October i, 1882.J THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



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terns of low and high presaurea, which appear and 

 disappear with season. Ol these the iiiost prominent 

 are the low pressures which occupy tlie ceutres of 

 coutiuunts in the summer months and tlie northern 

 portions of the Atlantic and Pacilic Oceans iu the 

 wiu'er mouths ; and on the other hand, tlie h'gh 

 pressures which till the centres of ihe continents in 

 the winter months and the high pressures in the 

 oceans immediately to the west sides of the great 

 continents, iihout lat. SB*, as shown by the Admiralty's 

 physical charts of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian 

 Oceans. To taUe.as an example, the great summer barome- 

 tric depression of Central Asia, with the winds flow- 

 ing in upon it on all sides veriically carrying with 

 them the moisture of the ocean from which they 

 01 me. Thus East Siberia is then swept by south- 

 east and Kast winds, which distribute to westward as 

 far as Irkutsk, in July, a montlily rninfall of 3 inches 

 and upwards. Now since the annual rainfall of this 

 region is all but wholly determined by the rains of 

 tile summer months, the extension of these rains in- 

 land wholly determines the position of the annual 

 iso-h^etal lines. Again, to westward of long. 1C0° in 

 Siberia, the rains have their origin in the Atlantic 

 and Arctic eeas, and since west and north-west W'iuds 

 prevail from Archangel to Central Asia, they bring 

 with theiu comparatively so large a share nf mois- 

 ture from the ocean, as to raise the annual rainfall 

 over the greater part of these northern regions to 

 about 20 inches, or even more. On the other hand, 

 on the east side of the Ural .Mountains, which drain 

 these winds of much of their moisture, the .summer 

 rainfall is much less From north of the Caspian 

 and Aral .Seas, southward to the Persian Gulf, and 

 eastward to the Indus, the summer winds are north- 

 west and since they thus advance over regions rapidly 

 rising in temperature, little if any innisture is de- 

 posited in their train, thus rendering this extensive 

 region one of the largest arid tracts of the gU'be. 

 These, with other considerations, indicate that the 

 courses of several if the iso-hyetal lines, where obser- 

 vations lire sparse, should be regulated to a greate" 

 extent thin has been done in the map before us, by 

 ihe positions of river-basins and mountain ranges in 

 tlieir relations to those seasonal winds, which really 

 determine the annual amounts of the rainfall. 

 One of the most important points to which atten- 

 tion is drawn by Professor Loomis, is that more rain 

 fails on the eastern than on the western sides of 

 continents. This remark holds liood everj where, until 

 we reach the higher lalitudes of both hemispheres, 

 where the predomin.% ing winds becorne westerly. 

 Thus the rainfall at San Francisco is only from a ha'f 

 to a third of the amount which falls on the coast of 

 Pennsylvania in the same latitude ; and about the same 

 proportions, or even proportions still more striking, 

 are seen on comparing Morocco with the ' hinese 

 c uisi-, and the west with the east coasts of South 

 Africa, Australia, and South America. The explana- 

 tion is to he found in the portions of the areas of 

 low und high pi-essnrcs, with their ac< ompau^ing winds, 

 during the season whose rainfall determines the an- 

 nual amounts, "n the east side of the continents 

 the prevailing sumir.er winds are south-west, south 

 or south-east which, having traversed a large extent 

 of ocean, and constantly advancing into higher and 

 colder latitudes, spread a copious rainfall over the re- 

 gions they traverse. But on the other hand, since 

 the west side of continents in the same latitude lies 

 between the region of abnormally high pressure iu 

 the ocean immediately to westward, and the low 

 pressure of the intetior, north-west winds in the nor- 

 thern, and south-west winds in the southern hemisphere 

 prevail there ; and as they advance into lower lat- 

 itudes or ever regions of a conssautly increasing temp- 

 erature, the deposit little or no rain in their course. 



Hence, owing to the failure, more or less complete 

 of the summer rains it follows that the annual rainfall 

 of these portions of the dontineuts is small. 



COFFEE ADULTERATION IN ENGLAN;D. 

 Owing to tlie immeuee pressure of other business, 

 and also no doubt to the strong influence brought to bear 

 by interested parties, the Government propose to aban- 

 don the in.italinent of fair play announced to be given to 

 the CdfiVe trade at the time of the Builget, and to 

 substitute a scheme, the effect of which would be 

 to legalize every form of adulteration. Mr. Glad- 

 stone stated that the Treasury were only concerned 

 with revenue matters, and not with adulteration. 

 The latter offence could no doubt be dealt with 

 under the ordinary law; but that is noise than 

 useless at a tune when a simple d. claration of ad- 

 mixture, obscurely printed on the packet, would amply 

 comply with its requirements, though the mixture 

 contains only 10 per cent of the substance under 

 the name of wdiicli it was offered. Thar, such a 

 dilution should be possible with Chicory, and should 

 be carried on to an immense extent, is surely suf- 

 ficiently destructive to the Coffee trade, but the 

 proposition of the Government would make such 

 practices equally legal with charred cabbage stalks 

 or anything else that was not so heavy as to sink 

 to the bottom of the pot when infused, instead of 

 discolouring the water. Brick dust must not remain 

 suspended in water loug enough, but many forms of 

 clay or stained earth would dissolve and pass mus- 

 ter under the Government proposal, when added 

 to Coffee. Again, the injustice of a scheme is mani- 

 fest, for, as there is absolutely no machinery for 

 collecting an Excise duty of the sort, the relatively 

 honest trader who paid 2d per lb. duty on ilie char- 

 red cabbage stalks he added to Coffee, would be 

 undersold by his less fastidious neighbour, who could 

 procure ample supplies of the unniitntious but woody 

 stems from his own back garden, without commun- 

 icating with the Excise. As Mr. H. Pasteur justly 

 observes, in a spirited circular he has just issued 

 on the subject, the public would be horrified were 

 it proposed to legalize the admixture of other leaves 

 with Tea. That coramoditv is, indeed, specially pro- 

 tected by law, and is inspected by the Customs on 

 import, so that none is allowed to pass into cou. 

 sumption unless it is found to be pure. To bo 

 consistent, the Government should !•■ peal that por- 

 tion of the law, and provide " that a duty of 6d 

 per lb. should be granted to Her Majesty, her 

 heirs, and successors, on all aloe, willow, hawthora 

 or other leaves, or any other article or .'ubslance, 

 intended to be mixed with, or to serve as a sub- 

 stitute for. Tea." The only saftguard thatthepub- 

 lic would possess in the case of Coffee, would be 

 that when the adulteration became so general that 

 the mixtures are kept in bulk and not in packets 

 or tins, that the Inspectors under the Adulteration 

 of Food Act might from time to time entrap some 

 unwary small tradtsinan into selling cabbage stalks 

 or date stones under the name of Coffee, without 

 affixing even the vague declar.tion of admixture, 

 nhich would protect him uuder the l;ix law now in 

 force. Surely such a proijosition can only be carried 

 if the Government and the Hone of Commons are 

 not in'ormed of the effects that would follow its 

 adoption. At any rate, if such a law be pa-scd, it 

 should be accompanied with the provision tiiat the 

 proportions and lames of the other sub.'-tances n ixed 

 with Coffee should be declared 'o the pui chaser at 

 the time of sa'e. Then the levyiiiL' of the duty upon 

 Coffee substitutes n ould be fair i iiough, but in the 

 form now made the proposition would simply add 

 fresh injustice to what the Coffee tiadc has to 



