July 2, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



79 



place, as the tin of which our boxes are made is so 

 prepared and cleansed that every trace of grease 

 (which is so ofifensive in ordinary tin) is removed. 



" We have seen some of the finest teas ever sent 

 from India, received this season in some of these 

 boxes, and the condition was superior to anything in 

 wood and lead boxes. The tea was as fresh and crisp 

 as if it had just been fired. Not only is the con- 

 dition on arrival excellent, but, unlike ordinary pack- 

 ages which undergo sad mutilation at the docks, which 

 these boxes are exempt from, months afterwards teas 

 packed in these air-tight boxes are found not to have 

 undergone the usual deterioration." — Indian Tea Gaz- 

 elle, June 2. 



[Granted what is here claimed, the difficulty is that 

 of price. On an estate with reserve timber, a wooden 

 box to hold 80 lb. can be made for tlie price charged 

 for a '201b. tin box. If the tin boxes cannot be 

 cheapened, our great hope is in papier machi5. — • 

 Ed.] 



NEW PRODUCTS AT TKIXCOMALEE. 

 The pioneers now engaged on the rich lands on the banks 

 of the JIahavilla Ganga are not by any means disheartened 

 by the failures of the first growth of tobacco down here. 

 The first pioneer has left the coimtry, but he left behind 

 him those who were resolved that the cultivation should 

 have a fair and a thorough trial. With this end in view, one 

 of the party proceeded la.st year to Sumatra, where he re- 

 mained for six mouths, making himself acquainted witli the 

 growth, preparation, and packing of tobacco. Sumatra 

 tobacco is known throughout the ea^t as second only to the 

 best Havannah. Not content with learning the cultivation, 

 oiu* pioneer brought with him a good supply of the best seed, 

 and with this proceeded to clear and plant a dozen acres of 

 good land adjoining that on which his predecessor had 

 grown the plant. The attempt was thoroughly successful, 

 and the result has been a shipment to London of upwai'ds of 

 fifty bales of fine leaf tobacco in prime condition. That good 

 tobacco can be grown on these lands there is no longer 

 any doubt, any more than there is any misgiving as to 

 the cm'ing of the leaf. The only problem for solution is that 

 of value — will its market price leave any profit on the 

 cultivation ? The labor with which it is grown is Tamil, 

 some of it old hands ; but tobacco is an exhausting plant, 

 and cannot be grown on the same land twice unless with a 

 supply of suitable manure containing plenty of lime. The 

 plan adopted here is to plant the ground with coconuts after 

 cropping, though the cost of keeping off wild pigs from the 

 young plants is cousidei-able. Between the coconuts, 

 plantains will be grown, in order to give a little return until 

 the other produce begins to yield. But if tobacco yields 

 a fairly good profit, it may be worth while to obtain coral, 

 of which an abimdant supply can be had at a low cost, and 

 burn it for application to the land; and then, it is believed, 

 if it can be blended with a little fish manure, also obtain- 

 able, tobacco could be grown for a number of years, if oc- 

 casionally alternated with some other annual crop. On the 

 " Lowlands" estate, cacao, athough of rather slow growth 

 for the first year or two, comes on rapidly afterwards ; the 

 soil and climate appear to suit the plant admirably, and 

 already the oldest trees, three and a half years old, are giving 

 excellent promise of being heavy bearers, some of them 

 having good-sized pods on them already. A portion of these 

 are matiiring, and appear to be well filled with beans, 

 though perhaps a little deficient in mucilage. Thus far we 

 have lost none of these plants whilst young, nor does any- 

 enemy as yet attack the pods. Liberian coffee is growing, 

 but not with much vigor or rapidity, and there is as yet but 

 little crop upon any of the plants. On one of the pro- 

 perties here, Ceara Rubber has been planted over fifty acres 

 of land, the appearance of which as yet is not such as to 

 enable any opinion to be formed of its ultimate success. 

