jfuNE T, 1885.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



901 



THE GRAIN AND PULSE TRADE OF INDIA 

 has enormously increased in the past five years, the 

 rise 1 value having been from R9S,608,000 in 1870-80 

 to 1.170,000,000 last year. We are quoting the figures 

 fr m Mr. O'Couor's review. Large exports of wheat 

 t 'uk place last year, but these are now checked by 

 the good harvests in Britain and elsewhere, so that 

 wheat in Europe is cheaper than it has been for a 

 century. Not far short of 50 millions of cwt. of grain 

 were exported from India last year, the figures being 

 49y 2 17,863 ewt. against 25 millions live yeais ago. 

 Grain, indeed, represented 20 per cent of the whole 

 export trade. Reduced to tous the export of grain 

 was 2j millions of tons, of which rice constituted 

 considerably nine than one-half, viz., 1,352,000 tons. 

 Mr. O'Couor shows that the exports of husked rice went 

 up from 21,'JOSOOO in 1S79-S0, valued at RS3,41G,000 

 to 31,020,000 cwt. valued at R84,400,000 in 1SS2-S3, 

 going dowu last year to 20,832,000 cwt. valued at 

 R83,300,000. 



It is very sad and, by no means pleasant to spirit 

 driukers, to learn that so much of the alcoholic drinks 

 sold as grape-brandy, whisky, gin, etc., owe their 

 origin to rice. 



Since the famine year, the rice trade was not so 

 unsettled as last year and it seems that even rice 

 was superseded in France for distillation purposes by 

 the comparative cheaper price of maize. The exports 

 of wheat from India had risen from 2,195,000 cwt. 

 valued at Rl 1,210,000 iu 1879-80 to 20,950,000 cwt. 

 vain id at R88,775,000. But the export has been 

 checked by low prices. 



The large accumulations of gold and silver in India 

 show that but a small portion of the imports have 

 of late years been paid for iu money, and as railway 

 facilities are increased and cheapened, there can be 

 no doubt there will be a steady export of wheat 

 from India to Europe at remunerative prices. A 

 quantity equal to 55,647 cwt. of wheat last year 

 sufficed for the wants of Aden, Arabia, Ceylon, the 

 Straits and the Mekran Coast. It is interesting to 

 learn thai Indian wheat is used for the manufacture 

 of maccaroni in Italy and gives satisfaction. 



Amongst the pulse exported is the " gram " on which 

 horses are so largely fed in Ceylon. 



LETTERS FROM JAMAICA— NO. 4. 



CINCHONA PLANTATIONS IN THE BLUE MOUNTAINS — COFFEE — 

 LAND SUITABLE FOROUANGES AND CACAO — POOR COFFEE 

 CHOP — IIOW TO MAKE COFFEE PAY — JAMAICA ENGLISH. 



Blue Mountain District, 2Sih Feb. 1S85. 

 In my last I said I should refer in my 

 next letter to what had been done in cin- 

 chona in the Blue Mountain District. First and 

 foremost crnie? tlie Government Plantation at " Cin- 

 ch, na," 150 acres iu extent and from 5,000 to 0,000 

 feit above e.i-level, in fields of different a, is and 

 varieties of the tree: this has been a great success, 

 and but for the low prices now ruling would have 

 been a small mine of wealth to the Government and 

 added to the public revenue. The next largest estate 

 s that "f the Portland Gip Company; then "Iron 

 River," " Wild Wood," " Meiy hall" and " Cleveland " 

 owned by Mr. Marshall, an old Cevlon planter. These 

 {were opened as pure cinchona estates; in rdditiou 

 most of the old estates lave planted cinchona fields. 

