JULV i, 1886.J 



THE TROPICAL AORICyLTURiST- 



0Ti 



71 



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The Tropical Agriculturist, Vol. V. — Sub- 

 scribers to our monthly periodical have now, we 

 trust, received their June number, the twelfth 

 and last of the fifth volume, with the title, pre- 

 face and index. The compilation and printing of 

 the latter necessarily delayed this month's issue, 

 the delivery of which commenced last week. 

 However, the first or .July number of the sixth 

 volume, will, we are glad to say, be published on 

 its due date, and we think we may take credit — 

 considering the drawbacks in a busy daily news- 

 paper office — for the punctuality with which the 

 ordinary issues of the " T. A." are supplied month 

 by month. We can also testify to the continued 

 appreciation of our labours both among European 

 planters and native agriculturists : all speak of 

 the usefulness of the " T. A." for its information 

 and the ready reference it affords to any question 

 arising in connection with their daily work, with 

 the sales of produce (now stitched in separate 

 sheets), &c. Nevertheless, our expectation that 

 the " T. A." would come to be regarded as 

 an indispensable part of the office furnishing on 

 each plantation of any consequence, has scarcely 

 yet been fully realized. The loss must be that of the 

 estate or proprietor, more than of the printers, 

 and in order to call the attention of agents and 

 proprietors to the subject, we have prepared a 

 • circular ' to be addressed to them which we re- 

 produce here, as follows : — 



We venture to call your attention to our monthly 

 publication, the Tropical Agricultnrist, now beginning 

 its sixth year, and acknowledged on all sides to be the 

 most useful and complete repertory of information for 

 the tropical planter in the world. 



It has been our aim from the beginning to put into 

 its pages everything bearing on the practical work of 

 the cultivators of Tea, Cinchona. Cacao, Coffee, Rubber, 

 Palms, Fruits, Fibres, or any other of the many new 

 and old products planted within the tropics, not only 

 quoting discuseious in our own and other Ceylon and 

 Indian papers, but from our agricultnral, scientific and 

 general exchanges from all quarters ; and by supplying 

 a very carefully prepared index with each annual 

 volume, to enable the planter to lay his finger on inform- 

 ation bearing upon any plant or fruit tree, under his 

 notice at the time. 



We exi^ected in commencing this undertaking that 

 on every plantation of any importance, at least in 

 Ceylon and Southern India, a copy would be filed for the 

 use of the ^Manager, by order of the Proprietor or 

 Agents. But although that has been done in a good 

 m.iny cases, there are a great many blanks, and 

 now that through Tea, Bark, and other products 

 some degree of prosperity is returning, we think it 

 well to call the attention of proprietors to the great 

 advantageof their Superintendents having the periodi- 

 cal filed and bound up in volumes on their estates. 

 We may say that we pass over nothing we see bear- 

 ing on tea planting or preparation, 011 improved means 

 of deahng with Cinchona, Cacao. Rubber, kc, without 

 placing it in the Tropical Agricallnrlst, and several 

 experienced planters, both in India and Ceylon, have 

 said no estate worthy of the name should be without 

 this work of reference and information, 



Mr. Thiselton Dyer (c.m.o.) of Kew, Dr. Trimen of 

 our Ceylon Gardens, Dr. King of Calcutta, Dr. Bidie 

 of Madras, Mr. D. Morris of Jamaica, and other 

 similar authorities have spoken in the highest terms 

 of its value to all cultivators : the first named stating : — 



" Sir Joseph Hooker and myself always look out for 

 the succes.sive numbers of the 1\ A. with eagerness, 

 and I keep a file in my office for reference. It is im- 

 posnible to speak too highly of the utility of such a 

 publication and of the way it is managed." 



" It is an astonishing repertory of everything re- 

 lating to the economic botany of the East." 



Market reports of the sales of all produce are in- 

 cluded in the local issues, so that tea-makers, carda- 

 mom and cacao planters and others can see what 

 their own and their neighbours' produce has realized 



from month to month and year to year, as a guide 

 and means of comparison. 



