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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



[April i, 1885. 



Long Black Caterpillars have attacked the rape- 

 seed and pea crops over the greater portions of the 

 Purrjca district, the former when it was nearly ripe 

 for reaping, and the damage done in some places has 

 been so compute that the royts have grazed down 

 the crops with thsir cattle rather than pay the cost 

 of gathering. — Times of India. 



Copra from Ceylon. — (Translated from the 

 Jndische Mercuur of the 21st Feb.).— The English 

 (American '!) Consul at Ceylon, Mr. Morey, mentions 

 the following respecting copra which is the kernel of 

 the coconut : — " Formerly, copra used to be shipped 

 exclusively to India, but during the past year it was 

 chieily exported to Europe, where it is convorted into 

 oil. Seeing that there are extensive mills for the oil 

 manufacture in Ceylon, and that labour there is so 

 much cheaper than in Europe, it would be of inter- 

 est to learn the reason of its being thus exported. 

 Perhaps it is to be found in the demand for a very 

 pure oil. It is, however, well-known that coconut 

 oil contains a constituent which in warm weather 

 becomes epaickly decomposed, and consequently the 

 otherwise fresh tasted oil is rendered uufit for culinary 

 purposes. As the copra shippeel 10 Europe finds its 

 way to the countries which are celebrated for the 

 production of olive oil, it is very probable that 

 ohemistry there has discovered some process by means 

 of which coconut oil may be so purified, that manu- 

 facturers are aide to mix it with olive oil or even 

 substitute it for olive oil, as has been elone of lato 

 with oil from cotton-seed. In the expres-ioa of oil 

 from eopia in Kuropc, an incidental product is ob- 

 tained 111 the shipe of a sweet tasted oil-cake, which 

 is excedlcnt food for cattle. This cake was formerly 

 only obtainable in Europe at high prices, and this 

 may have caused the increasing demand fur copra 

 in Europe. Latterly, large quantities of it have been 

 shipped for the Netherlands." 



Baduli.a (Ceylon) as a Tea Producing District. — A tea 

 planter writes to us from Badulla where he had gone for a 

 short trip, as follows: — "A tew showers have broken the 

 loug drought and freshenetl up everything here immensely, 

 though they would like eveu more, I fancy. A great 

 change is coming over this district, and in a few years, I 

 think, some of the old patriarchs would hardly know it. 

 I was through some tea planted only last November the 

 other da}', and was very much astonished and surprized 

 at the good growth made. From what I have seen and 

 heard I should think this is as gooel a district for tea as 

 any in the island. The rainfall is more thau sufficient, 

 and though not so well distributed as it is in Awisa- 

 wella, say, it appears to be quite as well apportioned as 

 such places as Gampola, Nawalapitiya or Matale. The 

 soil on all the ' places on which I have yet been appears 

 to be very good — eleep, rich, anel free. There is an utter 

 absence of that hard, gravelly stuff to be met with iu 

 parts of Ambegamuwa, though, as a rule, there appears to 

 be a slight deficiency of iron iu the soil. The rocks are 

 mostly blue gneiss and there appears to be no end to 

 them. All the estates round about Badulla seemed to me 

 well suited for the successful cultivation of tea. Mausa- 

 galla and the Uva Coffee Company's places in particular. 

 I diel not see the Spring Valley tea planted where hue 

 eoti'ee stood a short time ago, hut I hear it is doing ex- 

 cellently well. Looking at the question generally I should 

 say the great difficulty to be contended against is the 

 cost of transport. The railway must be made to Badullu 

 as epiickly as possible. Abundance of timber can be ob- 

 tained not very far from here for tea boxes, but the present 

 rate of transport on such requisites as tea lead and 

 machinery wouki raise the cost of production very con- 

 siderably, added to which I 'bur is dearer by 4c a coaly 

 than it is on our side of the country. A railway to 

 Badulla would put an end to this. The high rate of all 

 wages in Uva seems to be due to the high cost of living 

 — rice and nil rations — audfor the matter of that Europ- 

 ean requisites beine: dearer than *vith us. A railway 

 would bring down the cost of everything, wages included) 

 and this would greatly help matters. — Local " Times." 



Ceylon Tea at Home, — A gentleman engaged in 

 the London Tea Trade writes on 20th February : — 

 " Since I last wrote, there has not been anything of 

 exceptional interest to report concerning our market, 

 which remains firm for all kinds of good liquoring 

 teas. Most of the late shipments ol Ceylon teas 

 appear to have suffered detriment from over-tiring. 

 Th.s over-firing tends to put Ceylon teas on a 

 level with the commoner kinds of Indian teas, and 

 they consequently command near about the same price 

 as Indian teas of this description are fetching. 