 1 do not hear of any large extension to these pro- 

 perties, so that Jamaica is not likely to add much 

 .to any over-prod notion, though (he quality is sure 

 to 1,1 good, and eiiil, I trust, always yield paying 

 dliccs. One or two of the en.c;>e>na proprietors, tiuc e 



the fall in price, have taken to cultivate coffee as 

 well. These are on the northern slope where there is 

 any amount of available forest land suited for coffee 

 and cinchona cultivation, calculated at one time by 

 Mr. Morris as 40,000 acres; it is mostly steep, but 

 the soil is splendid, and, were it only made access- 

 ible by good roads, and were labour more cheap and 

 plentiful, would no doubt soon be bought up and 

 cultivated. At the foot of these hills, are lower ancl 

 less steep lands, which would do very well for orange 

 ami cacao culture; but Government has no capital to 

 open gooil roads, though they would soon repay their 

 coat by the enhanced value of the laud. 



As to coffee, the crop off the lowlands is now well 

 over and the top commencing. I believe the settlers 

 have had a very poor and light crop on this side: of 

 the island in consequence of the dry summer that 

 prevailed and made so much of the coffee to float 

 when put into water. Most planters buy this coffee 

 in the cherry, and pulp and prepare it themselves 

 for shipment, and,, as it is bought for about 40s and 

 sells at from 70s to 80s per cwt. according to quality 

 and colour, must leave a very fair profit after de- 

 ducting all expenses. As to the crop off the upper 

 fields, it is early to speak decidedly, but the im- 

 pression seems to be that it will not be a heavy one, 

 I am of opinion that 5,000 feet is too high an elev- 

 ali"ii for coffee iu Jamaica, and that, as in Ceylon 

 3,000 to 4,000 ie the best. Crops from the high fields 

 appear to be uncertain, whereas at medium elev- 

 ations they are far more to be depended upon. A 

 neighbour of mine has had 7 cwt. au acre from his 

 young coffee, which proves Jamaica coffee would give 

 good and paying crops, were not the old coffee so 

 full of vacancies. If but 100 to 120 acres could be 

 got in these mountains, in one field, and not too 

 steep, it would be a very paying property, at tho 

 prices now ruling for Blue Mountain coffee. The 

 best estate in Jamaica, as I have previously men- 

 tioned, is a paying property : why should others 

 not be made to do the same, with proper care and 

 cultivation ? 



I will now give you some specimens of Jamaica 

 English : it is mo3t difficult for a new comer to under- 

 stand what the people say, and even now after 13 months' 

 experience, I cannot always take in what is said. 

 To begin with estate words :— A mammotie is 

 hoe ; quintanie, gravel hoe ; cattie, cutlass ; forest, 

 bush ; horses and cattle, stock ; water- course' 

 gutter ; ravine, gully ; lines, barracks ; store,' 

 the works ; superintendent, busha ; conductor, book- 

 keeper ; landslip, washaway ; bungalow, great house ; 

 oue row running in'o another, buck's up ; to knock 

 against accidentally, to bounce up against ; spade- 

 bar, digger; coffee tails, trash; bushel or box, tub ; 

 young plant, sucker ; drying coffee, sunning ; peel- 

 ing coffee, grinding ; weeds, grass ; road, pass ; 

 hill, mountain ; vacancy, gall ; crush or smash, 

 mash ; to be like a thing, favors ; pig, hog ; to 

 be too close, bunch up; quickly, brisk,— Yours faith- 

 full 3'. W. S. 



THE SCIENCE OF TEA PREPARATION. 



From an able paper contributed to a local con- 

 temporary we rjuote the practically interesting portion 

 which deals with the preparation of the tea leaf after 

 plucking, omitting only the introduction winch givee 

 the physiology of the tea plant :— 



■Whenever the leaf is detached from the shoot, a differ- 

 ence of temperature is the immediate result. Water is 

 given oil' in the form of vapour by evaporation, which causes 

 a reduction of temperature in the leaf. In tho process of 

 tin- epidermis is broken up, and the substances form- 

 i" ':n' ■ ' j ■ t vascular Iismh.-s arc 



d up with the vegetable juices oftheeells. Chemical 



