Apml I, iBBy,1 f HE f KOmCAL AGRfCULTURIST. 



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iWB^^Mi>ifliii IWI^ 1 WfclWl li^iiB 



seasons ; it is to be hoped that growers have by this 

 means been to some extent compensated tor the low 

 range of prices current. The contraction in value of 

 Java tea, however, has not been so great as in teas from 

 some other places. Java teas are consumed in so 

 many different markets that the demand from one 

 quarter or another will generally retard a serious and 

 sudden decline in prices, when caused by a drop 

 in similar grades of teas from other countries. This 

 cause has tor some time past maintained the value of 

 Java pekoes at a comparatively higher range of prices 

 than Indian growths ; it has also frequently retarded 

 — and at a certain period checked — a decline in the 

 value of Oongous and Souchongs which might other- 

 wise have been more pronounced. The wide area 

 over which Java tea is distributed thus acts as a 

 great and continuous safeguard. The value of broken 

 pekoes has been greatly interfered with by the un- 

 settled state of affairs in Ireland, where tucy were 

 atone time largely consumed, and this class of tea 

 being taken in fewer foreign markets than whole leaf 

 descriptions, has probably suffered to as great an 

 extent as Indian growths. Broken pekoes, however, 

 are now becoming more used in some of the 

 Continental markets. Quality. — Looking back over 

 the past twelve months we note with some regret 

 the poor average quality of a large proportion of the 

 offerings ; this is specially unfortunate at a time when 

 super-abundance of weak liquoring teas had been arri- 

 ving from other locaities, and had already seriously 

 depressed the market for the lower grades. Future 

 prospects. — The brightest spot in the year is noticed in 

 a few consignments which have stood out pre-eminently 

 over the rest as being unquestionably grown from good 

 Indian seed, and being manufactured with the greatest 

 attention to quality, accompanied by i^killed and care- 

 ful manipulation. The future of the Java tea trade 

 must be largely influenced by the liquoring character of 

 the tea, and now that imports from India have so 

 largely increased, and that there is every reason t'^ 

 anticipate a still greater addition to the tea harvest in 

 Ceylon, this matter of qualify may become one of vital 

 importance to proprietors of tea estates. We would 

 therefore, again impress upon owners the advisability 

 of planting (jood Indian seed, and neglecting no op- 

 portunity of utilising every appliance for efficient 

 manufacture, and for greater economy, vrhich the 

 most recent scientific researches have placed within 

 their reach. Bulking in Java, has perhaps shown some 

 improvement during the past year, but still requires ad- 

 ditional attention in many factories. The subject is of 

 greater importance now than over as an additional charge 

 has been imposed for the performance of this operation 

 in England. Averat^e price; the 56,490 packages of 

 direct import sold in public auction during the year 

 realised an average of 9\A.; the average for the 31,473 

 packages sold during the first six months of the year 

 being 9|d., and of the 25,017 packages sold during the 

 last six months being Sfd. In 1885, 45,272 packages 

 of Java tea of direct import were printed for puhlic 

 auction ; the equivalent in chests being 39,418. In 1886 

 the quantity had increased to 56,490 packagee, the 

 equivalent in chests being 48,038, 



AGJKICULTUKE ON THE CONTINENT OF 



EUEOPE, 



{Special Jyittn:) 



Paris, February 19. 

 uerniau fanrJers are discussing a not unimportant 

 question, namely, whether large or small-breed cows 

 are best for milking purposes. Starting from the 

 term of 8 or 10 years, during which the keeping of 

 a milch cow is remuuerativOj and comparing "the 

 relative cost of their feeding and difference in live 

 weight when finally slaughtered for the market, 

 which of the two classes of cows will be ou the 

 vvhole the most profitable to keep, assuming the 

 yield of milk in each case to be equal ? Take two 

 pows whose live weight is 8 and Vl cwt. respect- 

 ively. After utilizing their milking powers during 

 8 or 10 years, will the superiority iu live weight, 

 lift^ i cwt. when laaudedl pver to the butcber, balauce 



or surpass the ]L;i.c:itcr cost of food cousumed by 

 the heavier animal pending ten years ? 



