February 2, i88 S .j THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



655 



to coffee, he said that that was a substance which had 

 been subjected to all kinds of adulteration; and in Paris 

 at the present time, where they were more backward wilh 

 regard to adulteration than in England, they had recently 

 found coffee adulterated with baked horse's liver, which 

 was once discovered in this arnutry. The adulteration 

 with chicory was the chief thing in use in this country A 

 small quantity of chicory was not objectionable, but when 

 pure chicory was sold instead of coffee, it was. The pre- 

 sence of chicory could easily be detected by means of a 

 microscope, or by puttiug it in a glass vessel. By means 

 of the latter method the coffee would float and the chicory 

 would sink to the bottom, and as it sank it would cover 

 the water with a deep brown colour. Another test was to 

 press the coffee firmly together in the hand, and if it 

 stuck together and did not fall apart it was likely to con- 

 tain a large quantity of chicory. Among other substances 

 used in the adulteration of coffee were roasted corn aud 

 acorns, which might also be detected by the use of the 

 microscope. Speaking of cocoa adulteration, Mr. Cassal 

 said the homoeopathic cocoas were very well named, as 

 they contained the smallest quantity of cocoa. Chocolate, 

 which was made from cocoa, was frequently adulterated 

 with fat; more particularly was that so with regard to the 

 cups of cocoa supplied at cafes. The fat was worked up 

 with cocoa to give it more body. — Home and Colonial Mail. 



a red-heat it would produce clinker immediately and burn 

 away the fire bars. Doubtless, however, if this is or can 

 be provided for in the construction of the grate, any 

 amount of heat might bo got from coke, or at all events 

 sufficient to dry tea with. Regarding my experiment with 

 cardamoms, I cannot say anything conclusive as to the 

 merits of the evaporator. A very slow process at a low 

 temperature is required to prevent this fruit from splitting, 

 and when it is sent down green from the estates the great 

 object is to arrest ripening immediately ; to affect this 

 some people plunge the fruit into hot-water and then give 

 it a two-hours' sunning preparatory to aught else, and lean 

 imagine that the evaporator might be of use in estates at 

 this stage when gathering took place in rainy or cloudy 

 weather. I send you a sample of the cardamoms operated 

 on." The cardamoms look very nice, indeed, but taste as 

 if they could bear further drying. 



TEA YIELD AND AVERAGES. 

 To the Editor "Times of Ceylon." 

 Sir, — Referring to the numerous letters appearing lately 

 in the '•Times," re tea, I beg to offer some figures showing 

 the difference in my opinion, between a moderate yield with 

 high averages and a high yield with moderate averages. 

 I will take an estate as representing in each case 100 acres. 

 Moderate yield with high average. 

 Upkeep of 100 acres, including supervision and 

 all expenses, except plucking, manufacture, &c, at 



RV5 per acre R7,500 



Plucking, making, boxing, and all expenses of 

 landing tea in Colom bo on a yield of 400 lb. per acre, 

 40,000 lb. at 25 cts 10,000 



Total cost of tea lauded in Colombo . . 

 Sale of 40,000 lb. at 90 cts. in Colombo. . 



R17,nno 

 36,000 



R18.500 



Profit on 100 acres. . 

 Vs. 



Hiyh yield with moderate average. 

 Upkeep of 100 acres, including supervision and all ex- 

 penses, except plucking, manufacture, &c, 

 at R75 per acre ... ... ... R7,500 



Plucking, making, boxing, and all expenses 

 of lauding tea in Colombo on a yield of 800 

 lb. per acre, 80,000 lb. at 20 cts 16,000 



Total cost of tea landed in Colombo 

 Sale of 80,000 lb. at 60 cts. in Colombo 



R23,500 

 48,000 



Profit on 100 acres ... K24.500 

 That a high average is not incompatible with a high 

 yield has been proved by the Manager of Gallebodde. 