 .Som'e of the trees are nearly three and a half years old, but 

 as yet the sap does not flow very freely from them. This 

 may be that the trees are not sutRciently matiu-ed, or that the 

 tapping has been carried on during too dry weather, but 

 nothing could possibly look better than some of these rub 

 hers. These are the principal new products attempted for 

 any length of time. There :ue others now in course of trial, 



but sufficient time has not elapsed to enable any opinion to 

 be formed as to their ultimate success. There is no question 

 that the soil about here is capable of producing nearly all 

 tropical products, and that in regard to these properties, and 

 the land generally along the banks of the river, much of the 

 future success of cultivation will depend upon the ability 

 to keep out the water of the MahawiUa Ganga during the 

 floods of the north-east monsoon, and upon some means of 

 irrigation dm-ing the dry weather of the present seasou. 

 These matters will have to be considered, and no doubt if it 

 can be shewn that the cultivation of tobacco, cacao, and 

 other products will yield profitable returns, something may 

 be done towards meeting these requirments by a little en- 

 gineering, which, from the nature of the ground, would not 

 present any serious difficulties. — Cor., Local "Times." 



MADRAS TELKGRAM FOR WEEK ENDING 

 giH JUNE. 



Tanjore.— Rainfall average thirteen etatioua -56. 

 Standing crops generally good. Harvest— paddy and 

 flax, outturn below average. Cholera slight parts. 



Madura. — Rainfall average two stations '76'. Stand- 

 ine crops fair. Cholera slight parts. 



Travancore. — Rainfall 2-685. Sowing over; paddy 

 plants coming up well. Fever prevails. 



General prospects good. 



CoLLODEN TEA produced at from 200 to 300 

 feet above sea-level and withiu eight miles of the 

 sea, realizing 23 e^d per lb. (for orange pekoe)— the 

 valuations being much higher— shows that the lowest- 

 situated estates in Ceylon may send a tea into the 

 market which will fetch the highest prices The 

 Culloden tea, it seems, has a specially rich flavour, 

 and it is evident that the available land in the Kalu- 

 tara district can be utilized very profitably for tea. 

 Of course, "Orange pekoe" is not to be taken as 

 a criterim of the average, but Culloden tea is good 

 all round. 



Tea.— An ingeniouply devised diagram drawn up in 

 Louiion shows with groat accuraci the fluctuations, 

 in price and quantity delivered, of Indian teas for 

 tive years past. Generally the diagram, which is 

 sonvthing like a weather chart, supports hy its 

 figures the economic theory of expectancy that when 

 prices rise consumption fills o6F, and vice versa ; but 

 it is remarkable ihat although since January last 

 ther-- has been an undoubted advance in value, no 

 check to consumption has ensued. Prices of both 

 Rekoe and Souchong (only with these the diagram 

 deals) have varied considerably, for the former the 

 highest price being one and uinepence in 1878, the 

 lowest one shilling in 1880 ; while for the latier the 

 highest pi ice was one and threepence in 1879 and nine- 

 peuce halfpenny in 1883. From last October to last 

 April the dehveries in Loudon were 3.5i million pounds 

 as against 27 mdlion pounds in a corresponding 

 period of 1881 82, or an average increaee of U 

 million pounds piT month. To tell whether this will 

 continue during the coming season is a somewhat 

 difficult task in a purely conjectural field. The 

 season is a late one ; di ought undoubtedly did damnge 

 in April ; aud up to that month many gardens had 

 only yielded half t!-e normal quantity of previous 

 years. This diminished yield is hardly a fair piemiss : 

 for only about 5 per cei;t of the total gathering is 

 collected by that time. At the beginning of May, 

 however, pro.'pects looked of by no means cheerful 

 complexion ; and it can hardly be said that thi^ rains 

 in the Cachar area have compinsati'd for the previous 

 deficiency. There are compensations and compens- 

 ations. — Pioneer. 



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 Ask for WeUs' "Rough on Corns." 7Jd.* Quick relief 

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