November i, 1883.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



347 



that the first-named is indigenous, the best kinds of 

 caue', grown in the plantations have been introduced. 

 The Sea Island cotton is easily cultivated, but the 

 production has lately fallen off, the quotations being 

 too low to tempt the plauter. Tobacco answers well, 

 and it is believed that cocoa, tapioca, ginger, 

 pepper, and »11 sorts of spices, camphor and vauilla, 

 might also be profitably grown. Madagascar appears 

 to have bright agriculturiil prospects before it, as it 

 is admirably adapted to the cultivation of sugur and 

 coffee, and indeed as a sugar -growing country it seems 

 likely that it will btfore many years leave Mauritius in 

 the background. The (small ielands between Mada- 

 gascar and the mainland are enthusiastically spoken 

 of as a new planting regioH " situated in a most sal- 

 ubrious cluuate, between the southern tropic and the 

 line, they are admirably adapted for the cultivation 

 of sugar, coffee, vanilla, cocoa, spices, cloves, and other 

 products, many of which are pure articles of luxury, 

 and will always command a high price in the Europ- 

 ean maUet." 



Judging from the space allotted to them and the 

 amount of interest that appears to centre round them, 

 the staple crops of tropical agriculture are tea, 

 coffee, cocoa and sugar; cinchona and tobacco ; india- 

 rubber, cotton and gums, to say nothing of rice. Of 

 the first group, tropical countries may rest fairly 

 securely in the cultivation of tea, coffee, and cocoa, 

 and although the sugar-cane is largely planted in 

 the southern United States and the sugar-beet is so 

 extensi\'ely grown in Europe, yet we gather that sugar 

 cultivation is a thriving industry in India, Java, 

 Mauritius, the Malay peninsula, Queensland, Fiji, 

 Brazil, Jamaica, and Trinidad. Cinchona is of course 

 a highly popular subject, and from this volume alone 

 a very large amount of useful information may be 

 gleaned. On account of the lapid development of 

 the electrical industries and of the increasing use of 

 elastic tires for wheels, the demand for indiarubber 

 and gutta percha is continually increasing, and this 

 will no doubt be met by the extended cultivation 

 of these products. The official papers relating to the 

 introduction of the I'ara and Ceara rubber plants 

 into India are reproduced ; the original seeds 

 which were obtained in South America were sown 

 at Kew, and the young plants sent hence to the 

 East, but the precarious nature of the undertaking 

 may be inferred from the fact that only about three 

 per cent of the seeds germinated. It is pleasant to 

 read here and there spontaneous testimony to the 

 value of the Royal Gardens at Kew and of the Indian 

 Botanic Gardens. 



Of controversial subjects the coffee leaf disease 

 attracted most notice, considerable space being de- 

 voted to the reports and letters of Mr. Marshall 

 Ward, and to the discusssion arising therefrom. On 

 p. 15 is a complacent suggestion that as crops cannot 

 always be got from the branches of the coffee tree 

 they might be got in another form from the roots 

 by grinding up the cockchafers that there abound and 

 Belling the beetle powder, mixed with a little 

 coffee, as real coffee, cariying on the entire manufact- 

 ure in Ceylon to prevent any tampering on the 

 part of dishonest middlemen in London ! Ths pleasant 

 notion is based on the assumption that "the 

 British public will consume anything not absolutely 

 dirt that is sufflcitntly adulterated to suit their pal- 

 ates." » 



The marked contrast between our home agricul- 

 ture and that of the tropics is afforded in the very 

 few and scanty references to live stock of any kind. 



* Of course the writer of the letter referred was perpe_ 

 trating "a goak" — which the reviewer does not seem to 

 sec — and was rightly sarcastic at the expense of English 

 consunier.s, who, tor the sake of cheap prices, so readily buy 

 I'p adulterated stuff.— Ec. 