We trust therefore that you will see your way to 

 giving us an order for the Tropical Affricnlturist to 

 be sent and filed on each of the plantations in which 

 you are interested, and it will be our endeavour to 

 increase the usefulness of this Planter's Vade Mecum 

 by every means in our power. 

 With our issue today, the Title, Preface and Index 

 to Vol. V. of the Tropical Agriculturist is issued 

 as a Supplement. 



Tea. IX Amoy, 22nd May. — Our tea manufactory has, 

 with the commencement of the warm weather, started 

 its operations afresh, and the former charge of 5 centa 

 per lb. has been reduced to 3| cents. Tea from Tamsui 

 arrives freely, the steamers " Fokien " and "Formosa" 

 bringing full cargoes. — Daily Fress. [3i cents of silver 

 dollar equal to 7 cents of rupee ? — Ed. C. O.] 



Trinid.u). — The cultivation of tea, ground nuts 

 and onions is spoken of by the Trindad New Era 

 among the future minor industries of that island, 

 That white elephant of the Trinidadians, the 

 Government railway, is likely to be taken off the 

 hands of the unfortunate taxpayers by a private 

 company. This on the authority of the New Era, 

 which also chronicles an accident on the line by 

 which a guard lost his life. — Bominica Dial. 



Natai. Tea. — I have had an opportunity of exam- 

 ining the samples of Natal tea that were sold this 

 week, and give y"u the result of the broker's report 

 on the parcel : — There is evidently the making of a 

 fairly good marketable tea in the leaf, but, probably 

 from inexperience of the maker, there was evidently 

 a defect in the withering, and imperfect fermentation. 

 In liquor, it came out fairly dark, but the leaf shewed 

 up mixed brown and brown-green with but little of 

 the fine bright coppery color of well-made tea. I 

 hear that a Natal Tea Company is about to be floated, 

 a small affair, but shewing how public attention and 

 public capital is being directed towards this leaf. 

 Next week's sales are not likely to be much above 

 the average, though later in time there will be a fair 

 quantity on the market. — Local "Times" 



Silk.— Mr. T. Wardle, of Leek, has just returned 

 to England from India after examining the cultiv- 

 ation of the silkworm and the methods in use of- 

 reeling the silk. He is satisfied that the fibre of 

 the Indian silk was quite equal to that of Italian, 

 and that improvement in the machinery and 

 method of reeling was all that was required. The 

 Indian worm, however, only spins 150 metres of 

 silk, on one cocoon, while the more highly-tended 

 and selected Italian worm produces 650 metres. He 

 suggests that the Government should rear a limited 

 quantity of cocoons, from which a careful selection 

 of " seed" only shall be made. — M. Mail. 



The Devastating and Prolific Spakroav.-— That 

 sentiment is not always to be trusted is seen in the 

 ravages which rabbits have created among the crops 

 in Australia. It was sentiment that induced their 

 introduction, and it was sentiment that led an old 

 Highlander to introduce the thistle, which it has cost 

 more than one Colony thousands of pounds to extirpate, 

 since it grew so rapidly and injured the wool with its 

 burrs to such an extent that it had to be stamped out 

 at any cost. Similarly, Australians complain of the 

 humble and insignificant sparrow as a "nuisance." It 

 was introduced in an evil hour to accentuate home 

 influences, but lias increased to such an extent that the 

 Colonists have long been offering a reward for its head, 

 Complaints are heard every now aud then of he im- 

 possibility of keeping this pest down, and lately one 

 man has told how in tou days they cleared his vineyard 

 of a tou and a half of grapes, and stripped live fig- 

 trees which had been loaded with fruit. Another has 

 lost 30/. worth of fruit from a comparatively small 

 garden. A third has liad 15 acres ol luceru grass de- 

 stroyed, while a fourth says he had to sow his peas 

 three times, and each time the spai-rows devoured them. 

 — Colonies and India. [Beyond all else the cherry crops 

 suffer from the depredations of sparrows,— Ep. C. 0,] 