It is roughly estimated that a cow requires for 

 sustenance 'ij lb. of dry matters— that science so 

 selects for its standard — per hundredweight ; con- 

 sequently, a cow of 12 cwt. will require in rations 

 nine pounds of dry aubstancos more than the small 

 animal. In the course of a year the excess would 

 amount to 93 cwt., and if valued at fr. 2'50 per 

 cwt., the difference in money value would be per 

 annum 72 fr., or for ten years 720 fr. Now is there 

 any butcher to be found who would pay 720 fr. for 

 a live weight of 4 cwt. of a cow, after serving ten 

 years as a milk-producing machine? Conclusion 

 with German agriculturists: for milk industries 

 small, not large-sized stock, are to be preferred, as 

 they eat less into the bargain. 



In France, as a rule, milk is never consumed 

 unboiled ; in Germany the contrary is the case. 

 Professor Eeichmann has determined the relative 

 digestibility of milk in both these states. Unboiled 

 new milk coagulates in the stomach five minutes 

 after it is swallowed ; iu the space of four hours 

 it is completely digested. The digestion is produeed 

 not by a ferment, but by an augmentation of lactic 

 juice and also of muriatic acid. The action of these 

 acids is at its maximum 75 minutes after the milk 

 descends into the stomach. Boiled milk requires 

 two hours and-a-half to be digested. 



Dr. Kiiuig recommends the more general consump- 

 tion of butter-milk ; it is richer iu albuminoid mat- 

 ters which constitute the elements of nutrition than 

 either fresh or skimmed milk being 4 per cent, while 

 the others are but 3 ; naturally it is less rich iu 

 fatty matters, being under one per cent, while fresh 

 milk is 3§. Its taste indicates it contains less milk- 

 sugar, due to the latter being converted into lactic 

 acid. The stomach digests it quite as well as meat, 

 eggs, or whole milk, and in the neighbourhood of 

 towns or factories is in great demand, where it is 

 prepared as an appetizing and nourishing soup. 



Since the close of the fifteenth century, when the 

 Moors were definitely defeated, till now, Spanish 

 agriculture remains in the same state. The realm 

 IS naturally rich, the climate excellent, yet the 

 population very sparse, does not raise sufficient cere- 

 als for its wants. At Florida, near Madrid, an 

 Agricultural College was commenced in 1h54; it is 

 still in course of construction, and will not be ter- 

 minated till the country possesses some solid gov- 

 ernment. It is what Liebeg wauld call the "vam- 

 pire system " of farming which is pursued. One 

 example sufhces for all. In the province of Murcia, 

 in the south-east of Spain, it is the old Roman 

 plough which is still in use. The noil is never 

 manured, being by nature rich ; the rotation is naked 

 fallow, followed by barley and wheat. There arc 

 no black cattle, so there is no manure ; there is uo 

 pasturage, save what the Merinos eke out in the 

 Sparta fieMs. Goats replace cows, and straw, hay. 

 Farm laborers are paid 2 fr., and women 1 fr, per 

 day. and are contented, bo as Sanoho Panza ob. 

 serves, when one is contented there's an end to the 

 matter. 



The fallow receivea three primitive ploughbgs ; 

 in September the wheat is sown broadcast" and lightly 

 ploughed in, so that when the wheat rises, it has 

 the look of having been sown in lines, as the seed 

 falls towards the ridge of the furrow. As the farm- 

 steads are few and far between 8 to 10 miles dis- 

 tant, the owner never visits his fields from the time 

 of sowing the grain till he comes to scythe the 

 crop down iu June. When cut the grain lies 10 

 or 12 days ou the soil ; then is carted home. There 

 are no roads— the highway is the railroad. There 

 are no sjiring carts even for travelling. 



The sheaves are opened out on a circular "thresh 

 ing " floor 66 feet in diameter; the layer of straw 

 is twelve inches thick; over this mass is dragged 

 by mules a kind of chaffer, consisting of Silcx knives 

 stuck in heavy blocks of wood. The result is 

 not only to shake out the grain, but to cut the straw 

 a series of riddlings separate the grain from the 

 laass. The straw 12 the jprovender for the nml«» 



