400 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[November i, 1882. 



but I am wandering from the point again. With re- 

 ference to the sale, &c., of coffee, if a Company were 

 started for that purpose, I doubt very much wiiether 

 they could do things cheaper, and as to the rates 

 of freight he must well know that if he wishes to 

 do so, he can ship his coffee by the British India 

 New Line, whioh is endeavouring to do things cheaper 

 than the coalition, whose rates of freight have always 

 been as low as other lines of steamers. As to curing 

 charges, R50 per ton at first sight appears to be a 

 high price to pay, but it must be remembered that 

 for eight montlis in the year expensive works, neci'ssary 

 for curing coffi'e, and containing valuable machinery are 

 lyinj; idle ; the same may be said of the greater part of 

 the establishment of clerks, who have to be kept on all 

 through the year doing little or nothing. Let ' Dry 

 Cherry' start a Company and go and borrow money 

 if he can get it from the Kanks. There is nothing 

 to hinder a planter from doing that now, except the 

 one important fact, that the JBanks would not advance 

 the money. The Coast Agent will not accept a 

 greater risk than the Banks, and therefore rightly 

 expect a higher rate of interest on his money. I 

 envy ' Dry Cherry' at his being able to put down 

 R20,000 on the nail ; there are few planters and 

 even much abused Coast Agents who are able to say 

 that in these hard times. In concluding my letter 

 I musi state thiit in writing as I have done, I do 

 not intend to run the planters down. They are the 

 j oiliest and most hospitable fellows out, but when 

 one of their number runs the ' Garblers' down they 

 must defend themselves, aud therefore ' Dry Cherry' 

 has been put through the peeler." — Madras Mail. 



TEA IN CACHAR. 



The season promises to be a peculiar one, and the 

 general cry is for rain, and, judging from general ap- 

 pearances, one-half of the paddy lands vnll not be 

 put under crop this year. We do not anticipate, 

 even in the face of this, a very material rise in prices, 

 as none of last year's crop has as yet been sold, 

 and a very large portion of the previous year's crop 

 is still housed in the villages. The present prices 

 are ruinous to the cultivator, so that a slight rise will 

 do no one any harm. The rainfall is now from 12 

 to 15 inches short of last year. 



We are now past the middle of the season, and so 

 far as regards Cachar, the increase in outturn will 

 not be very much. Most of the gardens on the north 

 bank of the Barak are far behind, whilst on the south 

 bank they are equally far ahead, and allowing for 

 increase in area coming into bearing, we do not think 

 that tlic increase for export over last year will he 

 more than lialf-a-million pounds, but the teas are of 

 a decidedly better quality than last season's. Not- 

 withstanding, they are fetching very much lower 

 prices, the brokers do not attribute it to the market ; 

 consequently the poor planter is blamed. 



Tea must be produced locally for five or six annas, 

 and in Calcutta charges must be reduced to say IJ 

 annas per lb., in order to make it a thriving industry, 

 and one which will pay, and new gardens must be 

 opened out on a very different basis to what they 

 were in former years. We purpose, in succeeding 

 numbers, to enter upon the subject of opening out 

 a new estate, with an object to make it pay at a 

 price not exceeding nine annas per lb., aud to show 

 that even that will give a handsome return, provided 

 economy is exercised in opening out, and indenthu) 

 for what is only necessary, instead of as in former 

 years having the godowns in the factories crammed 

 with machinery of all sorts and sizes, which is not 

 at all necessary. We have just got most seasonable 

 rain, and it looks as if it would continue. There is 

 a long lee way to make up, as much as thirty-five inches 

 in some places, — Indigo Planters' Oazette. 



CEYLON TEA IN AUSTRALIA. 

 Mr. A. B. Inglis, late of the Fii-m of Begg, Dunlop 

 & Co., of Calcutta, and member of the Governor- 

 General's Council, in the course of extensive journeyiijgs 

 before settling down to business in London, returned 

 from a trip to Australia by last steamer, aud we had 

 the pleasure and profit of comparing notes with him 

 about Australia, India and Ceylon. As it was he who 

 induced Mr. Bernard, the present Chief Couuiiissioner 

 of Bunnah, when Secretary to the Government of 

 India, to regard favourably the idea of a Government 

 grant to the Calcutta Tea Syndicate, whose operations 

 in Melbourne, through the Firm of James Henty & Co., 

 have been so eminently successful in introducing Indian 

 tea to the Australian communities, he was, of course, 

 much gratified at what he found had been done in the 

 Southern Colonies, by the Finn referred to in Melbourne 

 and by his o\™ able and eloquent brother, " Maori" 

 Inglis, in Sydney. With reference to Ceylon tea 

 seekiug a market in Australia, we told Mr. Inglis 

 that, while most anxious, in return for all that 

 Mr. Moody had done for Ceylon tea, to induce 

 all whom we could influence to send tea for sale 

 to Messrs. Henty & Co., complaints had reached us 

 regarding the heaviness of the Melbourne charges as 

 compared with those in account sales from London. 

 Mr. Inglis told us that similar objections were raised 

 by the Calcutta Syndicate .and that now the charges 

 were lowered in their case to 4 per cent. It seems 

 that the Melbourne cnstom has been for purchasers of 

 tea even at auction to get long credit, and that in 

 the introduction of a new article it was felt that the 

 purchasing brokers must be conciliated. If consignors 

 wanted theii- money at once of course discount had to 

 be charged aud this has been specially complained of 

 as heav-y. We have no doubt, however, that on pro- 

 per representations being made, all such difficulties 

 will ere long be removed, and we trust that Cej'lon tea 

 will yet be as well known and as much appro\-ed in 

 Aiistralia as it now is in Loudon. It will he of great 

 importance to the future of' our young and promising 

 industry that it should have many markets to go to. ' 



AGRICULTURE ON THE CONTINENT OF 

 EUROPE. 



{Special letter). 



P.UHS, 26th August 1882. 



M. Fleischer, of the Agricultm'al College of Bremen, 

 has been conducting, since three years, expenments on 

 peaty soils, to test the eflicacy of pai'tly soluble phosphates 

 and the supeiiihosphates. The former proved the more 

 beneficial ; the phosphoric acid readily soluble is not 

 absorbed by the humus-earth, so consequently disappears 

 quickly from the stratum where the roots exist ; indeed 

 this acid exercises a deleterious effect in soUs ah-eady acid. 

 Bone-dust, guano, gtlatiuous phosphate, and phosphorite, 

 in a word, all substances containing soluble phosphoric 

 acid yielded the same results, on old as well as new 

 peaty soils. Hitherto it was believed that peat soOs con- 

 tained a good deal of sidphuric acid, which acted in 

 the recalcitrant phosphates. M. Fleischer shows that 

 the energetic action is due to humio acid. 



Potash is a fertUi-.ing element whose restoration to 

 the SOU is indispensable, as it is carried oft' by crops 

 in considerable proportions. This restitution becomes 

 the more imperative, when plauts of the leguminous 

 family, such as clover, disappear to be rejilaced liy moss. 

 Unwashed wood-ashe^:, containing 6 to 8 per cent of potash 

 and 3 to 4 of phosphoric acid, often produce marvellous 

 effects ; the moss disappears, and the clover ■and similar 

 plants take its place. 



M. Rimpeau at Schlanstedt, and Prince WiUiam at 



