December i, 1884.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



49 1 



that a big tea "boom" maybe expected from Ceylon; and 

 it is no wonder that the attention of Mincing Lane is 

 directed thitherward. The manufacturers of tea machinery 

 will doubtless pay heed to the requirements of Ceylon 

 planters, who are now on the look out for suitable machinery. 

 The rivalry of Ceylon is an additional reason, were any 

 required, why planters in India should devote themselves 

 to a study of the economic side of the question of manu- 

 facture. 



(Home and Colonial Mail, Oct. 31st.) 

 ( To the Editor of the Home and Colonial Mail.) 



Sir, — In your Planters' Supplement last week, I notice 

 that you appear to think the estimated yield mentioned 

 tc you by a Ceylon planter of from 2001b. to 1,0001b. 

 per acre, as sufficiently remarkable to be almost classed 

 with the impossible. 



I notice also that an Indian paper, received by last 

 mail, commenting in a leading article upon Ceylon pro- 

 duction, expresses this doubt very forcibly, even at the 

 reduced figure of 800 lb., thus : "Nowhere can our best and 

 most experienced planters turn out anything like this (10 

 maunds per acre) from the best virgin soils put under tea 

 in Assam." 



There appears to me from all this a curious absence of 

 planters' gossip in editorial chambers. What Sadiya Koad 

 planter does not remember the old days when Bisakopie, 

 under the management of the late Mr.. Bone, and long 

 previous to the formation of the present Doom Dooma 

 Company, yielded 12 maunds or 960 to 9S0 lb. per acre 

 and over, from a considerable area, and off China bushes, 

 too ! This is quite a tradition now. Again, who does not 

 among old Jorehaut planters remember a garden of in- 

 digenous tea, which produced 12J maunds of tea per acre, 

 which garden is the parent now" of numbers of other, its 

 seed having reached the highest figure on record, owing 

 to its wellknown splendid yield. Though these yields. I 

 admit, are remarkable, they have been proved possible in 

 Assam. — I enclose my card, Trump. 



Enemies to Sugar in Queensland. — I noticed a number 

 of Minah birds from India, which have been purchased, 

 and will be let loose to aid in the destruction of locusts, 

 which have done so much injury to the Victoria and 

 Hamleigh plantations in this district. A number of mon- 

 goose have also been imported, and have already been set 

 at liberty, it being hoped, by this means, to lessen the 

 loss which occurs through injury done to the cane by 

 field rats. — Cor., Sydney Mail. 



The Trade in Ginseng: China Reacting on- 

 Virginia. — One of the most curious instances of how 

 matters, apparently the most l emote, react upon each 

 other, is (says the New York Hour) found in the distress 

 occasioned in the rural population of West Virginia 

 by the Frauco-Chinese war, owing to the fact that the 

 market for gins ug is closed, or dulled, aud the price has 

 fallen by a large percentage. The mouutain people of 

 the Alleghany highlands from Peusylvania to Tennessee 

 have long been accustomed, in early Spring and late Fall, 

 to dig the rout of this plant, and prepare it for sale for 

 scalding and cleaning. It was then sold to the country 

 merchants, and served as •almust the only means by 

 which the rude dwellers in the interior of the mount- 

 ains got any ready money or its equivalents in the 

 few "store-goods" they consumed. Twenty-live years 

 and more ago, the root was worth only about thirty 

 cents a pound, and every little trading centre would 

 export four or live thousand pounds anuually. Latterly, 

 however, the mountains became so depleted that the 

 root rose to a dollar a pound iu value. With the ex- 

 ception of a trifle, used in our pharmacy, the whole 

 demand for this herb comes from the Chinese, iu whoso 

 medicinal arts it etands almost first in importance. It is 

 not only regarded as a panacea, and prepared fur use 

 iu nearly every way a physician can contrive ; but 

 takes a superstitious rank, chiefly through the fancied 

 re-emblanees seen in the gnarled pieces of root to human 

 faces, aud a variety of other forms, earthly and 

 celestial: 



Cinchona Planting in Guatemala — We are glad to 

 hear of the welfare of Mr. \V. J. Foray ih, formerly 

 planter here, now in Central America. Mr. Forsyth 

 fun been travelling about a great deal. The cinchona 

 seed he carried from Ceylon aud Southern India has 

 "come up very successfully all over the country." 



