544 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Feb.  I,  1897. 
COFFEE  PLANTING  IN  SUMATRA. 
Mr.  W.  Turin"  Mackenzie  who  iia.s  come  to 
Ceylon  on  a visit  from  tlie  Straits  "ave  an 
Observer  roi)rescntative  an  interestin"  account  of 
collee  plantiii"  in  Sumatra.  Jjately  Mr.  Mackenzie 
has  been  travelling  in  Perak  ami  Selangor.  The 
coftee  that  he  saw  there  he  described  as  doing 
very  well  and  he  has  a great  o[)inion  of  tlie 
country  remarking,  “I  wouhi  chuck  u|>  my 
Sumatra  land  tomorrow  to  take  uy)  land  on  the 
Government  terms  tliere,  Imt  the  climate  of 
Sumatra  is  very  mucli  better,  .at  .all  events  than 
that  of  Perak— witness  the  churcliyard  at  Taping 
which  speaks  for  itself.  It  is  excellently  well 
furnished  mostly  with  men  under  3.")  years  of  age, 
malaria  being  tlie  gre.at  .scourge.  lint  to  return 
to  Sumatra,  I have  4,300  acres  of  l.and  tliere 
jiart  of  which  I am  about  to  open.  For  the 
most  part  the  land  consists  of  jungle,  hut  a 
sm.all  portion  has  been  iilanlcd  with  tobacco  and 
another  sm.all  portion  with  coconuts.  As  regards 
labour  I consider  the  supydy  to  he  the  best  I 
have  seen  out  of  Ceylon.” 
“ Which,  according  to  some  people,”  interpo- 
lated the  pressman,  “is  not  very  good.” 
“Well,”  replied  Mr.  Mackenzie,  “I  w. as  a good 
many  years  in  the  isl.and  and  I never  had  any 
difficulty,  though  I heard  a good  m.any  comidaint.s. 
Our  labour  in  Sumatra  is  indentured  labour  from 
Java.  It  is  easy  to  manage,  the  coolies  being 
under  the  direction  of  a Mandor,  mIucIi  is  the 
same  thing  as  a Kangany.  We  p.ay  0 dollars  a 
month  for  men  and  3 dollars  a month  for  women, 
which,  roughly  speaking,  is  .about  U12,  and  HO 
resyieclively.  You  have  to  give  00  guihlers  (a 
"uihler  is  aboat  1/Sd)  advance  jicr  hc.ad.  Thirty 
"uilders  are  recoveralile  from  each  cooly, 
and  thirty  guihlers  has  to  be  written  oil' capital  ac- 
count. Of  this  latter,  20  guilders  goes  to  the 
cooly  broker  in  Samarang  and  10  guilders  go 
for  the  cooly’s  p.assage  and  expenses  in  reaching 
the  estate.  Every  cooly  is  registered  before  a 
m.a"istrate,  he  is  measured,  and  his  name,  age, 
village  and  special  marks  taken.  E.ach  cooly 
has  his  own  paper,  describing  himself  and  when 
he  is  employed  that  paper  is  locked  up  in  the 
estate  safe  by  his  employer.  Do  they  ever  bolt? 
you  ask  ? Not  very  often.  On  e.ach  estate  there 
are  private  i>olice,  who  are  also  em))loyed  as 
tapal  runners,  &c.,  and  they  generally  know  when 
a cooly  is  going  to  bolt.  If  they  iuid  out 
he  is  h.andcuiled  .and  .sent  to  the  Controller 
who  gives  him  12  days  for  the  first  oll'ence  ami 
one  month  for  the  second  offence.  It  is  in  the 
Sardaii"  district  of  the  Island  that  the  coffee  is 
planted"  There  is  an  Itali.an  planter  whose  four 
years  old  coffee  hast  year  gave  10  piculs  an 
Lie  equal  to  1,333  lb.,  an  acre.  On  aiiot  ler  estate 
well-known  to  me  owned  by  at  icrman,  and  on  v Inch 
the  coffee  will  be4ye.ars  old  next  year  the  crop  or 
the  current  year  w.as  piculs  an  acre.  0'>  this 
German’sestate  I know  of  coffee  that  was  picked,  dm  d 
cured  and  desiiatced  to  Hamburg  before  the  trees 
were  20  months  in  the  ground  It  is  the  wonder- 
ful richness  of  the  soil,  and  it  is  hardly  to  be 
believed. 
“Does  this  not  injure  the  trees”? 
