34 



THE tROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[July t, 1885. 



betweeu 47° and 159°. Desperate as this may be for flushes 

 ami liquor sellers, it affords a pleasing sense of coolness 

 which you must envy in the plains, — Calcutta EngHshman. 



TEA IN JAPAN. 

 (From the Japan Weekly Mail, May 2ncl.) 



New season's tea has arrived in small quantities at Kobe 

 from Tofia during the week. Tea men at that i)ort ex- 

 pected to ship to Yokohama on the 8th of May, but the 

 condition of the crop makes, it now apparent that the 

 first batch will not be ready before the 13th. 



The yield of tea throughfuit Ynniato is expected to be 

 forty per cent, below the average, and the Idzumi crop 

 twenty per cent. 



The Central Tea Industry Association having determined 

 to establish the sale of Japanese tea in the Kussian territ- 

 ories in Asi'i. Mr. ]\Iatsudaira Taro is now travelling 

 through Manchuria and investigating the requirements of 

 the tea trade in that region. 



A chanjje in the weather in Kishin has favorably affected 

 tho tea crop, and the plants are reported to present a 

 promising appearance. 



Two hundred and forty-five me of new tea from Suruga 

 wore sold at Yokohama, at the rate of 65 yen per 1,000 me, 

 on the 11th instant. The local buyers distributed the fresh 

 Icave.s among the foreign tea merchants of the port in 

 the shape of presents. 



THK KANGEAN ISLANDS: NETHERLANDS 



INDIA. 



{Traz/slided/or the '• S/raits Times.") 



From a private letter written by on official who has 

 been via ting the Kangean islands, the following 

 particulars are taken : — The Kangean islands are 

 well worth a visit. They lie at about equal distances 

 from Madura, Java, the smaller Sunda island and 

 Celebes. 



There are also found there Madurese, Malays, Bugia, 

 Mandarsse, people from Sumbawa. and emigrants from 

 Celebes, who all live in a very primitive style. Money 

 is seldom used. In the markets different products are 

 simply bartered. Sugar and petroleum, articles found 

 in the smallest village in Java, are seldom obtainable 

 at the chief town of these islands. A short time ago 

 a fowl could bo got hore in bart«r for an empty 

 wine bottle. The people seem to be of a very 

 mild disposition, and are particularly honest. Theft 

 is almost unknown here. Horses are allowed to run 

 about nncared for day and night in the villages and 

 in the hush, yet not one of them is ever stolen. 

 The Islandprs are, however, very lazy, and refuse to 

 wok for others even when paid. The coolies whom 

 1 make use of here are compelled by the authorities 

 to come along with me at high wag s. The above 

 details bpar chi( fly upon the Kangeau^se properly so 

 lied, who ara mainly descendants ef Madunse 

 baniuhed hither in former timt-n, The remaining 

 population, who are mostly found on the ooa-ts and 

 w th wh'-m I have had very little to do, are quite a 

 riiffprent «■ rt of people. Kangean in a tino island. 

 The soil is derived from coral r^cka, which had been 

 tipHeav d by v leanio potion to a height of one thousand 

 feet at Bev«Val piacea. In ttie hills there are several 

 utalact'te grottoes of jungle, of which a comparatively 

 •ni II portion consi ts of tfak. The fl .ra, ami fauna 

 prps.nt m^ny features of great intt-rest, and bear a 

 stmng rei-' mhla' 0« to Australian forms, though 

 the isla d belongs ce d'gicslly lo the same limestone 

 forina'iou as Vladura, North Sourahaya, and Rome 

 b'-ng. The only Kuropean who r^-sidis permnnently 

 on Kangean is the c nr.r.dler. The sea around the 

 island is notoriously unaife. 



BuBS.—It is »iicl that there are in America no lees than 

 threo million itocks of bees, producing an annual yield of 

 |!0.00l',0OU lbs. of iioney.—l'lontcrand Farmer, 



CiNCiiON.v Plantations. — We learn that Mr. J. W. 

