56 



THE TROPICAL ^ AGRICULTURIST, 



[July 1, j882. 



The Population of Assam appear to be better off 

 tliau ia any other part of India, owing to tlie great 

 abundance of culturable laud, the light asstssmeiit, aud 

 the high prices commanded hy every kind of laljour. 

 It is said to be rare to find a cultivator who ha? not 

 laid up in his granary food sufficicni for two or three 

 years' consumption, aud should he have any difficulty 

 in selling enough of the hoarded grain to pay rent or 

 revenue, a few days' labour on a tea plantation or ou 

 the roads will place him in possession of a sufficient 

 suiir for the purpose. The heavy fall last year in the 

 price of rice caused some embarrassmi^nt, but matters 

 are gradually re-adjusting theras<-lves. — Plouee>\ 



The Duty on Coffek. — According to Mr. Gladstone, 

 the duty on coffee iu ISSl was only £189,000. As a 

 source of revenue to the Home Government, coffee 

 occupies a rather insif^nificant position, and the question 

 arises whether the duty might not be advantageously 

 abolished. In 1867-8, the duty on chicory, cocoa and 

 coffee comhined, yielded £523,000. The revenue derived 

 from the same sources in 187-1-5 had fallen to £310,000, 

 and in 1881 to £300,000. In 1872 the duty ou coffee 

 was reduced from 3d to IJd per lb The social move- 

 ment adverse to alcohol has had no effect on the 

 cotisnmption of the beiry, though a marked iucre.ise 

 is shown in the consumption of tea, the revenue from 

 which has grown from £3.350,000 ill 1S(J7 to £4,2110,000 

 in liSSl, It seems to us that it would have been 

 better to have abolished tlie coff'ee duty altogether, 

 leaving the manufaoturfrs of spurious articbs to be 

 dealt with under the Adulteration Act. The repeal 

 of the duty would have been a boon to the coffee 

 planters in Ceylon aud Southern India, while the loss 

 of revenue to the Home Government would have been 

 insignificant. — J/. Mail. 



Indian Tea Jstimatbpoe 1881 82. —From a state, 

 meut wliich has reached us from the Indian Tea As- 

 sociation, we are enabled to place before our readers the 

 estimated and actual crops of 1881 aid the estimated and 

 probable crop of 1SS2, The figures have been obtained 

 from the various tea ageucj' lirms in Calcutta and from 

 the proijrietors and managers ofgardens. Lastjy ear's estim- 

 ated figures proved about 11 j per cent, in exces-i of the 

 actual crops. The estimate for 1882 has been reduced to 

 make allowance fur this excess. The following are the 

 figures for the years ISSl and 1882 respectively : — 

 Chop of 1881. 



Estimated. Actual. 



Assam ... 28,347,00 24.390,372 



Cachar aud Sylhet ... 15,018,180 13,1)03.016 



Darjeehng aud Dooars ... 7,730.li20 7,403,203 



Ohittagous ... 880,880 746,895 



Other districts ... 2,116,1)00 1,935,000 



54,093,880 

 Chop op 1882. 



Estira.ated. 

 Assam ... 29,373,318 



Oachar and 8ylhet ... 16,347,030 



Darjeeling and Dooars ... 8,755,{>72 



Chittagong . . . 836,720 



Other districts ... 2,320,4U0 



48,378,936 



Probable. 

 25,272,000 

 15,133,0(10 



8,384,000 

 709,000 



2,121,000 



57,633,170 ^ 51,619,000 

 The local consumption of ludian tea, including the 

 requirements of Government, may be taken at 1^- mil- 

 lions of lb., and if, as is hoped, the shipments to 

 Australia and America should amount to 2 millions, 

 there will remain from the probable crop of 18S2 about 

 48 millions of lli. for export to the United Kingdom. 

 It is possible gardens may work nearer their estimates 

 of outiurn in the current season than in the past, 

 but the General Committee consider the figures given 

 as the probable crop of 1882 will be found to be a 

 fair estimate. — Calcutta Englhhman. [The probable 

 outturn of Indian tea being51,G19, 0001b., Ceylon will more 

 than make up the round 52 millions. — Ed.J 



CixcHONA Feep.ifuge. — Quinine is being steady, 

 surperseded by the cinchona febrifuge produced in 

 India. It is now in fieneral use iu Government hos- 

 pitals, and enters largely into private practice. Only 

 3,064 lb. of quiuine were imported last year, as against 

 7,409 lb. in 1879-80.— il/o(7rfls Mail. 



