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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[March i, 1883. 



PLANTING NOTES FROM THE NILGIRI^. 



All our industries are suffering from tUe gold re- 

 action at home. A panic has fallen upon the Indian 

 markets in consequence of a too great confidence in 

 one branch. With extraordinary vehemence people 

 put mmey into these unknown %'entures of mines, 

 without sufficient evidence of their " paying" proper- 

 ties, and now they are looking shy upon everything 

 that is Indian. We are all l,arred with ihe same 

 brush in the estimation of the British public : our tea 

 is tasteless, our coffee adulterated, our Ghat railway 

 ruinous, our cinchona even begins to fetch leas, and 

 Mexican bark and Mexican coffee are pushing us out 

 of the market. What with leaf-disease and the de- 

 terioration in quantity and quality of coffee in con- 

 sequence, and the low prices this year, our spirits 

 are down at Zero. Many unfortunates who are working 

 upon borrowed capital at 15 per cent, begin to think 

 they had better let things go, and with the trifle they 

 can save out of the fire turn to some better trade. 

 One money-lender has four or five estates now upon 

 his hands, the owners having had to resign them under 

 the pressure of bad times combined with high interest, 

 but who can stand agaiust bug, borer, leaf-disease, 

 15 per cent, insurance, " shrinkage," and English 

 market down to £65 per ton ? One or all of these 

 weigh down the cheeriest pl.inter. Yet some estates 

 such as those in the Coonoor Ghat or Ouchterlony 

 valley continue to pay, worked by men who have 

 money at their back and can afford to set a bad 

 against a good year ; some estates give a fair return, 

 but money is required for the lieavy dressing necessary 

 to resist the attacks of the coffee enemies. Leaf- 

 disease is our latest foe and as yet no cure has 

 been discovered. Fortunately it spares young planta- 

 tions. Let us not lose hope altogether from our 

 basket ; for prices have been as low as they now are, 

 and rose again to £120, as we had it two years ago. 

 The Coonoor Ghat railway shares are bangiug tire for 

 the same reasons of disfavour to all things Indian 

 No one will buy shares. Mouey could be borrowed 

 at home at 12 per cent, but such capital cannot be 

 afforded, so railway affairs are at a staud-.still. Well, 

 when things come to the worst they must mend. One 

 gold mine may turn up trumps and immediately the 

 "market" will veer round and folks English, will 

 again believe in the excellence of products Indian, and 

 we shall all be rich. — Madras Mall, 



EXPLORATION IN AFRICA AND RUBBER. 



There cannot be a doubt but that India will ultim- 

 ately derive benefit from the exploration of Africa. 

 Some short time ago the Secretary of State deputed 

 a Mr. Cross to visit South America in order to as- 

 certain if a new india-rubber tree could be found suit- 

 able for introduction into India. Africa supplies some 

 of the best kinds of rubber, and, as this is exported 

 from Zanzibar, it must be grown in East Central 

 Alrica. We already know one plant from which this 

 African rubber is obtained, but there are other plauts 

 yielding it unknown to botanists. We think that, 

 were there nothing moie to hope for than some im- 

 provement in the rubber yielding plants of Iniiia, 

 this would more than justify the Government in 

 placing Dr. Watt's services, lor a year or so, at the 

 disposal of the Expedition Committee. A little enquiry 

 into ilie figures repiesentmg the Assam Gnvtinnieut 

 experiment lu rubber cultivation would give full mean- 

 ing to this argument. No one would wish to dia- 

 courage Government, however, in spending large sums 

 in the endeavour to place rubber on a sound founda- 

 tion as a cultivated product, imtead of leaving this 

 valuable industry in the hands of wild hill tribes, 

 but rather to go on in this effort. One of the best 

 p s towards this object would be to obtain seeds 



of all rubber-yielding trees from every tropical country, 

 aud collect together all possible information regarding 

 the systems of extraction adopted by the natives. 

 An opportunity has been oflered for obtaining informa- 

 tion of this kind at a mere nominal expenditure, 

 since the expense of exploration is to be met by 

 funds raised at home. We hear far too much of sus- 

 picious of India being treated as a " milch-cow " 



au expression which may eudanger the interpretation 

 of a want of hearty co-operation between the ludian 

 and Euglish authorities. Anything started in India 

 succeeds ; but if suggested, however mildly by Home, 

 it is opposed in India. Mr. Blandford was sent to 

 Abyssinia as Naturalist, but that was an Indian ex- 

 pedition — a powerful argument, but one which does 

 not lessen the direct usefulness of his researches to 

 India. If direct benefit must be looked for before 

 Indian funds are to be spent, Government would 

 have to close all its museums, and discontinue ex- 

 plorations of every kind. The simple fact, that, while 

 India contains many valuable introduced plauts from 

 America, the West Indies, Australia, and Europe, not 

 a single African species has yet found its way into 

 our fields, gardens, or roadsides, shows that there 

 is much still to be done in which India should not 

 only take an interest, but hope for ultimate bentit. 

 — Pioneer, 



TEA. 

 The past year has been one of continuous depression, 

 and although it was thought that the lowest possible 

 depth in prices had been reached in 1831, a general 

 and very severe fall has again taken place. Taking 

 all China and Indian tea together, it is probably on 

 the average 2d to 3d per lb., or 16 to 20 per cent., 

 cheaper than in December last year. The stock con- 

 tinues exceedingly heavy, and the great increase in 

 the Indian production, which is the real cause of 

 the fall in tea, appears likely to continue in a sort 

 of geometrical ratio. Within a few years we may 

 indeed expect as much as 100,000,000 lb. from India, 

 and only a very small portion o! the suitable land 

 has yet been cultivated. No doubt the present low 

 prices will, for the time check fresh land being 

 planted, but the estate laid out during the last four or 

 five years have yet to come into bearing, so that no 

 check in the progressive increase in the Indian crop 

 is to be looked for. It is being found, too, that tea 

 can be grown to great advantage in central India, 

 where a labourer gets 30s a year as wages,* and where 

 access to the coast by rail is much cheaper than from 

 the comparatively inaccessible districts of Assam and 

 Darjeeliijg. Coupled with tlie great increase in the 

 ludian production, the cheapening of communications 

 aud ths disappearance of muUllemen materially tend 

 to lessan the old cost of China teas. The trade there- 

 fore, have to look forward to a c mtinuance of low 

 prices, but the fact remains that, notwithstanding the 

 extraordinary drop in the value of tea, the consump- 

 tion only slightly exceeds that of 1879. Ihe Grocers 

 have, it is believed, improved the quality of their 

 supplies to the full extent of the rairket drop. But 

 has not the time come when common tea should be 

 offered on its merits at a strikingly low price? In- 

 deed, if the duty, which now forms so oppressive a 



* Fivepence less thau one penny per diem for food, 

 clothing and everything ! We had it on the authority of 

 an educated native of Jladras that the annual eai-uings of a 

 family of five persons was not more than £5. This was 

 working on their own land aud was bad enough, although 

 the chinlren, say a couple, required but little clothiug. But 

 that a labouring man would continue to work for the owner 

 of a tea estate at wages equivalent to 2/tJ per mouth is not 

 credible. If the cultivation continues wages will rLfe to 

 twice or thrice 30/ per annum. — Ed. 



