Sept. i, 1886.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



1/3 



PEACTICAL HINTS ABOUT TEA. 

 {Bij an Old Hand.) 



How TO GERJtiNATE Seed. — Choosc tlic suiiniest 

 slope you can, near water ; form beds 2\ or three 

 feet in width ; put a margin of boards round the 

 bed, level carefully the surface, making it firm ; on 

 this lay a layer of clean river sand two inches 

 deep, on this lay the seed two seeds deep ; over this 

 another laj'er of clean sand 1 to lA inches ; after- 

 wards cover with mana grass to the depth of an 

 inch, water well twice a day ; as soon as the seed 

 shows the direction of the root germ, then plant 

 into nursery beds, taking care the seed in no case 

 be put deeper in the soil than one inch ; then shade 

 with fern and keep well watered till fairly above 

 ground. 



When and What Tea Plants Should be Planted. 

 — A plant of 12 or 14 months old, stumped in the 

 nursery before being removed for planting with 

 every root carefully preserved and put into a hole 

 sufficiently large to receive it without doubling any 

 of the roots, is in my opinion the perfection of a 

 plant. Then, again, a plant well-grown at (5 or 7 

 months old, when it can be removed with all its 

 roots entire stands a better chance than an older 

 plant, the roots of which will be injured more or 

 less, even with the greatest care, in removal from 

 the nursery. These are the plants which one sees 

 to stand still for six months after planting, many 

 of them losing their leaves owing to evaporation 

 from the i^lant being greater than its own powder 

 of absorption from the soil: in a word keep your 

 plants till they are ready for stumping, or plant 

 them out of a wellprepared bed entire when six to 

 even months old. AdiucoiA. 



SUdAR IN -JAVA. 



(Translated for the Straits Times.) 



There is every prospect of the sugar yield in Java 

 proving a source of heavy loss to growers there 

 this year ; prices now for No. 14 have fallen to 

 even 8i guilders per picul. At this price sugar 

 growing will soen cease to pay, especially now that 

 the burden of taxation on the planting community 

 has been rendered still more grievous by heavier 

 auction dues and enhanced import duties reaching 

 10 per cent. The power of the people to bear the 

 additional taxation, so says the Sonrabaya Courant 

 has become so enfeebled that the taxes collected in 

 the first live months of this year show an alarming 

 lalling-off. The import duties alone compared 

 with the corresponding period of last year 

 show a decrease estimated at 234,000 guilders. 

 Statistics of piece goods imported show conclusively 

 that articles formerly in demand only find buyers 

 now when of inferior quality. 



REVIEW OF THE AUSTRALIAN TEA SEASON 

 OP 1885-188G. 



Ill view of the early opening of the new tea season 

 on this side (probably about the 10th .July), we take 

 our usual retrospective glance of the operations in 

 the tea market during the last twelve months end- 

 ing ?M\i .]uue 18SC>. 



The total import into all the colonies and from 

 all quarters amounted during the following seasons 

 to, say : — 



It). 



ISH.'S.Hf) .. ,. .. 2.S,49S,HS2 



l8«4-8.'-. .. .. .. 20,780,816 



18S:'.-84 l(?,,Hr,0,289 



.1882-8;-{ 22,.'-,G4,8.Sl 



The imports for season 18S2-a.'5 proved excessive, and 

 were only adju.sted by the light imports during 1883-84 ; 

 and taking the result of the three years' imports 



from 1882 to 1885, it appears evident that when im- 

 ports exceed 20,000,000 lb. weight the quantity is in 

 excess of the present colonial requirements, and loss 

 must result to importers, and this proved no excep- 

 tion during the season just closed. 



Indian Teas.— Mr. J. Osland Moody reports :— The 

 exports from Calcutta to Australia and New Zealand. 

 for the last four years, from 1st May to :-JGth April 

 stand thus: — 



1886 

 1885 

 1884 

 1883 



lb. 



1,729,517 



1,525,982 



340,613 



2,723,268 



showing a steady increase over the last two years, 

 though not equal in quantity to season 1883. 



For the same period the following are the shipmentB 

 to Great Britain: — 



, It). 

 1886 . , . . . . 65,858,071 



1885 .. .. .. 61,570,719 



1884 .. .. .. 58,067,180 



showing a large and steady increase, whilst the ex- 

 port from Ceylon alone now reaches 4,500,000 lb., and 

 is advancing by rapid strides to the front as a large 

 producing country and of the highest class of teas. 

 ^ Ceylon Teas continue to find their best market in 

 Great Britain, and lead the van in prices. Bo little 

 comes here they are not worth noticing. 



Japan Teas continue to be imported to trifiiiig ex- 

 tent, but show no movement in price quality. — J/e?- 

 iihonic .ly/.', July 1st. 



THE ALLIGATOR-APPLE, ANONA POLUSTRIS, 

 L. PRODUCING RIPE FRUIT IN COLOMBO. 

 Of the custard apple order (Auuaacece) we have in 

 Ceylon the large prickly sour sup, Auoua murioata, L. 

 The custard apple, or builoek's heart, A. reticulata, L, 

 which tastes like a custard mixed with some gritty 

 matter in it. The sweet sop, called in Ceylon, the cus- 

 tard apple, A. squamosa L., and 1 uuderstand the cheri- 

 moyer, A. Clienmolia, Duu., grows at Peradeuiya and 

 Hen..ratgoda, but 1 have not heard of their bearing 

 fruit in Ceylon. I now send you a npe fruit of the 

 alligator apple, Anona polus!ri.s, L.. grown in the 

 Circular near the Museum. This Iruit as you will 

 see is a good deal like the buliock'.s heart in shape, 

 but much smaller in size, and having a good deal of 

 the fragrance of a ripe apple. It is of a light yellow 

 color, and perfectly smooth like a mango. Ihe small 

 tree or large shrub from which this has been taken has 

 about two dozen more on it. From the " Official Guide 

 to the Museums of Ecomomic Botany, of the Eoyal 

 Gardens Kew " I take the following sJiort notice of 

 this plant and its fruit :— >• A small tree abundant on 

 marstiy shores in Jamaica; the fru't said to be narcotic 

 and even poisonous, is eaten by alligators as it drops ; 

 the wood known as corkwood, is used for stopping 

 bottles and lining boxess." Mr. Nock no doubt can 

 tell you if it is eaten in Jamaica. The cherimoyer is 

 spontaneous from Peru to Mexico, and has been natur- 

 alised in Jamaica, all the others mentioned here 

 are natives of Jamaica and some of the other islands 

 of the West Indies, but none are natives of Ceylon 

 or India. \v. p. 



WHITE CASTOR CAKE AS A MANURE FOR 

 TEA AND COFFEE PLANTERS. 



Mr. John Hughes, the wellknown Agricultural 

 Chemist, never omits an opportunity of supplying 

 useful information through the Tropical Agriculturist 

 to the planters of Ceylon and India. From the 

 following contribution it is evident that equally 

 for tea as for coffee, white castor cake, rich in 

 mitrogen, potash and phosphoric acid, is one of 

 the best manures which can be used :— 



70, Mark Lane, London, E. C, 10th .July IBBH. 



During my residence in Colombo in 1878 several 

 analyses of the abovenamed cake weiie made by 



