256 
THE BEITISK HOETH BOIIXEO II KHALI). 
I 
weiglit of orop. There is no donht tliat this is the 
h'ue liome of Liberian coffee. When down in Selaiig-or 
I meet V. (larey, a Cejloii planter, who had come to 
take np 1,000 acres of land for Talbot, David Reid, 
and himself. He had selected his land and m)t every 
V 
reasonable request he made to Government in. connect¬ 
ion with it conceded to him. They intend oi)eiung up 
■-100 acres ever^' vear tor four years, making a, total of 
SOO in tlie fourth yea-i-. Tliat looks like business, does 
it not ? (^arey has every faith in Liberian coffee, as J 
liave nivself. Careful] v-worked-out tigures shew that 
Liberian coffee property will clear itself in years. 
That is surelv good enough. Tliese figures are in no 
way exaggerated, but are the outcome of years of ex¬ 
perience and are based on ac.ffua] results. Why do 
Ceylon men with cajiital hesitate to come over liei'e ? 
Anv small government restrictions can easily be over- 
come by apiilication and if properly rejiresented.’’ 
Wk take the following from the able rejiort of 
Mr. fV. H. Treacher g.m.u., on Perak for 1891:— 
“The State is now jiractically independent of jungle 
produce, and the country is mainly dependent on its miner¬ 
al and agricultural resources. ” 
“ bVhat are called jungle products, with the exception 
of the nipa palm, employed in making attaps for roofing, 
and timber, are now of secondary importance in the State, 
and the prosperity of the country is mainly dependent on 
its mineral and agricultural resources. To raise Perak to 
the position of a planting State, such for instance as Ceylon, 
the introduetioii of European planters and planting com¬ 
panies is a ^hic qu d non. ” 
“ After continued efforts to attract this element, all we 
can at present show in the way of European agricultural 
enterprise will be seen from the following list ;— 
“ Sir Graeme Elphinstono and Mr. D. Eeid ( Chairman 
of the Ceylon Tea Planting Com 2 )any), AVaterloo estate, 
Arabian coffee, 1,000 acres, 124} planted. 
“ Mr. T. H. Hill, Kamuuiug, Liberian coffee and 
2 )e 2 iper estate, 10,000 acres, 252 in coffee and 13 in jiejqier. 
“The Perak Sugar Cultivation Company’s estate, 
6,000 acres, in Krian. 
“ Mr. H. B‘:’..lwin’s Liberian coffee estate, 1,500 acres, 
but newly 02 )ert- i, in Batang Padang. 
“ In response to the two planting circulars 22 ap 2 )licat- 
ions, involving 36,000 aci'es of laud, were received from 
Eur 02 >ean ^ilunters, but there are no (lejinite remits to report 
at present. After quoting Sir Graeme Elj^hinstone’s rem¬ 
arks, Mr. Treacher writes : — 
“I have written at some length on this subject as, in 
my 02)inion, it is and should be the 2)olicy of this Govern¬ 
ment to continue to oft'er the most attractive terms jDOSsible 
to Euro] 3 Paii bona fide id^-^ters, who can shew that they 
2)ossess or can raise the necessary capital. Mining is now 
on a scale which renders it independent of sj^ecial su2)2>ort 
from Government, with the exception of lode mining, still 
in its infancy, while there is no special object in exhausting 
our alluvial tin deposits at the most rapid rate j)ossible. 
Planting stands in need of at least all the siij^port and 
fostering encouragement that has in the past been bestowed 
ujton mining. ” 
“ In connection with native cultivation, the season was 
an exceiJtionally good one for 23adi. 3,000 foreign Malays 
entered the State, and a Chinaman who has tried rice 
cultivation by Chinese labour has formulated a scheme for 
j)lanting on a large scale. 69,075 acres of land are under 
1892 . 
w et rice, but §^1,498,000 worth of the same commodity wms 
imported. ” 
The Government should, and does to a certain extent, 
2 )ut itself in the position of a private landholder, who would 
natural^ his best endeavours to obtain tenants by 
oj>ening u^) his estate by chea^) roads or bridle tracks, 
irrigation, drainage, water-gates and so forth. Were this 
done on a comprehensive system here, settlers would i^roba- 
bly (!ome in without other inducement; but till the heavy 
expeuditiLre on railways ceases the Government of Perak 
is not in a jDosition to do mink in this direction. ” 
“ The Governor lias fully recognised the great im 2 )ort- 
] ance to the Colony and the States of tlie Peninsula of their 
i becoming less dependent than at 2 )resent on foreign rice, 
I the sta 2 )le food of the inhabiants, and in com^jliance with 
' a circular letter, I have furnished a special re 2 )ort on the 
I extension of rice culture. ” . 
i 
“ Pejtper is now' tirmly established, and tlie Sultan is 
i taking a great interest in the work. ” 
. In reference to a 2 )ai'agi'a|ih under Antes—Kiidat 
t regarding tlie Liinbuak Estate. Banguey going on. 
ivorkiiig- ill eoMsefjuence of tlie ioetter jtriees realised at 
1 ‘eeent sales of tobanco, a. gentleman concerned 
has informed ns that tlie determination to go on work¬ 
ing was arrived at before aaiv advices of the prices re- 
aliseil for 1891—9.2. crop iiad licen received. This gen¬ 
tleman assures us that if the good news of imjiroved 
p]-ices for Boimeo toba.cco liad been received earlier 
other Estates miglit have followed the exanqile ot 
Linihnak. 
InimiUAN CoFFi’.K. — A Gentlemen writing to the 
Ceylon Obeserver ( Aov: 27th 1877 ) says “I ha,ve just 
been to •Bulls' (of Chelsea) for the enclosed seed, and 
enquired about the Liberian Coffee. He says it is fftty 
guineas for the 190 phints.” 
Fifteen years ago half a gninea lor a jilant of Li¬ 
berian Coffee I and now Liheidan Coffee is one of the 
worlds jirodnets I 
Wk hear tliat tlie Gamliier iilanted bv the Go\ “ 
1 t.- 
eriiment on the Crot'ker Road is riow^ring free]\'. This 
wdl.1 be a good ojiportnnity for jdanters to obtain a snji- 
ply of fresli seed. Gambier seed is very small, in fact 
a mere film, and it soon perislies, 
Ir is tlierofore advi.saJde tojilant it in proper bods 
as soon a,s possible after being gathered. 
Wk Inive hefore us a, little liouk printed hy Alessrs; 
A. M. and d. Ferguson of Ceylon -Liberian Coffee; 
its History and its Cnltivation" from which tlie follow¬ 
ing extracts will he found of interest—Mr! dames 
Irvine a Liver]>ool Merchant who took great interest in 
Liberia ami esjiecially its coffee ohta,ined rejilies from 
the natives of Liberia to a series of (jnestions asked by 
the Director ot the Royal Botanic Garden of Ceylon 
which wo now give: — 
AnHirers to Quri'les. 
“The Liberian coffee grows equally well in the 
immediate neighbourhood of the sea and at considerable 
