742 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[May  I,  1897. 
district  cultivation  might  be  attempted  in  well-chosen 
spots.  The  numerous  ant-hills  point  to  the  existence 
of  clay  at  least  in  the  subsoil 
At  Basoko  there  are  also  some  plantations,  the 
importance  of  which  rivals  that  of  Stanley  Falls. 
They  are  on  the  borders  of  a stream  in  clayey  and 
alluvial  soil.  In  spots,  however,  which  the  natives 
had  cleared  to  grow  manioc,  and  h id  abandoned, 
the  coSee  plants  looked  stunted,  proving  that  the  soil 
was  not  originally  very  fertile.  At  Basoko  1 saw  800 
coffee  bushes,  4 to  6 years  old,  3 to  Sk  metres  high 
and  nearly  2 metros  wide;  270  cacao  trees  4 to  .5 
years  old  and  3 to  3J  yards  high,  3J  yards  apart, 
and  bearing  abundantly.  There  were  many  more 
plants  recently  put  out  and  also  in  nursery.  From 
one  of  the  coffee  bushes  planted  in  1890  I saw  the 
blacks  who  accompanied  me,  gather  23  Kilo  (69^  Ib.s) 
of  ripe  berries  and  5 of  unripe  ones.  That  was  on 
the  28th  January,  and  in  December  M.  Henan,  the 
planter  at  the  station  had  gathered  7 kilos 
Some  figures  as  to  the  cost  of  planting  and  cul- 
tivating may  be  interesting:  it  is  difficult  to  estimate 
the  cost  of  clearing  as  much  of  that  was  done  by 
members  of  the  staff  (soldiers)  in  spare  hours.  At 
Basuko  and  at  Coquilhatwille,  the  clearing  and  pre- 
paring of  the  soil  took  1,000  days,  which  I value  at 
i franc  each,  i.e.,  frs.  250.  For  the  maintenance  of 
100  hectares  (250  acres)  250  men  or  wo  nen  will  be 
necessary,  say  300 1-1 25=-750  days  per  hectare,  acres) 
that  is  an  annual  outlay  of  200  francs  per  hectare. 
Including  all  these  expenses,  then,  each  kilo- 
gi-amme  (2j  lb.)  of  coffee  harvested  in  Upper  Congo 
will  have  cost  at  most  20  centimes  (about  2d.)  for 
labour.  I reckon  it  will  have  cost  for  expenses  of 
administration,  and  direction,  over-sight  and  other 
contingencies  2J  more.  As  for  the  cost  of  trans- 
port from  Stanley  Falls  to  Antwerp,  when  the 
railway  is  finished,  they  wilt  not  be  quite  44,  say 
4d.  The  kilo  of  coffee  arrived  Antwerp  will  have 
cost  nearly  1 frs.  and  can  be  sold  for  2 to  2'20  francs, 
and  we  know  that  a plantation  of  100  hectares  would 
produce  from  the  6th  year  at  least  150’000  kilos, 
of  coffee.  This  is  an  ideal  that  it  is  possible  to 
attain  in  many  parts  in  the  Congo. 
1 have  also  collected  some  figures  upon  Cacao. 
On  one  tree  five  years  old,  cultivated  at  Basuko, 
I counted  34  fruits,  some  fully,  some  half  grown. 
Ten  of  these  ripe  ones  contained  427  seeds  in  a dry 
state.  The  34  fruits  would  have  given  about  1,200 
grammes  (2i  lb.)  of  dry  seed.  The  kilo  of  Congo 
cacao  is  valued  at  fr.  120;  at  that  price  & hectare 
(2J  acres)  of  cacao  trees  planted  9 ft.  apart,  would 
bring  in  1 kg.  200  x 800=960  kilo,  worth  1,152  frs. 
from  the  5th  year.  It  is  decidedly  less  profitable 
than  an  equal  area  of  coffee.  As  for  the  expenses 
of  cultivation  they  are  the  same.  If  one  takes  into 
consideration  the  inherent  difficulties  in  the  cultiva- 
tion of  cacao  (rich  soil  and  sheltered  situation  needed, 
delicate  seeds,  difficulty  of  transplanting)  it  will  be 
agreed  that  cacao  is  not  so  suitable  for  the  Congo 
as  the  Liberian  Coffee. 
There  is  one  other  tree  frequent  in  the  sandy 
forests  of  the  Aruwimi,  that  is  the  tree  that  gives 
the  copal  gum,  the  Trachylobiuni.  It  belongs  to  the 
Leguminosso,  has  bifoliate  leaves,  irregular  pteals  and 
is  of  coriaceous  texture.  The  tree  is  freely  found  on 
the  borders  of  streams  and  attains  a height  of  about 
30  ft.  The  station  of  Asoko  buys  on  an  averse  600 
kilos,  of  copal  gum  per  month.  Its  value  in  Europe 
is  very  variable.  The  district  could  probably  produce 
20  tons  a year,  probably  more. 
During  1895,  the  district  sent  about  100  tons  of 
Rubber,  and  the  quantity  might  be  doubled  or  tre- 
bled. Oil  Palms  are  very  frequent  on  the  left  bank 
of  the  river.  “ Raphia  ” and  "panza”  are  also  very 
abundant.  Basuko  station  has  also  been  well  planted 
with  fruit  trees— citron,  mango,  papua  &c.. 
district  of  the  bangalas. 
