JOLV I, 1886.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



53 



Tea-plantixg and Transplanters. — A tea planter 

 writes and there is much force in what he says : — ■ 

 " I have been thinking a good deal lately about 

 transplanters and am greatly surprised they are 

 not more commonly used. This change in the 

 weiither has shown the advantage of them and 

 in one clearing where I put out about 40,000 

 plants with transplanter I will not lose forty plants, 

 as against 15 to 20 per cent, with hand work in 

 another field. People imagine that the use of 

 transplanters adds to the first year's expenditure 

 greatly. It is the greatest fallacy going, as at a 

 moderate estimate on an average there are 10 

 per cent of failures and with transplanter there 

 are literally none at all, the extra cost of using 

 them, say R3 per acre, being more than coveed 

 by the saving in supplies, and besides this tea put 

 out with transplanters has a start of at least three 

 months over other tea." 



A Lesson in an Egg-shell. — Five hundred million 

 dozen of eggs are annually consumed in the 

 United States ; their value, at 8d. per dozen, being 

 considerably more than £16,000,000. These figures 

 are to some extent accounted for by the national 

 fondness for pastry, of which Udc declared eggs 

 to be "the great original." One of the best signs 

 of a thriving industry is the little public fuss 

 made about it ; and American poultry-farmers have 

 for a long time been naturally and profitably 

 silent. But a cause of disquietude has at length 

 arisen. No duty is imposed on foreign eggs, and 

 some 16 million dozen of these are annually 

 imported into the United States. The competition 

 is not very severe at present, the foreign supply 

 being less than one-thirtieth of the entire consump- 

 tion. Still, forewarned is forearmed ; and an 

 American " trade" journal presumably expresses 

 the sentiments of its subscribers when it indig- 

 nantly asks whether the native egg industry is to 

 be crushed by the rivalry of the " cheap pauper 

 fowls of the Old World." There is perhaps more 

 pique than propriety in this expression, though it 

 suggests obvious matter for reflection on our side 

 of the Atlantic. If we may judge from the in- 

 umeiable treatises founded upon the problem " How 

 to make poultry pay," poultry seldom does pay in 

 PJngland. In regard to this matter there is a singular 

 if not a painful contrast between linglish ni- 

 ditference and American enthusiasm. America.n pro- 

 ducers are excited by the fact that a quite in- 

 significant proportion of foreign eggs finds its 

 way into their inarkets. English should-be pi'oducers 

 are in no way disturbed, althougli every retail shop in 

 the kingdom has practically lo rely upon the foreign 

 supply The statistics of these imports tell their 

 own significant story. During the summer 

 months, from fifty to eighty tons of eggs are 

 landed every twenty-four hours on the quays of 

 Harwick. These come ahnost exclusively from 

 North Italy, by way of the St. (xothard Tunnel. 

 The daily cargoes occasionally amount to as much 

 as 130 tons, representing about 2 millions of 

 eggs, of which London is almost the sole destina- 

 tion. Besides these, from 50 to 60 millions of 

 eggs are sent into England every month from 

 Denmark, Germany, Belgium, and France. The 

 last country does a thriving export trade after 

 supplying the egg-loving Parisians with the 40 

 million dozen which is their annual consumption. 

 It may be instructive to note some of the points 

 on our coast at which this foreign produce is dis- 

 charged. Weymouth receives from 3 to 4 millions 

 of eggs per month. Newhaven and Soutiiauiji- 

 ton over 8 millions each; London (port of), 5 mil- 

 lions ; Hartlepoul, 8 millions ; Grimsby and New- 

 castle, 5 millions each Leith, 2 millions. The duty 

 on imported eggs was repealed in 1860, 



Experimental Tea a Failure.— For many years 

 an experimental farm has been in operation in South 

 Carolina at Government expense, devoted to the at- 

 tempt to introduce tea culture into this country. It 

 has never met with more than indifferent success. 

 The tea plants would j^row well enough, but curing 

 the tea required much labor and skill, and neither 

 could he cheaply obtained near the tea farm. The 

 severe cold this Winter has prematurely stripped the 

 plants of their leaves, and the plantation is now in 

 a more discouraging condition than ever. Commis- 

 sioner Ooleman of the Department of Agriculture 

 thinks the farm had better be abandoned. If more 

 thought had been given the subject the experiment 

 would never have been tried. We cannot compete 

 with China in tea growing, for the reason that wages 

 in that country are only five to ten cents per day. 

 If the Chinese will consent to leave our staple pro- 

 ducts unmolested with their competition, we can well 

 afford to leave them the monopo of tea-growing. 

 Much of the price we pay for tea goes to middle- 

 men, as the trade in tea has always been enormously 

 profitable. — American Cultivator. 



Cigars and " Cigars."— What Mr. Sala has to 

 say about the making of Havanna cigars is appe- 

 tising, what he hints at about the making of cigars 

 which pretend to be from Havanna, but are not, would 

 almost put an end to smoking. "If you offer a 

 Spaniard a cigar — not with the view that he should 

 smoke, but that he should criticise it — he will, 

 after expressing a preliminary wish that you may 

 live a thousand years, produce a sharp penknife 

 and slice the weed through diagonally. Then with 

 a strong magnifying-glass he will scrutinise Ian tripnn 

 and tell you as confidently as any Loudon or Lin- 

 nM'US could the precise order of vegetation to which 

 the cigar belongs — whether it is of the superhne 

 vuelta de abajo, the clos vougeot of Nicotia, or of 

 some inferior growth, either from the island of Cuba 

 itself, or from Hayti, or Porto Eico, or Virginia, 

 or Maryland, or the Carolinas, or, haply from the 

 south and east of Europe ; for that vast quantities of 

 Hungarian, Austrian, Sardinian, and Bessarabian 

 tobacco do find their way to Cuba, and come back 

 to us in the guise of prime Havanas — that is 

 certain. A minute investigation of lax tripax may 

 also lead to the painful disclosure that the cigar 

 is not composed of tobaccoat all. — Austrahxxian. 



New Markets for Ceylon Teas. — For the 

 benefit of any of our planters or merchants who 

 wish to do business in a new field, we repeat 

 an extract from a letter addressed to us by Alder- 

 man Lobb of Toronto (Lloyd's Ontario Agency) 

 after he had tested samples of Ceylon teas, under 

 date 8th August 1884:— 



" I have submitted them (the samples) to some 

 of our leading merchants and they have been 

 very highly approved, some of them remarking, 

 'they were the finest black teas they ever -put 

 the water on.' They are undoubtedly a high 

 grade of teas and could be sold here, if price 

 'an obstacle. Having no idea of 

 I can give no definite opinion, 

 your friends wsuld like to consign 

 'an assorted parcel of, say, 100 half-chests I could test 

 the market here and elsewhere and should hope to 

 make satisfactory returns. I can refer you to the 

 Bank of Montreal here, the Imperial Bank and 

 Messrs. Fra. Peek, Winch & Co. of London, 

 England, whom I represented for nine years. Trust- 

 ing you are again safe at home much benefitted 

 by your trip, I am tfcc, J. Lobb." 



As already stated, the supply of Ceylon teas in 

 1884 was so limited in proportion to the good 

 demand for them in London, that no one thought 

 of looking to other fields; but the case may be 

 different now and perhaps Alderman James Lobb 

 of Toronto, may hi^ar from some Ceylon friend 

 with reference to business, 



would not be 

 your valuation 

 any 



but if 



of 