English agriculturists are continually more and more 

 on their flocks and herds and less on tlieir corn crops 

 for remunerative returns. There is, indeed a solitary 

 reference to Aden cattle, which are bred inland, 

 and derive their name only from the port whence 

 they are shipped. Thej have a high reputation as dairy 

 etocli, and have been used with success for crossing 

 with some of the Indian herds on the Goverumeut 

 farm at Saidapet, Madras. The only allusion to 

 sheepfarming is to that of Australia. 



Of course, in such a volume as the one before us, 

 the matter is necessarily of a very heterogeneous char- 

 acter, but it is all concerned more or less directly 

 either with agriculture itself, or with the economic 

 and industrial aspects of the art as pursued in the 

 hotter regions of the globe. As a record of the ex- 

 perience of tropical planters, of the difficulties and 

 drawbacks of climate and of soil they have to con- 

 tend with, of the good or indifferent results which 

 have attended their efforts at acclimatisation, of the 

 measures they have adopted to minimise the evil 

 effect of insect or fuugal attacks, and not less as 

 an interesting historical summary of the progress of 

 tropical agriculture, such a work as this carried out 

 on the lines on which it has been begun cannot fail 

 to possess a permanent value. Young men especially, 

 who, having learnt something of the art of agri- 

 culture in the stern school of British farming, would 

 fain try their skill under a tropical sun, will find 

 collected here a large mass of useful information such 

 as perhaps it would hardly be possible to obtain else- 

 where. W. Fkeam. 

 — Naiitre, September 13. 



TEA: NOTES BY A PLANTER. 



(From the Houtc and Colonial Mail, Aug. 31.) 

 It ajipears remarkable that the one distinctive ocular test 

 of luilian tea has never bceu used by those whose interest 

 it is to assist its sale by every method within their reach. 

 China tea is a small tea in leaf. In order to assist the 

 grocer to get rid of his China tea, by rendcriug it possible 

 for him to make it more saleable, i. e., by the judicious 

 addition of a proportion of Indian tea, planters have up 

 to date been bolstering up the sale of China tea, at the 

 expense of their own credit. Have they not been break- 

 ing their tea through sieves in order to jiroduce the small 

 teas they find in demand r' M'hy is there this demaud for 

 small teas? It is not solely that the prejucUccs of the con- 

 sumer shoidd be considered. It is before all things in 

 order that Indiaujteas may be similar in size of leaf to China 

 teas, ftud thus atliuit of their being blended with the latter. 

 Thus the superior article is being used to assist the sale of 

 the inferior, and to gain credit For the iuferior at the ex- 

 pense of the superior. This is simply a suicidal system on 

 the part of ludian tea-producers. It may have assisted them 

 whilst Ihch' enterprise was in its infancy, but it is not time 

 that Indian tea should be received on its own merits ? To 

 continue in sucli a course for all time would be too much ex- 

 pect of the producers of Indian tea. Surely the day has 

 come for them to reap the real and full advantages of the 

 purity aud other recommendations of then- teas. Let them 

 use the excellent party-cry t^iey have, viz., " Large leafy 

 teas are sure to be Indiau teas, as China bushes cannot pro- 

 duce such teas." By this they not only aim a blow at those 

 who raise their inferior China teas at the cost of the credit 

 of the ludian article, but they will also economise in the 

 manufacture by discontinuing the breaking-ui) process. At 

 the same time they will benelil; the quality, as by the avoid- 

 ance of the unnecessary handling and exposure of the teas 

 much of the delay before packing would thus be saved. It 

 is not necessary to point out to planti.Ts the importance, 

 in the damp climate of Assam and Cachar, of thus being 

 able to pack so much sooner than is possible when bidks 

 of broken teas have to be made up. With so much to re- 

 commend the cry of Biij-haf, it is only a question of time 

 ere its advantages are realised and made use of. One other 

 detail occurs to nie. Much of the pr<'jii.lice in England as 

 to ludiau teas beiisg too strong to drink aloni; is owing to 



