Sept. i, i8S6,] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



21 1 



I trnst my criticism may be taken, as it is 

 meant, in a kindly spirit. If it leads to a full 

 discussion of these points I will be only too glad, 

 and if proved wrong will accept the opinion of 

 of those who prove to me that they are right. — I am 

 sir, yours faithfully, 



J. McCOMBIE MURBAY. 



Fibres and their Preparation.— A London 

 correspondent writes : — " Minchin is home now. 

 and it has only just leaked out why he is here. 

 He got to work on the Tremy process, but 

 found that the chemical melted all the libre in 

 India. So I supplied the green stems of the 

 China grass here, so that he could prove it in 

 their own works. Cross & Bevan assisted by 

 Johnston have agreed to test all the unknown 

 fibres from India chemically and microscopically 

 on the same scale as in Mr. Christy's book ; there 

 are also other departments in the Colonial Ex- 

 hibition who are asking to be included for this fibre 

 tests and classification." 



We see a claim advanced on behalf of Mr. 

 E. Chasseriau, our leading agriculturalist, as the 

 discoverer of Coffee-Brandy, or Cafeine. What 

 may be the ultimate value of this new spirit 

 remains to be seen, but it appears strange that 

 nobody in Ceylon, Java, Brazils, *c. should have hit 

 upon the idea before, and it, therefore, redounds 

 all the more to the credit of our fellow-citizen 

 should he have " struck ile," which we sincerely 

 trust he has.— S. F. Press. — [For a generation past 

 we have read notices of spirit distilled from the 

 saccharine pulp of the coffee bean, but we have never 

 heard of this being done for economic use. — Ed.] 



Ceylon Tea in Ajiekica. — We sympathise very 

 much with Mr. McCombie Murray's view. la a 

 country like the United States, it would be far 

 better to present one good average grade of Ceylon 

 tea before the consumers, at least until a hold was 

 got of the millions whom we hope to convert to 

 tea, from coffee drinking. We have had a long 

 talk with Mr. Murray on the subject of his mission, 

 or rather future business ; he has most promising 

 connections for pushing a big tea business where 

 good tea has never been known, and we are hope- 

 ful of the result; but we say, do not let the 

 Eepublicaus be distracted at first with several 

 classes and prices of tea, but let them have ample 

 guarantees from the Syndicate of the purity of 

 the article offered. Moreover. Americans even more 

 than English tea-drinkers, will be glad to learn 

 that in drinking Ceylon and Indian teas, they 

 are discouraging the Chinese foreign opium trade. 



Tea in the Galle District. — A well-informed cor- 

 respondent at Galle writes :— " The production of tea 

 in the south of the island has of late increased, and 

 a good many gardens have been opened about Galle, 

 chiefly by native agriculturists. Tea for local con- 

 sumption is supplied from Morawak Korale and from 

 several estates in the Galle district, viz.. Citrus, Castle, 

 AVallahanduwe, Mount Pleasant, &c. Good pekoe season 

 1886 is retailed at Rl to Rl-25 per lb., other grades 

 from 60 to 80 cents. In the bazaars a fairly good 

 leaf is Fold at 50 cents per lb. The usual scented 

 teas from China which were formerly so much in 

 rei^upst. ar*' scarcily even seen in the market. We 

 presume the local supply has completely put a stop to 

 th(! trade in tlie imported article. The tea manu- 

 factured at Citrus and Castle estates at Narrawella, 

 about six miles from Galle, is of excellent flavour and 

 apparuntly much liked by consumers. Neajly all the 

 land now planted with this product were originally 

 cither citronella or Liberian coffee estates. Land is 

 also being rapidly opened up at Ratgama and Gaue- 

 gama under Europeen supervision, and there new 

 clearing's will be planted with tea during the next 

 wet =;euNon." 



Standard Tea Chests. — Mr. Horsfall advertise"? 

 a reduction in the prices of his Nos. 1, 2, and 

 3 Tea chests from 9.5, 80 and 70 cents to 90, 75 

 and 65 cents respectively. All the sizes are of 

 standard dimensions, so that nothing is lost by 

 way of freight or dock charges. 



Java Cinchona Planting. — We give promineftce 

 ence to the following paragraph translated from the 

 Java Bode for the Straits Times: — Cinchona plant 

 ation enterprise in Java seems to be going the 

 same way as that respecting coffee and sugar, its 

 future being also imperilled. The Government have 

 become so convinced of the impending danger that 

 it has directed otiicial inquiries to be made into a 

 disease which has put in an appearance in the 

 eastern portion of the Preanger Regencies among 

 the roots of cinchona trees, the latter dying withm 

 a few days after seizure. 



Coffee on the rise. — It scarcely required the 

 result of the Dutch salt at 30 cents (against 28 

 estimated) to show how Coffee is going to rise. 

 Messrs. Rucker & Bencraft on July 22nd reported : — 



A few months ago the question current was whether 

 the low prices then existing were low enough, or 

 whether when the pressure come on in the autumn 

 of tlie year coffee would fall to a still lower basis. 

 Now people ask themselves are the moderate prices 

 current high enough ? will there really be any pres- 

 sure in the autumn ? will coffee later on in the year 

 rise to a higher basis altogether. July August, and 

 often September, are dull months in the coffee trade. 

 If the weather be fine people leave business and cur- 

 tail rather than increase their liabilities. Again, coffee 

 of course is not so largely consumed in the hot woa- 

 ther, and Brazil receipts run heavy as a rule iu August 

 September, and October. On the other hand the. 

 public will do well to remember that there are except- 

 ional features current this year in the coffee trade, 

 features which might easily upset the usual run of 

 trade. One feature is this, that we have, existing 

 prices which have been established by years of over- 

 production, and which, though stocks have heavily de- 

 creased, and though the over-production is possibly, 

 some say certainly, a thing of the past, the trade, 

 rightly or wrongly, still maintains will continue aa 

 the fair working basis. Another feature of interest 

 is that 1885-86 crops generally were early, and it there- 

 fore appears probable that supplies from Honduras, 

 Guatemala, Salvador, Costa Rica, Porto Rico, India 

 Ceylon, and many other places, will be unpreceden- 

 tedly small for the next few months. We have not 

 time or space to go fully into the matter, but we 

 reiterate that the article has seldom been in a more 

 irteresting position ; we also note it as a fact that 

 those who look for higher prices are daily adding to 

 their number, though they still differ amongst them- 

 selves as to whether now or later on will give the bet- 

 ter opportunity for buying. The whole position may 

 be summed up very briefly. If the present reduction 

 in stocks, a reduction which assuredly will for a month 

 or two still further assert itself, is the result simply 

 of poor crops, caused and produced by natural causes 

 of a temporary and transitory character, later on the 

 position will right itself, and stocks will increase again 

 but, if on the other hand, as many experts assert, 

 though the consumption of coffee is steadily increas- 

 ing, the production is becoming a matter of more 

 and more diiBculty ; if we are again to see not in one 

 instance but in many countries profuse blossoms suc- 

 ceeded by poor crops, if the evil at work proves to, 

 be not above the ground, but below, then of coiires 

 overproduction will turn out to be a thing of the past. 

 This digression, however is at present of no commer- 

 cial value, the question the trade would like decided 

 at the moment is whether curreut Brazil crop are to 

 total about 5,500,000, 6,000,000 or 6,500,000 bags or 

 higher. As regards the spot market in this port, sup- 

 plies are and promise to be moderate. Plantatiou 

 Ceylon coffees are again dearer, and quotations all 

 round are well maintained in a market void of excite- 

 ment. 