This  distinct  also  presents  vast  sandy  surfaces 
alternating  with  slimy  and  more  fertile  soils,  but  the 
clearing  of  the  forest  has  disastrous  effects,  so  that 
in  3 or  4 years,  the  good  soil  has  often  disappeared 
and  white  sand  only  roinains But  at  Urn- 
aughi  an  agricultural  station  has  rightly  been  planted, 
for  there  we  find  a clayey  soil  and  many  ant-hills. 
5,000  coffee  plants  and  2,000  cacao  are  planted,  and 
as  the  forest  had  been  thoroughly  cleared,  plantains 
are  planted  for  shade ; the  vigour  of  those  bears 
witness  to  the  fertility  of  the  soil 
The  best  shade  for  coffee  is  certainly  secured  by 
the  partial  clearing  of  the  forest.  ..Hence  they  have 
started  a small  plantation  2i  miles  from  Makolo 
quite  in  the  forest. ..  .But  hitherto  the  labourers 
have  had  to  walk  there  and  back  from  Makolo,  this, 
is  a waste  of  time. . . .To  keep  the  field  clean,  3 women 
were  set  apart  for  every  2^  acres  and  had  no  other 
work;  they  even  sweep  up  the  dead  leaves — an  un- 
necessary work;  I rather  think  it  would  be  better 
to  fork  up  the  weeds  and  not  to  destroy , them;  on 
sloping  land  the  washaway  would  be  prevented.... 
The  plantations  altogether  in  this  station  comprised 
230  acres  of  cleared  land,  28  of  which  were  at 
Makolo : 123  were  planted  with  coffee  and  25  with 
cacao.  But  many  plants  had  been  put  out  with  only 
2 leaves  and  should  have  remained  longer  in  the 
nursery.  An  apparatus  for  cleaning  the  coffee  by 
John  Gordon  & Co.  has  been  sent  here,  but  is  not 
yet  working. 
Among  the  products  cultivated  by  natives  I notice 
the  ground  mrt,  sugar-cane,  rice,  manioc  and  beans. 
The  district  produces  400  tons  of  Rubber  annually. 
The  forests  are  rich  in  oil-palms  (blais)  panza  and 
raphia,  and  there  are  also  copal-produoing  trees 
— British  Central  Africa  Gazette. 

CRETE  AND  ITS  PRODUCTS. 
It  has  been  placed  to  the  credit  of  the  late 
Emperor  of  Brazil  that  on  being  shown  the  fly-wheel 
of  a certain  steam-engine,  and  informed  that  it 
made  over  300  revolutions  per  minute,  he  remarked 
that  it  was  far  ahead  of  his  country,  for  they  could 
only  muster  that  number  of  Revolutions  in  a year ; 
and  so  of  Greece  it  may  be  remarked  that  many 
have  been  the  Revolutions  during  the  past  hundred 
years,  especially  in  Crete — one  of  those — 
“ Isles  of  Greece, 
Where  burning  Sappho  loved  and  sung’’ 
and  to-day  the  whole  of  Europe  and  Great  Britain 
is  exceedingly  perplexed  as  to  what  is  to  be  the 
order  of  things  in  Crete,  and  in  Greece  itself,  in 
the  days  to  come.  We  can  only  express  the  hope 
that  freedom  and  i^rosperity  may  be  the  outgrowth 
of  the  present  imbroglio,  for  then  horticulture  and 
^rioulture  will  flourish  on  this  borderland  of  the 
East.  As  to  the  resources  which  these  two  are 
capable  of  yielding  in  freedom  and  peace  it  were 
difficult  to  say.  The  island  lacks  proper  cultivation, 
is  thinly  populated,  its  exports  are  limited  in  value 
and  number — olive  oil,  wine,  raisins,  soap.  Locust- 
beans.  Valonia,  Almonds  (shelled),  and  some  Oranges. 
Of  the  products  now  shipped  from  the  various  Cretan 
ports,  a fair  proportion  finds  its  way  to  this  country 
— in  the  shape  of  olive-oil,  raisins.  Locust-beans, 
Valonia. — Gardeners'  Chronicle. 
Another  Bio  Brazil  Coffee  Synuicate.— 
In  a Ijondon  paper  dated  April  lOtli,  by  the 
French  mail,  we  find  the  following  important 
paragra))!).  It  would  look  as  if  “ coffee^’  were 
going  to  be  overdone  as  much  as  “tea”; — 
A large  and  extensive  group  of  coffee  plant  >tions, 
situated  in  the  San  Manuel  district  of  the  State  of 
San  Paulo,  have  been  sold  to  a Dutch  syndicate  for 
the  purpose,  it  it  believed,  of  flotation  as  a company 
on  the  European  markets.  The  purchase  price  is 
stated  to  be  .£500,000.  It  is  understood  that  negotia- 
tions are  in  progress  for  the  purchase  of  other  coffee 
estates  in  the  same  province  by  various  syndicates, 
both  English  and  Continental.  The  flotation  of  the 
Dumont  Coffee  Estates  on  the  London  market  in 
the  early  autumn  of  last  year  has  encouraged  the 
undertaking  of  similar  business  in  other  quarters, 
and  more  than  one  flotation  is  expected  at  an 
early  date. 