 Ryan has been selected, among other applicauts, to 

 fill au important appointment in connection with the 

 Neddivuttum cinchona plantations, and wc cannot 

 refrain from congratulating Mr. Lawson on this nomin- 

 ation, which we have not the slightest doubt will in 

 every way prove a great gain to the department so 

 ably supervised by him. — S. I. Observer. 



Dividends of Tea Companies for 1884. — We have 

 pleasure to announce that at the annual meeting of the 

 shareholders of the Borokai Tea Company, Limited, held 

 yesterday, (April 30th) a final dividend of 10 per cent, mak- 

 ing fifteen per cent, for the year was declared ; ana at 

 a simiiar meeting of the shareholders of the Tea Company 

 of Cacbar, Limited, a dividend at the rate of 3.^ percent. 

 for the year was declared. We hope to give the reports in 

 full in our next issue. — Home and Colonial Mail. 



A Substitute for Coffee.— Ground nuts are being 

 successfully substituted for coffee in Pondicherry. The 

 nuts are roasted and ground, and prepared in the same 

 way as the coffee berry, and when properly manipul- 

 ated a pleasant and refreshing drink is the result. 

 Ground nuts have been used in America for many years 

 as a eubstitnte.and very largely for adulterating oofifee, 

 but the Yankees mix the nuts with horse beans into 

 a paste from which they turn out the berry in perfect 

 shape and with a greenish colour and an aroma. — 

 Madras Mail, May 28th. 



Tea in the Lowcountky of Ceylon.— Ilenaratgoda, 

 8th June. — The monsoon rains began here at 4 a.m. on the 

 morning of 2nd June, and the first spell lasted six hours ; 

 the rain has kept up pretty constantly till the end of the 

 week, though, after a spell of from five to ten hours, it 

 would pretend to have done its worst, and let the sun 

 shine out for an hour or so in an unclouded 

 sky, when it would suddenly pull itself together, and 

 break out more fiercely than ever. I might easily have 

 put out all my available plants in the two first 

 wet days, but I lost so many plants in 1883-84 from 

 the lack of planting weather that I can now put no 

 faith whatever in any appearance or promise of the 

 clerk of that ilk, that I this season decided to 

 give each plant put out in the fi»ld the additional 

 chance of a special shade, without reference to the 

 weather, which I dare not depend on. This business 

 of shading was a much more laborious and protracted 

 affair than the mere planting, and as things have 

 turned out was an unnecessary work, for there haa 

 hardly been ennngh sun to make the tender leaf 

 droop since the hall opened. Well in five days, with 

 a good deal of broken time, I have planted out 30,000 

 tea plants, and '^haded them with a total day's 

 lab'iur, of men, women and children, of 104, and I do 

 rot think I will lose 2 per cent. When the sun 

 shone out at 8 a.m. today, 1 said the blazing 

 humbug was at hia old tricks; he had cheated 

 me many times during last week, and I 

 would on this oooasion pay no ptte^tion to 

 him, no I went on planting, and did not stay, 

 while I had a plant left. The sun was however 

 in earues', i>nd ehoue at intervnls during the day, 

 and there was no more rain till lato at night, I 

 have plenty more planting to do, but must wait 

 till the p'ants grow large enough, which will take 

 a month at least. The most forward of the tea 

 lnish.-s are beginning to flush, since the rain came, 

 and there will now be nearly constant plucking, for 

 a limited force of women and children. I fancied I 

 h d got the weeding well in hand before the rains 

 came on, but on some spota the grass is more flourish, 

 ing than ever. Venly there are worse things to deal 

 with than ageratum. The vast rainfall wo have 

 had during the past week has done its work very 

 quietly : wo have h."d very little wind, — 10th May. 

 The weather seems se'tled for the last two days; 

 wa have only bad eliglit showers at tUnig, 