Damaged Pepper.— At the beginning of this month 

 2,000 bags ol pepper (about 210,000 lh. were sold in 

 London by public auction. There is nothing wonder- 

 ful, perhaps, in this, but it is a fact that the pepper, 

 which had been recovered from a recent extensive lire 

 at New Crane Wharf, was saturated with Thames water, 

 which at this poiut in the river's course is not 

 precisely aqua pura, cou.-isting as it does very largely 

 of sewage. Consumers of pepper — possibly dealers, 

 too— should take for their mutto for si me liitle time 

 to come, "Caution, and pleuty of it." — Druggist. 



A Syndicate has been formed in London to start 

 a quinine manufactory in the old Cullai Iron Works 

 at Calicut, and has sent out a manager to bigiu 

 operations This gentleman is commissioned to make 

 experiments as to the price at which quiuine aud 

 the allied alkaloids can be produced in Iudia ; aud 

 if there is a fair prospect of success, 1 understand 

 that money will be forthcoming for establishing the 

 industry on a large scale. This would be a great 

 benefit to cinchona growers, as they would have 

 a local market for the cheaper varietii s of their bark 

 "Inch it hardly pays to ship to England, or even to 

 Madras, at pr. sent prices — Wynaad Cor., Madras Mail. 



A Check to Adulteration.— The West Indian 

 Body, always on the alert for opportunities to pro- 

 tect the interests of the colonies, have asked the 

 Board of Trade to issue notices to the grocers to mark 

 their packages "cane," "beet," or "mixed," under 

 the Sale of Food and Drugs Act, so that when a per- 

 son applies for cane-sugar some security shall be given 

 that it v\ ill be supplied It is well-known that preserves 

 and jams can only be prupirly made with cane-sugar, 

 and, of cuurse, the difficulty arises as to whether the 

 article supplied is of the right quality — that quality 

 being determined, of course, by origin. The Board of 

 Trade have referred the matter to the Local Gov em- 

 inent Boaid under whose supervision the administration 

 of the Sale of Fond Act ret--. It is evident, how- 

 ever, that something will be done iu the direction con- 

 templated.— Colonies and India. [Why not have coffee 

 treated similarly in reference to percentage of chicory ? 

 —Ed.] 



The Labour Question, says the North Queensland 

 correspondent of the Melbourne Argus, is still the 

 harassing problem of the planter Several mills will 

 lose a third of their islanders before the crushing 

 season is completed. As no large number of kanakas are 

 now arriving — it being no uncommon occurrence for a 

 vessel to return ahnost empty after a cruise of months — 

 this will make things awkward for the manufacturer, 

 but the pinch will not be really felt until another season 

 comes round, for by then another third of the "boys" 

 will have left, and by the year after the remaining third 

 will he gone. The Government suggest as a remedy the 

 introduction of cheap Europeans from Germany, Denmark, 

 Sweden, Ac, and offer to bring these over upon the 

 planter paying £ 1 per head, but the whole of the selecting 

 and initiatory expenses and business are to he done by 

 the planter's private agent — a plan which will cause, in 

 all probability, considerable confusion. 'Ihe odd part of 

 this immigration scheme is that this proposal to flood 

 the country with cheap (10s per week) European labourers, 

 who will, when their term of agreement expires, most 

 certainly compete with the colouist, emanates from the 

 so called liberal party who were raised to power by the 

 working-man vote. The planters are quite willing to 

 give the scheme a trial, and have been holding meetings 

 to arrange as to how the matter can be speedily brought 

 into working order. — Australasian, 



