SS 4 THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Februari i, 1893. 
vUitor passes on leaving, so that ho is apt to g° 
asray with the first and last impression on bis mind 
that after all Arabian oolleo is not the thing in whioh 
to invest his capital. The neat place be seca is the 
only Liberian ootfee estate of any extent in Perak 
some 8} years old with younger fields. Hero he 
finds everything fiourisbiug, no sign of leaf disease, 
abundance of labour on the estate, and a very fine 
crop on the trees, in fact so much crop that it is a 
moot question whether it would not be advisable to 
remove some of it in case the trees may not bo 
able to mature it all and may suffer irretcieyably 
before it is picked. Mo wonder then that the visitor 
who has not seen either of the properties before, 
should incline to invest in Liberian rather than in 
Arabian coffee. Had he however visited the two 
estates eighteen months previously ho would have 
found the conditions of each entirely reversed — the 
Arabian was ilonriahing, the Liberian suffering from 
want of labour, and looking very poor. 
The position at the present time is in favour of the 
extension of Liberian cultivation, whilst the more 
valuable and the more easily manipulated Arabian is 
neglected. In regard to green bug, as far as may be 
judged from the very small amount of experience of it 
and the information available, the constant reonrrtnce 
of moderate showers causes the insect to die and 
turn mouldy as happens during the wet weather 
in Ceylon, The bug has been seen on the Arabian 
coffee in its early stages, but disappeared within 
B few weeks without doing any damage. On the 
other hand in the hotter olimata and poorer soil 
of a certain Liberian coffee estate in Johore, that 
effect of the green bug was very similar to the 
so widely experienced in Ceylon, and in the 
midet of afield of generally nourishing Liberian 
trees here and there some were to be found 
entirely denuded of leaf and crop. In Selangor 
again, on the older Liberian coffee, the bug was 
apparently causing considerable alarm to the 
proprietors some eighteen months ego as lime was 
being applied to the leaves by way of a remedy. 
It may bo mentioned here that a very lively 
colony of green bug on a guava tree in the 
middle of the town of Penang disappeared 
almost entirely on the advent of a few 
heavy showers, the insects moulded away in a 
few days. Another reason why Liberian coffee is 
favoured in the Straits just now in preferenco to the 
other and mote valuable variety, is that Messrs. 
Hill and Bathborne have allowed the Perak Govern- 
ment to publish the figures showing the returns 
of crop produced by their little estates — some of 
them hardly more than gardens in size — in 
Selangor and Sungei Ujong. These returns show 
very fine results — so much so that their correotnesH 
was challenged by someono whose experience had 
tended the other way, but were proved to be correct, 
with the admission that the extra yield had been 
brought about by the use of manure — though the 
trees were quite young. Mow the figures for the 
production of Arabian coffee have not been given 
to the public, they are not published by the Perak 
Government as those for the Liberian coffee have, 
and consequently no one except those interested, 
or who have made the inquiry, know how re- 
munerative the cultivation is, especially with the 
European market in its present state. It is to be 
hoped that statistics of the Arabian crops will be forth- 
coming for the information of the public, and in the 
meantime it is authoritatively stated that as much 
as 10 cwt. per acre has been gathered from the field 
of old coffee where in its prime. The appearance 
of the young coffee now warrants the confidence 
now felt in its bearing capabilities, and the sample 
is as good as any high-grown plantation grown in 
OeyloD, where by the way the " parchment ’’ is 
sent from Perak to be cured and shipped. Another 
blow has been aimed at the extension of Arabian 
coffee cultivation in the Straits by ^presumably) 
the Director of the Botanical Gardens in Singapore 
in the Agricultural Bulletin of Iho Malay Penin- 
sula for April 1891. He soya, "I do not think 
Arabian coffee can ever bo BucooEslully cultivated 
in the Straits Betllements." It seems very liable 
to produce ''brush,” that is to say abnormal 
flowers with minute green irregular sepals and 
petals, no stamens, and the pistils very small 
and apparently effete. I imagine this is duo |to 
the permanent dampness of the climato, and 
absenoe of any period of rest from growth.” 
“ Brush,” instead of fertile productive blossom, 
is very well-known to all Ceylon planters, more 
especially occurring on the higher esUtes in wet 
seasons. This indictment against Arabian coffee 
is a very serious matter, coming as it does ex 
cathedra, and one that cannot be lightly disregarded. 
However, it may be in other parts of the Straits 
Settlements, and the Directors opinion may bo 
presutned to include the protected native states, it 
is satisfactory to learn that the only planter of 
any experiooce in Perak regards the statement as 
by no means applying to Perak : in fact it is de- 
nounced as " absurd.” He writes, “ that Arabian 
coffee in this country (Perak) produces and will 
continue to produce as good crops as it did in 
Ceylon, is an established fact. The old coffee on 
this place has given its 10 cwt. an acre, so 1 think 
that goes a long way towards refuting Mr. Bidley’a 
statement that blossom on coffee Atabica goes 
to brush instead of fructifying, owing to the 
permanent dampness of the climate.” Our only 
risk hero— as in Ceylon— is that a very heavy 
fall of rain may tako place just when the blossom 
is fully out, and so destroy the pollen on the well 
developed flowers.” In Ceylon such a catastrophe 
as is here alluded to wae by no means an un- 
common occurrence, as it is the rain, supervening 
on a long spell of hot weather, whioh usually brings 
out the blossoms, but suoh falls of rain are 
exceedingly unusual in Perak, and the attendant 
risk is small compared with that incurred by 
planters in the spicy island. The writer goes on 
to ask the pertinent question “ what experience 
has the director of coffee bloasoms in Perak— and 
from what data does he make the assertion — or 
rather found his opinion ?” The result of his (the 
planter's) experience of the country is, that the 
statement about brush is “ absurd ” and ‘‘ rubbish,” 
and ho hoped (the director) would be .able to visit 
Perak in January and February and see the blossoms 
for himself. 
All this tends to prove that coffee planting in 
Perak will suooeeed as well as it formerly did in 
Ceylon — so far at any rate as any climatic in- 
fluences are conoerned j all agricultural pursuits 
arc subject to risks— in more or less degree — in all 
parts of the world. 
It may be ^ as well to close this article with 
a rough estimate of profit on investment in 
Arabian coffee. It must be borne in mind 
that whether land is taken up on the 
system of an annual rental, or whether 
the land is purchased outright by the payment of 
what the Perak Government has chosen to call a 
" premium,” no actual payment need be made for 
two years from oommenoement of the work, and 
iiideod so anxious are the authorities that a begin- 
ning should bo bona-fide made, and ample proof 
afforded of its being a profitable investment, that 
even greater facilities would be afforded to those 
who will at once tako up land in the State. 
Leaving 'ample margin for all contingencies and 
adding some 10 (0 15 percent to the current 
