March 2, 1885.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



685 



Cabbages.— This has been a very bad year for 

 cabbage-growers in New England. In one field in 

 Western Massachusetts, ten thousand heads werenot 

 harvested because nobody would offer a cent a piece 

 for them. Great quantities have been stored, await- 

 ing a demand. How to hold cabbages safely, is a 

 question which Eastern farmers would greatly like to 

 hear answered. — New York Hour. 



Tobacco Cultivation and Preparation in Dumbara, 

 Ceylon. — Among local industries, the cultivation of 

 tobacco has long occupied an important position among 

 the uatives.more especially of Jaffna, Uva and Dumbara, 

 Europeans have only now aud then taken the matter 

 up, and generally to drop it again very soon. Poor 

 " R. B. IV tried to introduce Dumbara cigars on an 

 extensive scale into the home market, soon after he 

 had made a hit with " cocoa," but he dropped a 

 good deal of money in the unsuccessful experiment. 

 Still, that Dumbara can turn out gcod tobacco and 

 well-made, well-flavoured cigars has been incontest- 

 ably proved as anyone can testify who has Been a 

 box with the well-known mark, — 



DUMBARA CICARROS 



Fabrica De Tabacos 



JIH 



CEYLON 



Melbourne Exhibition 1880-81 — Medal. 



Many will wonder that a more extensive trade in 



Dumbara cigars has not sprung up, considering the 



facilities in labour carriage, &c However, we trust, 



the pionrer, an old and esteemed resident Mr. 



lngleton, may continue to have all the success he 



can desire. 



Depression in Brazil. — The Rio News writes : — The 

 silence of all the local papers regarding financial troubles 

 among some of the factor houses here is a some- 

 what difficult matter to understand, for the Jornal do 

 Commercio publishes the announcement of the disappear- 

 ance of the manager of one of these firms with the 

 declaration that two persons interested in the business 

 would take charge of it until the arrival from Europe of 

 the head of the house. It has moreover been the subject 

 of general conversation in the street and at the Exchange 

 anduamesare freely meutioned of other firms in difficulties. 

 That difficulties were imminent to those whose resources 

 were seriously compromised with the planting interest 

 was clearly apparent to all who were not deaf to 

 the constant complaints of city dealers of delays in getting 

 in money from their debtors in the interior, causing all 

 who could to curtail their credits, and the advice offered 

 the planters to reply to the Dantas project by refusing to 

 pay their debts ; although this was hardly considered 

 serious may have been more so thau was at the moment 

 thought. Another point on which no comment is made, is 

 that very considerable sums have been remitted to Europe, 

 even at I he present low rate of exchange aud that these 

 remittances are not for the purposes of trade but are with- 

 drawals of capital employed in the country, whose owners 

 eeein hopeless of any improvement aud have therefore 

 determined to have their capital invested in some form 

 less subject to the fluctuations which we see in Brazilian 

 investments, The difference in the income of a person 

 living abroad with his capital invested in currency securities 

 here is very severe and no surprise can be felt that such 

 capitalists as are iu a position to do should endeavor to 

 make their iucomes rather more stable than can be hoped 

 for from Brazilian securities bearing interest in currency, 

 for some time to come. We are apparently to see a gloomy 

 cloning lor this already sufficiently unsatisfactory y, ar, aud 

 all that we can do is to express a hope that the new year, 

 the new Chambers and a nun - financial policy will all aid in 

 improving the outlook after the turn of the year. 



SKINNY MEN. . 

 " Wells' Health Kenewer" restores health and vigor, cures 

 Dyspepsia, Impotence, Debillity. Ay", K. SMITH k Co., 

 Madias, Sole Agents, 



INDIAN PAPER AND PAPER MILLS. 