 I was glad to see Mr. Hay giving " Tom aid Dick " a 

 rap over the knuckles, as -careful plucking cannot be 

 done at much under 3 cts. per lb. taking the year all 

 round. If everyone went in for making, and succeeded 

 in making teas which Would fetch an average of Is f»d 

 in the T.ondou market, do you thihk the market Would 

 absorb it f / doubt it. 



■Jan. £5th. R. 



P.S.— The figures for cost of tea landed in Colombo 

 are not theoretical. 



Coke for tea fttkposes and for- drying 



cardamoms. 



Mr. Horsfall writes : — " Referring to Mr. Monk's note 

 On page 636, I found that the evaporator would burn 

 coke very well, but I did not get up a temperature 

 of over 160 degrees !•'. over the furnace with it, being warned 

 b) Mr. Monk that if the coke Was allowed to get beyond 



Indigenous Assam Tea at a Very High Elevation. 



— The South Indian Planters' Review states : "So far 



back as 1861, we sent to Assam in a Wardian case, 

 a quantity of the finest Nilgiri seed coffee, and got 

 in return in the same case filled with indigenous 

 Assam tea seed, the very first ever imported to these 

 hills, and though planted at the very great elevation 

 of 7,000 feet which gave, with liberal treatment, 

 upwards cf 400 lb., of tea to the acre," We have 

 recently heard of indigenous tea growing well at over 

 5,000 feet in Ceylon, so that our experience of indi- 

 genous growing slowly at a high elevation in Dimbula 

 must have been exceptional. Still pure indigenous ia 

 stated to be more delicate than good hybrid. 



A Remedy for Phylloxera.— Not only colonial wine 

 growers, but tropical planters who have been long struggl- 

 ing hopelessly with leaf disease in coffee, cankering cin- 

 chona and other more or less mysterious enemies of veget- 

 able life, will be interested to learn that a medical man in 

 the department of Maine et Loire, France, is reported 

 to have discovered a means of overcoming the phylloxera 

 by an easy and inexpensive treatment, the basis of which 

 is an arsenical solution mixed with cinders. The limited 

 experiments made with this preparation seem to have been 

 attended with admirable results. A vineyard selected from 

 a neighbourhood completely devastated by the phylloxera, ■ 

 and subjected to the new treatment, resisted the scourge 

 in a most striking manner. Not only the foliage and stocks, 

 but the roots remained perfectly intact, while the fruit is 

 said to have been abundant and of excellent quality. Further 

 experiments on a larger scale are about to be made in the 

 Medoc ; and the inventor having patented his remedy, the 

 result obtained will receive all possible publicity. The out- 

 come of these experiments, which are being conducted 

 under the patronage of M. Lalande, president of the Bor- 

 deaux Chamber of Commence, is awaited with the greatest 

 impatience. — Planters' Gazette. 



JonoRE.— We are having a good deal of wet weather 

 now, the afternoons being as showery as an English April, 

 aud no doubt it is just what the planters call " planting 

 weather." The coffee plantations on the Tebrau Road are 

 looking wonderfully well ; one owned by a Malay resident 

 being particularly so; his trees are pronounced by good 

 judges to be some of the finest grown in Johore. I am 

 told no manure has been given them, with the exception 

 of a little burnt earth. .The secret of their healthy state, 

 I believe, consists ill the fact that each plant was put into 

 a very deep and wide hole, filled in with the best surface 

 soil, and afterwards nttrsld in every sense of the word. In 

 amateur planting, this method hlay do verv well, but I 

 doubt if it would pay on a large estate. I "have received 

 information of the capture of the crocodile that killed Mr'. 

 Larken's coolie. It has been caught with a hook baited 

 with a fowl, and proves to be a monster measuring 1 f Feel 

 3 inches in length, ahd so heavy that 12 men colild hardly 

 carry it Up from the river to the house. I am informed 

 on good authority that Syed Mohamed Al-Sagoff is about 

 to take up a thousand acres in Muar for planting pur- 

 poses, and to purchase several blocks of land in Bandar 

 Maharanee to build shop-boases. His example will, no 



doubt, be followed by other h ied Vi ; 



Press, 



