Sf^& 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[May I, 1884. 



are said to consume 18,000,000 lb. xi{ tea every year, 

 averaging 6'61 lb. per head of the populatiou. Great 

 Britaiu coming next with 4-59 lb. But it is the opinion 

 of those who should be able to judge best, that it is not 

 prudent at present for us to go in for what forms the 

 great bulk of the trade— that is, the supplying of the 

 ■' Stations" as they buy what is called " ration tea" at 

 Is 2d to Is 3d per lb. This I am not prepared to endorse. 

 However, the population and requirements of the colonies 

 are bound rapidly to increase ; may Indian Tea gain a firm 

 footing everywhere, and soon form the lion's share of the 

 consumption. 



♦ 



A New Product fob Mauritiu.s. — The Govern 

 ment of Mauritius has applied to the Government 

 of India, in the Revenue and Agricultural Depart- 

 ment, for five bushels of seed wheat, of the best 

 and hardiest varieties cultivated in tbis countiy. 

 The Panjaub Government is supplying the wheat for 

 shipment.— Calcutta EngHnJivxin. 



The"TropicalAgkicultcfist" — We have been kindly 

 favored with copies of this most interesting magazine 

 published at Colombo, Ceylon, by A. M. & J. Ferguson. 

 From this excellent Tropical Journal, we have pub- 

 lished several articles ou Citfee, Silk, and Tea C'ultuie, 

 of value to our readers. The Magazine is a lOU page 

 work, and worthy extensive support, — Calijoriiian 

 Farmer^ January 17th. 



Oampbor in India. — In an article on camphor in the 

 Vegetnhle Materia MeJica of Western India, Dr. Dymock 

 records a peculiar fact in connection with the resublim- 

 • ation of the article in India. The object of this resublim- 

 atiou, he .says, is to get as much interstitial water as poss- 

 ible into the camphor cake. After describing the process, 

 he says, "Camphor sublimed in this way is not stored, 

 but distributed at once to the shopkeepers before it has 

 time to lose weight by drying. It is sold at the same 

 price as the crude article, the refiners' profit being de- 

 rived from the introduction of the water." — Gardeners' 

 Chronicle. 



Coconut Oil vs. Kerosene, — The Boston AdrcrAer 

 states that the kerofine oil I »s diiven coconut oil 

 wholly out of use in Zanzibar. Fifty thousand cases 

 of kerf sfne were imported by American houses in that 

 country in the year 1882. We may add that ktresene 

 oil has alnioet driven coconut and lamp oils cut of 

 the Madras market— or if it has not, it has tended 

 to keep prices down considerably. Keiosene oil is im- 

 ported in thousands of gallons and is largely used 

 by private persons and public companies, and especially 

 by Municipalities. In the forty-seven municipalities 

 in this picpideucy kerofene oil ie now used for lighting 

 lamps, while lamp oil was ficely used before. Kero- 

 sene oil is extensively used in Indian homes.— .J/at/ras 

 Standard. 