What we Owe to thu Trees. — A country cannot 

 continue to be populous, nor highly civilized when 

 its forests, or their equivalent in coal, are lost to 

 it. But this loss has been experienced by many 

 nations. The whole Eastern world was once well 

 wooded. Eoman and Greek writers assure us of this. 

 Vast regions of Europe aud Asia, by wars and 

 wantonnp.ss and imprudence, have been stripped of 

 their forests. A belt of woodland stretching from 

 the Pyrenees to the Himalayas has been swept away, 

 and that whole region, once fertile aud populous, 

 uow barely sustains a people scanty iu uumbers. 

 It is a significant fact that great deserts now oc- 

 cupy the original seat of the human race, aud ex- 

 tend on every route of their migrations. Humboldt 

 is reported as saying : "Men iu all climates seem 

 to bring upon future generations two calamities 

 at once — a want of fuel aud a scarcity of water." 

 Tii6 two come alike from the destruction of forests. 

 — fjai'pcr^s. [Thi.s reminds us of a Sinhalese serv- 

 ant's delight with a plantir's bungalow on a uewlv 

 formed estate, witii firewood all round and a full 

 stream "f water running p.ast the kitchen. It was to 

 him, accustomed to pay for firewood and e\tu water 

 in Colombo, a land flowing with milk and honey ! — Ed.] 



The peohieition op the sale op date dust and 

 OTiiEE RUBBISH AS COFFEE is thus noticed in the 

 Planters' GuTMte : — 



The manufacturers of date, fig, maize, malt aud dande- 

 lion coffee, aud the host of ingenious persons who worked 

 up carrots, cabbage stalks, and other refuse into a semblance 

 of the best plantation will find their occupation gone since 

 they can no longer give their worthless rubbish a fictitious 

 value by misappropriating the uame of coffee. Hencefor- 

 ward they will he compelled to sell then- wares for what 

 they really are, which simply meaus that they will find no 

 one foolish enough to buy them. The step is therefore a 

 highly important oue iu the right direction, but we cannot 

 help hoping that, when the Adulteration Act is under 

 discussion, it may be possible to insert a clause completing 

 the protection wliich producers and consumers alike have 

 a right to demand. We mean a provision by which retailers 

 of coli"ee and chicory mixture should be compelled to state 

 what aro its proportions, aud to abide by the consequences 

 of misrepresentation. This seems to us to follow as a 

 natural corollary, and it would involve no undue hardships 

 ou honest tradesmen nor interfere with Jegituuatc business. 

 It will be observed that Mr. Gladstoue was iuduced to Jay 

 au embargo upon coffee mixtures other than chicory simply 

 from revenue considerations, aud not because justice to the 

 coffee grower and consumer demaniled it. Possibly he 

 thought that, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, the principal 

 aspect of the case was aloue within his purview, and, being 

 couviuced that cousimiption, aud hence the customs 

 reveuue, suffered tlirough wholesale adulteration, he re- 

 solved to stop it. This fact, however, demonstrates the 

 wisdom of tho.se who have been conducting the agitation 

 here, for it was precisely this point that they thrust 

 into ijrominence, and at the same time they refrained ad- 

 visedly from .any attempt to interfere with chicory, well 

 knowing that their position would ouly be weakened thereby. 

 In congratulating om- planting frieuds iu Ceylon, Kouth 

 India, and .Jamaica, upon what has already been achieved, 

 we must not omit to say that they are largely indebted for 

 it to BIr. H. Pasteur, of the well-known firm of Patry & 

 Pasteur, by whom this movement was iuitiated, aud who 

 has sjjared neither time nor trouble to carry it through. It 

 is impossible, indeed, to read Mr. Gladstone's sjieech without 

 the convictiou that he has been impressed by the arguments 

 atlvanced in Jlr. Pasteur's able letters .since he adopted sub- 

 .stautially the same line. The London Chamber of Commerce 

 must also come iu for its share of the credit, as it took up 

 the cause con amort: 