I h.ave  heard  people  say  it  does;  but  I don  t 
believe  in  tlnat  .argument.  We  were  told  not  to 
take  the  b.ark  from  our  cinchona  trees  uiilil  tin  y 
were  so  imany  years  old  ami  so  on  but 
the  men  who  waited  for  the  market  found 
that  the  market  went  aw.ay  fiom  tlicim 
When  nature  offers  you  a thin",  .take  it,  dint 
wait  for  the  “tomorrow.”  She  may  then  give 
you  a slap  on  the  f.ace.  Wh.at  .about  life  in 
Sumatra  ? It  is  not  rougher  than  life  was  in  Ceylon 
twenty  years  ago.  There  are  three  Englishmen 
and  .Scotsmen  planting  in  tlie  Sai’dang district. 
VARIOUS  PLANTING  NOTES. 
Ckylon  Land  and  Produce  Co.— The  Chair- 
man’s statement  to  the  shareholders  of  the  Ceylon 
Land  and  Produce  Co.  .at  the  twelfth  .annual 
meeting  shows  a very  satisfactory  state  of  affairs. 
The  liabilities  of  the  Company  in  pursuance  of 
the  iiolicy  hitherto  pursued,  have  been  materially 
reduced  and  in  the  matter  of  gross  revenue  the 
past  year  has  been  a record  one.  We  think 
the  policy  of  the  Directors  in  gradually  c.alling 
in  the  capital  so  that  the  shares  may  be  fully 
paid  up,  is  a sound  .and  wise  one,  inasmuch  as 
it  removes  all  element  of  dubiety  .about  the  posi- 
tion of  the  holders.  We  hojie,  with  the  Chair- 
man, that  the  dividend  of  13  ]ier  cent,  will  still 
be  continued  (pa"e  539). 
Ckyeon  Tea  in  America.— On  another 
])age  Our  London  L.a.ly  Corresjiondent  under 
the  heading  “Club  Echoes  and  Tea  Leaves”  re- 
ports an  interview  with  Mr.  William  Mackenzie 
on  his  return  to  London  from  America  in  the 
end  of  last  month.  It  contains  much  that  is 
gratifying  and  we  are  proud  of  the  success  that 
li.as  so  far  attended  the  energetic  labours  of  our 
Tea  Deleg.ate,  who,  we  .are  "had  to  know,  is  “well 
and  hearty.”  It  is  extremely  pleasing  for  in- 
stance to  know  that  “ in  Philadelphia  the  firm 
whi(di  ranks  second  orthird  highestamongteahon.ses 
in  America  is  workingin  conjunction  with  us  that 
“.another  firm  in  Poston  which  cl.aims  to  stand 
eijual  with  the  one  just  mentioned”  h.as  intimated 
to  its  customers  “ that  they  had  never  hitherto 
pushed  Ceylon  or  Indian  teas,  but  now  having 
discovered  others  were  doing  so  they  intended 
an  alteration  of  their  previous  policy  that 
“ Ceylon  tea  is  largely  in  most  of  the  blends  of- 
fered to  the  public  and  that  excellent  work 
w.as  done  on  behalf  of  our  staple  ])roduct  at  the 
annual  food  show  by  a latly  who  was  formerly 
resident  in  Ceylon.  All  this,  we  repeat,  is  very 
gratifying  indeed  and  we  rejoice  at  it;  but  does 
not  tiie  fact  that  firms  such  as  the  one  men- 
tioned are  being  obliged  to  handle  our  teas 
because  others  are  doing  .so,  go  to  su])port  our 
contention  that  the  time  is  appro.aching  when 
we  must  tre.at  all  tr.aders  alike  either  by  advertising 
or  subsidisin"  direct  so  that  all  may  have  an 
equal  chance  of  p.articipating  in  the  benefit 
accruing  fiom  the  local  fund  ? We  have  only 
warm  aiiprov.al  for  expenditure  in  connection 
with  exhibitions  and  Demonstrations.  What 
we  contend  is  that  there  must  be  a limit 
to  special  subsidies  .and  gr.ants,  and  th.at  that 
])oint  will  erelong  be  reached  botli  in  Americ.a  and 
Rus.sia  when  priv.ate  enterprise  .and  tr.ade  com- 
petition mu.--t  be  allowed  to  t.ake  its  ordinary 
course.  If  advertising  in  the  press,  as  Mr. 
Maedeenzie  s.ays,  must  be  followed  up  by  other 
means  of  bringing  our  teas  before  the  public, 
surely  the  dealers  might  fairly  be  expected  to 
do  tiiat  seeing  that  we  s.ave  them  the  expense  of 
the  former.  The  ilepreciation  of  newspa^ier  ad- 
vertising by  our  Commissioner  at  this  time  is 
rather  inconsistent  with  his  re))ort  a little  while 
ago  of  a Canadian  Firm  who  h.ad  been  got  to 
.adverti.se  Ceylon  tea  in  over  ,300  newspaper.'-'. 
We  ple.ad  for  similar  inducement  to  be  given 
to  all  firms  willing  to  follow  this  good  example, 
