&34 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



UAEV 2, 18S5. 



Small Breaks of Indian Tea. — la future the 

 non-sampling breaks, by which is understood all 

 broiks under eight chests or half chests anil 20 

 boxes, shall be passed over at the time of sale and 

 disponed of at the close of the day. Large buyers 

 cau now attend the sales whilst large lots only are 

 beiug sold, and retire when they are finished, leaving 

 the sm ill lots to those who want them. We confess 

 we have p:irtly expected that something of this sort 

 would come to pass. Indeed, it is a wonder that 

 the old system has endured so long. The increase 

 in the Indian tea trade of late years, has rendered 

 the change imperative, and we have to congratulate 

 the parties iuterestid on the peaceable manner in 

 which it has been brought about. We are not sure 

 to whom the credit is due of haviDg taken the initiative 

 in this very laudable enterprise, but as the meeting 

 was held at the offices of Messrs. William James 

 and Henry Thompson, we think it is not hard to 

 guess from what quarter the influence has come. 



The Dutch East Indus. — We have received a copy of 

 an Amsterdam prospectus, setting forth aniugenious scheme, 

 uli. n by the Dutch are endeavouring to overcome the diffic- 

 ulties caused by the virtual stoppage of the Nether- 

 lands Indian Trading Bank. It consists in the formation 

 if a new Company, to be, called the Netherlands Indian 

 Agricultural Company, with a share' capita] of 0,000,000 

 florins, This will not be real capital, but "agricultural 

 interprises " of the Trading Hank, representing an outlay 

 if 12.800,000 florins, will be taken over by the new Com- 

 pany at a valuation representing the lesser sum. and this 

 ,vill' be called " capital." Then the new Company is to 

 try to obtain real cash as working capital by means of an 

 ssue of live per cent Debentures, also to the extent of 

 9(000,000 florins. In order to make these Debentures at- 

 tractive, those who subscribe them would appoint the 

 Board of Directors and manage the properties. They are, 

 in short, to be mortgagees iu possession. We should im- 

 agine that nobody here would euter into such a delicate 

 oid unpromising piece of financing; but if the Dutch cau 

 iml the money themselves, they will have done well. The 

 scheme, however, has rather a desperate look about it. 

 Strangers are asked to find the money to carry on a busi- 

 ness which ran offer no other security than a multitude 

 i ireajisable assets which have landed the original owner 

 111 ruinous losses, and all for the sake of keepiug that 

 owner from declared bankruptcy. — Planters? Gazette. 



British Columbia. — Here is an encouragement for 

 ihose who wish to follow Mr. Pineo's example:— 



Where should the Anglo-Indian go to settle when 

 he retires ? Let him go to British Columbia, writes 

 Selim, in the Times of India, a country so blessed 

 by nature that, iu the glowing language of the Spect- 

 ator, it is a place " where game is so plentiful that 

 you may see fifteen deer hanging in a butcher's shop 

 at one time; where fruit is &o plentiful, that the 

 native-" live on little else ; Hsh so flue that Columbia 

 Salmon have acquired a reputation in Europe) where 

 iron and coal and the nobler metalfi abound* and gold 

 »s found in every etrsattl ; where the scenery vies in 

 boldness and grandeur With that of SwiWerlilid and 

 the I'yiol '. Where the coasf; washed by the grandest 

 and most tranquil Of oceans, U Indented vitb flordg 

 like the co 1st Of Norway— a land blessed With a clim- 

 ate iso salubrious that Valetudinarians go thither in 

 search of heahh, add so mild and fresh, that gi;asa 

 grows all the year round. Clearly this earthly para- 

 rise is one of the countries of the future." Very 

 much so, indeed. Aud with exchange goiug down to 

 nothing, and prices going steadily up, and school lull. 

 for Tom, Dick, and Harry coming in with that reg- 

 ularity which Pater Famitiat fines a trifle monstrous, 

 the be«t thing we can all do is to pack up our traps 

 and tak" ourselves off to this earthly paradise. A 

 country where the strfams are full of gold and salmon, 

 and where venison is more plentiful than mutton, 



would bo at) agreeable change after India,— Indian 

 dgrnultumt, 



Tea Flushes.— What the ultimate returns 

 from tea may he, is, of course, a question open to 

 debate, but we hear at present of superintendents 

 being driven almost to despair by their inability with 

 the appliances at their disposal, to overtake the 

 luxuriant flush which the tea trees have put on. 