The Gboond Nut Trade. — The ground nut trade be- 

 twet-u Pondicherry and France is in full swing and 

 has been so since the month of February. The South 

 Indian Railway Company has been running special 

 trains with nuts from I'uurooty to Pondicherry every 

 day since the past nine weeks and will prob.ably con- 

 tinue to do 80 for two or three months longer. The 

 ground nut trade is the most important in the chief 

 town of the French Settlements in India. Three 

 ships are loading nuts in the Pondicherry roads, and 

 more are expected. The European and Native merchants 

 are fully engaged in tbis traele for ta least! six months 

 in the year and to facilitate shipment of nuts, the 

 South India Railway lias laid down a railway 

 railway line from the Pondicherry Railway station 

 to the pier, so that the bags are shipped off as fast 

 as they come in from the interior. Coolies finel amp'e 

 employment during the present season and the price 

 of labor is high. The Europian merchants in the port 

 have entered heart and soul into the enterprizu and 

 it is surprizing how the South Arcot district can 

 produce such au iiumenso quantity of uuts. — Madras 

 Standard, 



Tomatoes a Cube fob Apple BiitiHT. — The following 

 letter appears in the Austra/asiaii :^fiir, — Severl articles 

 have appeared in your columns lately on the subject of ".ap- 

 ple blight." Within the last few years I have witnessed a 

 remedy which was tried accidentally, and which proved 

 successful, in the garden of a gentleman in Geelong. When 

 the garden in question was taken, two Peal main apple trees 

 were com))letely white with bhght. ■\\'htn digging ii]) some 

 tomato plants, after the tomatoes had been gathered, the 

 plants were placeel temporarily in the lowest fork of one 

 of these apple trees, which hapjiened to be near, and be- 

 fore the next apple season came rouno the bhght had quite 

 disappeared from this tree. The other trees were tried in 

 the same way in order to have it proved whether the tomato 

 plants were or were not responsible for the cure, and the 

 same effect was caused. I may add that although the trees 

 were so badly attacked by blight at first, the apples were 

 always beautiful eating apples. — I am, Sir, &c., YouNf! 

 AusTKALiAN, Windsor, March 11. — Adelaide Observer, 



Wheat gkowiko and the ejuEhxiON or soil in 

 India are thus dealt with in a valuable paper 

 issued by the Government of India : — 



The broad result of this inquiry may be thus stated. 

 The area under wheat in British India is about twenty 

 million acres, and the yield between 6J and million tons. 

 I'he area in native territory would give an additional 

 6,(00,000 acres, yielding about IJ million tons. Of 

 this ej million tons or 135 million cwt., the cjuantity 

 available for export to Europe umst be a matter of the 

 vaguest conjecture. It is known, however, that 15 million 

 ewts. were exported for the twelve mouths ending 31st 

 December 1(>S2, and this has been followed by an export 

 of 224 millions during the twelve months ending 31st 

 December 1883. It is perhaps not unreasonable to 

 suppose that when the railway .system is more developed, 

 one-fourth, pofsibly more, of the total outturn of 6f 

 million tons will in good years be available for Europe. 

 The country has other food-stuffs to fall back on if to 

 export its wheat pays, and should the external demand 

 msterially raise the price of wheat compared with other 

 food-grains, the poorer classes are promptito contract their 

 consamption of the dearer article. It is, however, to be 

 noticed that in spite of the large expert to Europe and of 

 the partial failure of last autumn's monsoon, the price of 

 wheat is slightly lower now than it was two years ago. 

 The contraction of the export to 3J million cwt., for the 

 three months ending 31st December 1883, )ias been due 

 not to any rise in price in India, but to the low prices 

 ruling in Europe. Wheat is still selling at 22J seers the 

 rupee, or (allowing for exchange) about 18s Cd the 

 quarter* at Jubbulpore — a price which gave a good narrrin 

 for profit to the exporter when the London rate was 4: is. 

 the uarter, but not when, as now, the London rate has 

 fallen to 40s fur the best English wheats, and to 33— 3Cs for 

 Indian wheats. The allegeddeterioration of thesoilisthe last 

 Iioint towhichtheSecretary of State has invited attention. The 

 replies are, on the whole, encouraging. Frequent mention, 

 it is true, is made of the popular belief that the soil has 

 ceased to bear the rich crops vhich one rewarded the 

 ploughman's toil. But the cases are exceptional in which 

 this belief appears to embody a truth. Overcropping will 

 of course exhaust any soil, and the rapid extensions of 

 canals has uiidoubteclly encouraged the more improvident 

 and poorer cultivators to overcrop. Irrigation always tends 

 at the outset to outturn the manure supply, and this is one 

 of the chief drawbacks to the many benefits derived by the 

 country from canals. In the Narbada valley a falling off 

 in the exuberant yield of the virgin soils has also been 

 reported by careful observers. But wlien ence the first 

 riches of the land has been exhausted, a permanent, though 

 lower, standard of outturn appears to be reached. The 

 phenomenon is common to all newly-opened countries, and 

 is not a matter which need . excite cither concern or 

 astonishment. 



CATARRH OF THF BLADDSR- 

 Stinging initation, inflamjition, all Kindey and similar 

 Oomplaints, cnri'd out by "Buchu-|iaiba." B. S. JIadon&Co., 

 Bombay, General Agents. 



» The quarter is taken at 490 lb. and the busliel at 02 lb. 

 or 31 socrs. 



