January i, 1885.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



5°, 



JAVA PLANTING NEWS : 

 COFFEE LEAF DISEASE AITEBUTED TO " ERYTHBINA " 



TREES. 

 A reporter on plantations in the eastern part of 

 Java mentions that, after all, planters need not be so 

 generally discouraged. As for the tobacco planters, 

 their crops look well, and they have every chance of doing 

 a good business. Regarding coffee-planting, a great deal 

 more is talked about the leaf disease, than is sanctioned 

 by facts ; the truth is that the disease was known long ago, 

 for so far back as 1810, I was told that it was nothing 

 new, and that it was caused by planting dadap trees 

 between the coffee plants for shade, and my experience 

 since has convinced me that this is the case, tor wherever 

 coffee is planted in forest land, or where no dadap trees 

 are used for shade, there is no sign of leaf disease. Even 

 the kina planters do not seem to be faring badly. In 

 short, planters in general smile and look happy, excepting 

 the poor sugar-lords, who in former times held their heads 

 up proudly ; but now they seem maci crest-fallen, with- 

 out any hope of help from the Government. 



People say that prices are sure to rise again, but only 

 those who work upon their own capital will be able to 

 stand these bad times. Many a poor sugar planter, who 

 has to pay 9 per cent yearly upon a capital of a couple of 

 hundred thousand guilders, will have to shut up before 

 that time ; and Java will lose a great part of its riches. — 

 Singapore Free Press. [After all we have heard of the merits 

 of the erythrina plants as shade yielders, it is curious 

 to have leaf disease (known so long ago as 1840 !) attributed 

 to them. Kina is, of course, cinchona. — Ed.] 



GORE'S TEA SIFTER AND SEPARATOR. 

 There waa a very successful trial of this machine 

 at the godowns of Messrs. Maitland & Co. the other 

 day, quite a number of gentlemen interested in 

 our new staple being present. Fifty pounds of tea 

 were in a period of ten minutes sifted and separated 

 into seven sorts, the speciality being the two separ- 

 ators which eliminated the flat broken tea, small and 

 large. The broken pekoe and pekoe were, of 

 course, much improved in appearance by the absence 

 from them of the flat pieces and the dust. Altogether 

 the impression of beholders was in favour of the 

 simplicity of design and easy working of the 

 machine, the cost of which is moderate. As our 

 read rs are aware, the separators tan be used for 

 hand work in stores where ihe complete machine 

 may not be in use, and to the value of those separ- 

 ators, Mr. Armstrong has borne strong testimony. 

 Mr. Gore has written to us as follows :— 

 " After weighing up the teas sifted today, I have the 

 pleasure to inform you that the approximate percentages 

 are as follows: — Dust, 4 per cent; Souchong, 25 per cent; 

 Fekoe Souchong, 34 per cent ; Pekoe, 15 per cent ; Broken 

 Pekoe, 17 per cent; Broken Tea, 5 per cent. It must 

 be borne in mind that the sample of Bulk Tea which I 

 had sent From the estate was very inferior, having much 

 coarse leaf in it." 



An Odd Usk <ir Rubbed. — A proposal was made in one 

 of the journals half-a-century ago, when the lndiarubber 

 industry was still in its infancy, "to coat the bodies of 

 the dead with 1 lndiarubber, which being quite impervious 

 to damp and air must preserve the body as if preserved iu 

 clotns after the manner of the Egyptians." This was re- 

 commended in order " to obviate the enormous expi ns i to 

 which individuals are frequently put in the interment of 

 their dece; i I friends, and will preserve the body as ef- 

 fectually ms if laid in a leathern coffin." How tlii- is to 

 be effected is thus described: — "The body, being laid out, 

 is to be biushed over with a solution of lndiarubber five 

 or six times, until it is of a sufficient thickness; this done, 

 nothing else remains but putting it iu a light wooden coffin 

 and iuterring it." — lndiarubber and Guttapercha Journal. 



An Indian Tea Planter of experience, Mr. Curti 

 of Darjeeling, now on a visit to Ceylon, we lean 

 is delighted with what he has seen of tea in the Centra 

 Province. The flush on the trees at a high elevatio 

 greatly pleased him and also the size of bushes whic 

 he said beat in some cases anything he has ever see 

 in India. The quality of the teas has also high] 

 delighted Mr. Curtis. 



Tea Properties.— The enquiry after old estati : 

 and land available for tea-planting has becom 

 so brisk, that one gentleman, whose advertisemenl 

 appears elsewhere, is anxious to meet the vice 

 of his constituents both in the island and i 

 home by making up a list of all the properties thi I 

 are for sale. "It really seems" says a correspond 

 ent. " as if Ceylon were entering upon an era 

 real prosperity, and I am sure we all hope it ma\ 

 be so." 



Tea in theKandy District.— What da you think 

 of the enclosed tea leaf for Kandy side growth ? 

 It has been h'nted that we are a little dry for tea 

 but if we can grow 9j inch leaves to start with', 

 what will we not do afterwards.— Cor. [The speci- 

 men is a splendid one, and, if it be a type of what 

 can be growD, all we can say is that our correspon- 

 dent may go ahead and prosper. Our correspo n- 

 dent adds:— "As the Kandy side of the country 

 ib spoken of by some as rather dry for tea, I think 



it is well proprietors should know what is arowina " 



Ed.] j "' 



Teas at the Health Exhibition.— On the descriptions 

 and qualities of the tea and coffee exhibited, a somewhat 

 lengthy paper might be written. The specimens of coffee 

 and tea shown are very numerous, but, unfortunately 

 there are very few specimens of China tea included in them' 

 by far the greater part being India and Ceylon teas The 

 large increase in the importation of India and Ceylon 

 teas, and the falling off in China teas, point to the fact 

 that the colonial teas are fast rising in public favour, and 

 this appreciation of their good qualities is deserved on 

 account of their strength and flavour, and their use in the 

 blending of teas for borne consumption. Some of them, 

 6uch as the Darjiling, can be used alone ; but they generally 

 pass into consumption as blended tea. In the Chinese 

 court only two specimens of tea are exhibited, but they 

 are not for competition. They are sun dried, and contain 

 flowers of the tea plant. The flavour of the tea in liquor 

 1, exquisite; but its character, appearance, and price pre- 

 clude it from being a commercial tea, although it is greatly 

 appreciated in China,and considered of the highest quality — 

 " Report on Beverages " at the Health Exhibition bu Mr R 

 Banister, FiL.C, F.C.S. y ' 



Hard Times. — A Demerara contemporary says : 



" Wherever we turn about in the colony the cry pro- 

 ceeds from each and all — " The hard times." This is no 

 imaginary evil, for it affects the rich and poor alike, 

 the capitalist and the labourer, the adventurer and 

 the son of the soil, and it is high time that the 

 question should be approached so that something 

 might be done to stay the tide of poverty and want 

 which is overrunning the colony. Wo have depended 



estirely on one industry — the sugar production to 



meet and satisfy the wants of all. As long as things 

 went smoothly there was no need to corrplain, but 

 West Indian sugar has had to compete in the markets 

 of the world with a great and mighty opponent— the 

 beet. Slave-grown, bounty-fed sugars have displaced 

 our production, and we have been compelled to suffer 

 au ignominious defeat, only cherished by the hope 

 that the fields of beet which are subject to inunda- 

 tions may yet give way, and so afford us a partial 

 victory. In the absence of this disaster to our opponent 

 the proprietors of the West Indian sugar estates 

 have been shortenicg pay, restricting employment, 

 and destroying the condition of the colonies by 

 amalgamation." — Colonies and India. 