 Hand rollers ate in great demand. 



Brazil Coffee Crop*.— The Gazetd, of Piraciciba 

 Sao Paulo, is of the opinion that next year's coffee 

 crops will perhaps be the smallest of the last ten 

 years, for the reasons, (1st) that the lat crop was 

 large and the trees are exhausted ; (2nd) that the 

 seasons of the current year have been very irregular, 

 there having been mauy diy months where there should 

 have bem rainy ones; (3rd) that great injuries have 

 been sustained from fiost. The blossoming, our con- 

 temparary adds, is not showing up very well. It is 

 useless, perhaps, to call the Gaseta's attention to the 

 remarkable simdarity between this prediction a' d all 

 those which have gone before. When we find a pro- 

 vincial paper, or a coffee planter admitting the prob- 

 ability of a good crop, we sh'Ul feel like publishing 

 his portrait. — Rio News. 



The Coconut Oil Trade of the Madras Pkesid- 

 ency.— la reviewing the coastwise trade of India 

 for 1884-85, Mr. O'Conor states :— Oils, minera' : 

 petroleum is imported into Bengal from Burma where 

 it is produced, but the whole quantity exported from 

 Burma is still small, only 420,037 gallons last year. 

 Castor oil is imported chiefly into Bombay from 

 Madras ports and those of the Gaekwar's territory. 

 Burma and Bengal also receive some from Madras. 

 Total value of trade SJ lakhs, representing a quantity 

 of 704,574 gallons. The trade in coconut oil is much 

 larger: 1,819,684 gallons, value 25 lakhs last year. 

 This is mainly a Madras industry, a large proportion 

 of the oil being sent to Bombay from Madras ports 

 and Cochin, the rest being sent chiefly to Bengal and 

 Burma. Earthuut oil is also a Madras industry. It 

 is sent thence and from Ponrlieherry chiefly to Burma 

 aDd in smaller quantity -to Bengal. 



.Artificial Fruit 1'lavotkinos.— Among the " people 

 I have met "during the Christm.s holidays, passed 

 among a large circle in a country house, has been the dis- 

 tinguished chemist- to whose researches we ov, e the dis- 

 covery of the artificial flavourings now sulstituted for the 

 1 juices of natural fruits. In conversation with him he 

 has given me the history of his curious discoveries. One 

 ■ day a Frenchman brought him a small phial containing an 

 essence which he had accidentally found, which 

 I smelt strongly of jargonel pears. My friend carefully 

 ! analyzed this, and found the base to consist 

 of the fusel oil whioh it is the aim of all spirit manu- 

 I facturers to eliminate from their whiskeys and other 

 J similar products, Hi* researches also led him to 

 : determine that what gave the fl»vour and smell of 

 I the jargonel pear was what is known to chemi«ts as 

 ; 'valerian.' He argued, that, if fusel oil oould b( 

 I thus made to absorb and again yield one flavoring, 

 I other substances might be made by their addition tj 

 yield a variety of them. It would take too long 

 to narrate here all that was told to me of fuivim 

 experirmnting. Suffice it to say that all kinds of 

 substances — among them being rotten cheese — were 

 tried, with the result that ere loug every descrip- 

 ti n almost of fruit- flavoring was produced, and 

 what was at the time sold at twenty guineas the 

 ounce w s made by my friend at the cost of a 

 few shillings. He named his discovery to his friend 

 Professor Al el, by whom the facts were again 

 aimed to other chemists as a curiosity,- and the 

 iranufanture soon became common ; but, prior to 

 their be joining so, and while the secret remained in 

 for discoverer's ha ids, he was clearing, he told me, 

 , jthem XtiQ to £00 a daj, —London Cor< 



