seed  was  imported  from 
Monrovia,  where  I had  made  a stay  and  visited 
several  gardens,  but  had  noticed  no  signs  of  the 
presence  of  the  fungus. 
The  coffee  plants  mentioned  by  Mr.  Laurent 
to  be  in  the  district  of  the  Cataracts  arc  prob- 
ably the  result  of  the  seeds  distributed  by  me  on 
my  return  to  the  coast. 
Be  Tobacco — two  experienced  Sumatra  tobacco 
])lanters  sent  out  for  a Syndicate,  during  the 
time  I was  in  the  Congo,  agreed  entirely  with  the 
conclusions  expressed  above  and  left  the  country 
before  me. — I am,  sir,  yours  truly, 
A. 'VAN  DER  POORTEN. 
NUTMEG  CULTIVATIOxN  IN  THE 
WEST  INDIES. 
Edinburgh,  Nov,  27th,  1896. 
Dear  Sir,— I bought  a copy  of  your  valuable 
work  “All  about  Spices”  several  years  ago. 
I am  interested  especially  in  nutmeg  cultivation, 
having  a plantation  of  nearly  400  acres  in  the 
Island  of  Grenada.  The  trees  about  20,000  in 
number  were  planted  in  1880,  ’81,  ’82,  ’88,  and 
’84.  and  are  coming  steadily  into  beaiing.  I 
shall  be  glad  to  know  if  you  have  published  any 
thing  recently  on  nutmeg  culture  that  would  be 
of  use  to  me.  — I am,  dear  sir,  yours  faithfully, 
PRO  PRI ETOR.  (Authenticated. ) 
[We  can  only  refer  our  correspondent  to  the 
volumes  of  the  Tropical  Agriculturist  for  infor- 
mation gathered  from  all  parts  of  the  world  of 
what  is  doing  in  “ nutmegs  ” since  our  Manual 
was  published.  The  T.A.  is  filed  in  most  of  the 
West  Indian  Islands  by  order  of  the  Colonial 
Governments. — Ed.  T.A.] 
MANURING  TURNIPS  AND  COFFEE. 
Gammadiia  Group,  Gammadua,  Dec  19. 
Dear  Sir, — I enclose  a cutting  from  the  Afrc/rfcca 
Free  Press,  which  I think  ought  to  be  widely 
known  and  jtreserved  in  the  Tropical  .Agriculturist. 
With  this  before  me  the  idea  has  occurred  to  my 
mind  that  possibly  manuring  coffee  in  the  olll 
days  with  coffee  pulp  had  something  to  do  with 
bringing  about  destruction  to  our  coffee, 