 These have long been and are at present very cheap. 

 I have just heard of the .very large quant.ty of tea 

 produced on the Mariawatte estate per acre : the 

 proprietors are indeed to be congratulated on it, 

 as most Indiau tea estates consider 500 lb. per acre 

 very good. The Tropical Agriculturist for January, 

 I have read with much interest." 



Sugar Duties. — AVe gave in a recent issue the export 

 duties levied on tea by the various British colonies. 

 The following are the duties levied on sugar : — 

 Mauritius, sugar, 4£d per cwt. ; Jamaica, sugar, 5s Ud 

 per hhd., 4Jd per cwt. ; St. Lucia, sugar, 4d per 100 

 lb., 4Jd per cwt. ; St. Vincent, molasses, 2s per pun- 

 cheon of 90 gallons or more, 2§d per cwt. ; St. Vincent, 

 molasses, Is 4d per puncheon (if less), 2£d per cwt. "Gren- 

 ada, molasses, 4s per puncheon of under 100 gallons, 4jd 

 per cwt. ; Grenada, sugar, 4s per hhel. not oxeediug 1,800 

 lb. 3d per cwt. ; Grenada, sugar, 2s per tierce, not exceed- 

 ing 1,00(1 lb. 2Jd per cwt.; St. Christophers, sugar Ss 4d 

 per hhd. ti^d per cwt. ; St. Christophers, molasses, Is Oid 

 per puncheon, 1 Jd per cwt. ; Nevis, sugar, 9s Od per hhd., - 

 7d per cwt. ; Antigua, sugar, 5s per hhd., 3|d per cwt.; 

 Antigua, sugar, 3s 4d per tierce, 4d per cwt. ; Antigua, 

 sugar, 7i per barrel, 3jd per cwt. ; Moutscrrat, molasses, Od 

 per puueheon, 3-5d per cwt. ; Montserrat, sugar, 3s per hhd, 

 2fd per cwt. ; Dominica, molasses, 2s Od per puncheon of 

 100 gallons, 3d per cwt. ; Dominica, syrup, 4s per puncheon, 

 4jd per cwt.; Dominica, sugar, 4s 6d per hhd., 3jd per. 

 cwt. ; Trinidad, molasses, 2s per puncheon, 2Jd per cwt. ; 

 Trinidad, molasses, 8d per J-puncheou, ljd per cwt. ; Trini- 

 dad, sugar, 6s per hhd., 4Jd per cwt. ; Trinidad, sugar, 3 3 

 per tierce (1,000 lb.), 3Jd per cwt.— Home # Colonial Mail. 



A Cup ok Tea. — Most Englishmen who travel in Franco 

 know how difficult it is to obtain a cup of tea. Even in Paris 

 there are still very few hotels where the making of tea is 

 understood. At one place they pour boiling water upon it, 

 and then lot it stew like a pot-ait-fcu ; and iu others they 

 have not thoroughly mastered the fact that water must 

 boil before it cau be produced as a refreshing and in- 

 vigorating cup of tea. And yet nearly all the resident 

 physicians of Paris declare that a cup of tea would bo 

 a vast improvement upon the terrible decoction sold iu 

 Paris cafes as black coffee. Even when pure medical testi- 

 mony is terrible against the national demi-tasse, some con- 

 stitutions bear it bravely ; but, as a rule, it is hostile to the 

 liver and destructive to the nerves. Cafe au lait, constantly 

 taken, is not much better, and just as" the present geuer. 

 atiou of Frenchmen have become beer drinkers iu a tar 

 greater portion than we have become wine drinkers, so it 

 may be safely predicted that the taste of an honest cup 

 of tea will become a feature almost Parisian of the future. 

 The real origin of the hesitation of the French, in the 

 matter of tea drinking, is the slipshod state of the tea- 

 trade iu France. Of provincial towns we need not speak, 

 for there the buying and selling of tea is as unfrequeut 

 as that of any other drug at a chemist's shop in England. 

 But even in Paris there are no experienced tasters, and 

 the consequence is that the trades are imposed upon by 

 high sounding names. When analysed, these wretched 

 mixtures are found to be full of colour, but utterly worth- 

 less, and everything goes to prove that the elements of the 

 tea trade are not understood by the French grower. He 

 never knows how to taste or how to blend. The result 

 is that his customers suffer, and that the French people 

 slassif j tea with their national tisanes, instead of realizing 

 that it a delicious stimulant, with many of the qualities of 

 coffee and alcohol, and very few of their disadvantages.— 

 Home if Colonial Mail. 



