August i, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



"3 



is increasing. A difficulty, and indeed a great diffic- 

 ulty, in tbe importation of kapok exists in its great 

 bulk, the cost of transport. being relatively very high, 

 and it is almost impossible to ship kapok by steamer. 

 This difficulty has now been overcome by the kapok 

 press newly constructed by the firm of Stork & Co. 

 at Hengelo. According to the calculation of this firm 

 a bale of 65 kilos will show a saving in freight of 

 f\1, or 26'c per kilo. The average price of cleaned 

 kapok standing at 40c; this makes a difference of 30 per 

 cent. The profit consists, however, not only of the differ- 

 ence in price, but in the possibility of shipping regularly 

 by steamer, by which the great fluctuations in the 

 market price would be prevented, which have exercised 

 an unfavourable influence on the placing or the im- 

 port of this article, especially in foreign countries, 

 and especially on the rent of packing-houses, which 

 is a great burden on this article ; — in the same space 

 three times as much can now be placed. 



Kapok packed in this manner has during the last 

 two years been imported from Ceylon and Calcutta ; 

 the quality of this kapok is, however, very inferior. 

 In our East Indies kapok cultivation is carried 

 on either in regular gardens or planted along the 

 roads. Planting may be carried out either by seed 

 or by cuttings. They are usually planted at a dis- 

 tance of 18 Rhenish feet. The preference is given 

 to planting by cuttings, as a crop can then be sooner 

 gathered. For cuttings the stem alone, not Ihe branches, 

 can be used. The number of fruits to a tree reaches 

 1,500 a year. The fruits yield : — 



22 per cent clean kapok. 

 29 ,, seeds. 



49 ,, refuse. 



The return of a bouw of land is about J '400. 

 The kapok is imported both in an uncleaned 

 and cleaned state. A couple of ye»rs ago it 

 appeared that several consignments were largely 

 mixed with sand and earth. It cannot be sufficiently 

 borne in mind that kapok should be packed dry : 

 in a wet package the kapok ferments, cakes, becomes 

 thereby discolored and loses greatly by manipulation 

 in this country. 



For stuffing beds, mattresses and furniture, kapok 

 is the most useful of the substances hitherto used ; 

 its qualities — lightness, insusceptibility to moths, soft- 

 ness and elasticity — make it for that purpose pre- 

 ferable to feathers, wool and hair. That the amount 

 used for stuffing is very great is sufficiently 

 seen from the fact that nearly the whole of the 

 import of kapok into our country is placed solely 

 for that purpose. Kapok meets with great opposition 

 from the dealers in horsehair, feathers and wool, 

 because more profit is to be made in those things. 

 For one and the same thing a larger quantity is 

 necessary, and on account of the higher prices more 

 is to be gained in the way of percentages ; but 

 notwithstanding this explicable opposition kapok 

 has already lett behind a very large proportion of 

 these articles in our country and has won its 

 spurs in Germany and Belgium. The seeds or kernels 

 of the kapok yield a marketable oil, and the cakes 

 made from ihem form a good local cattle-food. 



Although kapok has for a number of years been 

 used in India in a badly-prepared state tor the filling 

 of mattresses, and very small quantities were from 

 time to time brought to our country, and in like 

 manner was used in a very primitive condition for 

 filling of beds and mattresses, my firm has for twenty 

 years back imported the kapok in large quantities 

 and brought it into themaiket. 



At the same time it must be Been that kapok 

 of these importations can be described as well pre- 

 pared, cleaned and carded. In this also my firm has 

 succeeded fully, and several manufacturers have fol- 

 lowed in niy lootsteps, so that already there are eight 

 15 



of these establishments in our country. I may men- 

 tion as a peculiarity that some years ago I had some 

 kapok spun and woven, which articles were sent 

 to the Colonial Museum of the Industrial Company 

 at Haarlem. Kegarding this quality of kapok Industry 

 has not yet spoken her last word. 



The firm J. O. Klutgen. 

 Rotterdam, Nov. 18S3. J. H. Klutgen. 



INDIAN AND CHINA TEAS. 



We place below a very able letter by Mr. Moody 

 of Messrs. James Henty & Co. of Melbourne, defend- 

 ing Indian tea from the attacks of a writer calling 

 himself " Veritas," but known to be Mr. John Everard, 

 a Melbourne broker who largely purchases and 

 naturally defends low-class China tea. Portions of 

 his letter which Mr. Moody comments on are as 

 follows : — 



With regard to the statement that " trash called tea " 

 is imported here from China, I shall say only this, viz., 

 that, if you place the various China kinds from north 

 and south against teas of a corresponding nature from 

 India China invariably carries the palm, the reason being 

 that there is more delicacy, richness, flavour, and less 

 harshness than in the strong Indian rival. 



I may say that Indian teas are mure injurious to the 

 nervous and digestive systems than I bins, teas is an un- 

 deniable fact, on account of their sti ug and astringent 

 qualities having a frightfully constipating effect, it any- 

 one doubts this, let him make the acquamtauce of a 

 merehaut, and get the latter to oblige him by liquoring, 

 a batch of say 30 China teas; let him taste them all 

 carefully twice, and return next day and do likewise with 

 the same number of Indians, and I will wager he will 

 never repeat the latter experiment ; and let him wait till 

 the Indians are cold, and he will shrink with disgust 

 from their filthy, curdled appearance. 

 Here is Mr. Moody's aliie and conclusive reply : — 



INDIAN TEAS. 



Sir,— My attention has been drawn to a letter of 

 " Veritas" in your columns, making most astonishing 

 statements in reference to tea, and Indian in particular. 

 I notice his letter is full of such expressions as " 1 chal- 

 lenge," "I wager," "I say," but there is en tire absence 

 of any corroborative evidence to support these brave words. 



It is useles "Veritas" deuyiug adulteration in Cliina 

 teas, for the facts are against him. (See Consul Martin's 

 report to the British Government in 1847 ; Mr. Robert 

 Fortune's reports, lb.33 ; Rev. Dr. John Henry Gray's China , 

 1STS ; and a long list of consular reports on the subject 

 both to Great Britain and America, which resulted in the 

 passing of the Tea Act in the latter country and the 

 destruction of thousands of packages of tea.} All 

 this information could be supplied it space per- 

 mitted ; but I will finish by giving the Customs' Labor- 

 atory returns of London for lbbu. They reported that 

 404 6amples were interior in character and quality. " Of 

 these 404 samples S4 were passed for home consumption, 

 276 were not allowed to be entered for home consumption, 

 and 44 were condemned as. unfit for human food." All 

 this was China tea ; the quantity is not given, hut taking 

 a ample as representing 2u0 packages (a small estimate 

 for Victoria), it would probably amount to somewhere 

 about b4,0tlo packages of tea stopped by the customs of 

 Loudon during the year 18S0. 



The Home and Colonial Mail (London) oi lUth December 

 lbbl, puts the case very fairly thus: — " I hose acquainted 

 with the tea trade, whose knowledge anu judgment are 

 not warped by selt'-hiterest, have long been aware that 

 the lower grades of China tea have been notorious by 

 reason of tiieir bud quality, the result, tt, a large extent, 

 of adulteration." 



Again we have the tea condemned in Melbourne by 



Messrs. Newbury, Bunn, and my sell, funy supported by 



the condemnation in Loudon by Drs. Hussall, Clay ton au<l 

 Bell. 