The Government of India's expressed desire to enter 

 into contracts for the supply of Indian made paper has 

 already produced the result of stimulating to an encourag- 

 ing extent, the paper industry of the country. The 

 Bally Mill in Calcutta, although established but a few 

 years since, already pays a good dividend, its shares being 

 valued in the market at more than fifty per cent their 

 original value. The enterprise of the good people of 

 Calcutta in this direction has led them to establish 

 recently another mill called the Titaghur Paper Mill Com- 

 pany. The paper manufactured by the former is of so good a 

 quality that it is used by one or two of the daily papers 

 in the metropolis. \Ve obsereve that a .company is to be. 

 formed in Poona, the originators of which have issued a 

 printed prospectus. We are informed that cheap labour 

 and water will be abundantly obtainable for the carrying 

 out of the processes incident to the industry. At the head 

 of the proposed company is H. H. the Chief of Kajal and 

 Regent of Kolhapur. The prospectus referred to furnishes 

 certain statistics bearing on different points connected 

 with the trade in paper in the presidency of Bombay. The 

 total value of the different sorts of paper imported into 

 Bombay amounted in 1880-81 to nearly nineteen lakhs of 

 rupees. In the last official year the imports amounted to 

 the value of rupees sixteen millions, seventy-eight thousand, 

 four hundred and nineteen. The Collector of Bombay 

 has supplied to the projectors of the Poona Paper Mill 

 Company, the information that the cost of the stationery 

 obtained by Government in 18S1 was Rl,75,000. The Govern- 

 ment of Bombay has accorued the promise of every en- 

 couragement and assistance to the Directors of the com- 

 pany. It has intimated its willingness to take into con- 

 sideration any proposals the Directors may make with a 

 view to a contract being entered into with them for a 

 supply of paper for five years, on its being established that 

 they can make and supply paper of as good quality as 

 that now used. 



As for the materials required for the manufacture of 

 paper in Indian Mills it is well-known that the supply is 

 abundant, hundreds of tons of rags are exported from this 

 country to England representing in value a round sum of 

 rupees. But the paper manufacturers in Europe do not 

 look for the largest supply of their raw material to this 

 source. It being found to be expensive, manufacturing 

 ingenuity discovered other things that, while cheaper, are 

 just as suitable. Grasses and vegetable fibres are very 

 largely employed and some of the finest paper is but the 

 outcome of the resourceful skill of scientific manufacturers 

 in the manipulation of materials of this description, which 

 are abundant in many parts of the country. On the 

 authority of certain experts and chiefly that of the Super- 

 intendent of the Botanical gardens at Gunesh Khind it is 

 stated that for the supply of fibres of the 6ort needed 

 for the manufacture of paper there is no reason to appre- 

 hend that the material will not meet the demand for it. 

 The Indian bulrush, according to them, grows very freely 

 on the Bombay side, and from it paper has been made 

 by native manufacturers in Poona. It is calculated that 

 it can be grown at so low a price as rupees fifteen per 

 ton of dried stems. 



Poona, it is declared, is favorably situated for the work- 

 ing of paper nulls, There exists a sufficient quantity of 

 water got from the Khadakwasla canal, aud in other re- 

 spects, so far as an opinion can be formed from the figures 

 and statements in the prospectus of the company, it* 

 success is assured. What is a satisfactory feature in the 

 introduction in a new field of a promising industry is the 

 lively interest taken by tin- Government of Bombay in the 

 movement. In the Bombay presidency there are already 

 two paper mills at work but they have hitherto turned out 

 only brown paper for wrappers and paper of an ordinary 

 quality. Yet withal they are paying concerns like those 

 iu Calcutta, Gwalior, aud Luckuow. 



No serious attempt has been made in this presidency 

 to revive the paper industry of the country by the methods 

 and .scientific appliances employed by European manu- 

 facturers. There is any quantity of cheap labor, aud no 

 difficulty need be expected if the field of operations is 

 judiciously chosen in regard to the supply of water, That 

 the necessary capital ay,d cuterprize are available is evid. 



