July i, 1885.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



25 



Thk PKOsrECTs OF Tka.— All old plantei' write';: — 

 "There is no dovibt about one thing, and that is that 

 there are thousands of acres ( f tt-a being planted 

 in Ceylou quite equal to if not supeiior to show-place, 

 Mariawatle. Another factis that tea is most remunerative 

 at Is fteiling per lb. all round in London with a good 

 margin for a fall in price. " 



The CiNcnoxA Enterprize in Java. — The latest 

 report (translated for our planting ojlumn) is a 

 great contrast to the r.onleuf th rose statements of 

 former years, the tnij,' bark even of Ledgeriaua sharing 

 in the general depression and selling at a price 

 unprecedented for lonuess. Hard times in Java, it 

 will be seen, had had the effect of rendering labour 

 plentiful and cheap. 



CocONVT Planteks are bewailing the shortness of their 

 crops thi,s year as well as the bad prospects for ne.\t y ar 

 that they have to look forward to. Two successive years 

 have told heavily on the trees in tlie Western Province, 

 and old and experienced coconut planters tell ma that 

 they do not expect to get J the crop that they have 

 hitherto picked from their respective estates. On some 

 estates no rain fell for fully four months, thus causing all 

 the blossom to fall aud not allowing the same to 

 mature. — Car. 



iUARiAWAiTE New Tea Factouy is like'y, when 

 ready, lo be the most complete in the island if not 

 in the world. The machinery (all Jackson's Patents, 

 Hollers, Drier, Sifter, ka.) is to be driven by a 12 horse- 

 power Marshall's steam engine, now on the way out. 

 There is no lack of fuel for machinery or drying, 

 around Gampola, but it is p inted out that where 

 timber is scarce in Ceylou, dneJ gras can be readdy 

 got as in many districts in India wheie grass is regular- 

 ly used for the driei'.s. Our m;uia grass dried and 

 stacked ought to be very nsefal for tea-drying. 



KoRAIMi "thk Mysterious," which has at 

 length ben fully explored by Mr. Im Thurn, is 

 tne subjec; of an inteixsring paper by Mr. H. J. 

 Perkins (who aocompauh d ihe explorer) u.iticed in 

 Nature. The falls must be magniticcut, the Kerkenau 

 river, which rises i i the mountaiu of Ihe same name 

 deBC.;nding from the summit in a splendid fall of 

 1,300 feet. The run water on the top of Koraima 

 rushes over the side of ihe enormous clifT in magni- 

 ficent "cascades" somf of which h.ive a clear fall of 1,500 

 feet ! Roraima plateau was found to be 8,600 feet 

 above sea-level. 



Britlsh Colombia. — What traffic will the Canada 

 Pacific line have in this country ? lu the opinion of 

 many who know the c uutry there are few — if, in- 

 deed, any — di tricts of the aiz-. of British Columbia 

 for which the amount and diversity of its natural 

 resources promise a more prosperous future. Its coal- 

 beds produce fuel that is g-nerally ack'ioHleilged to 

 be the best on the whole Pacihc ilope, a circumstance 

 amply corroborated by its large export to San Fran- 

 cisco aud other American [orts. Of the timber wealth 

 it is not necessary to sp.'ak, for British (."oluinbia has 

 today by far the largjst and by far the finest forests 

 in the world. Its fisheries are finer than anything 

 OQ the cast coast of America or in Europe, while what 

 good judges pronounce to be perhaps the most important 

 if its resources — that is, its minerals — deserves very 

 much more attention by capitalists than it has hitherto 

 received. The extent of its agricultural land is limited, 

 but what there is is uanully of the moat productive 

 alluvial character. Its grazing areas are limited to 

 certiin di-itricts, where ex,.ellent bunch grass and a 

 mild winter climate prevail. In a few valleys, such as 

 the Upper Kooteuiy valley in the attractive Kootenay 

 district, through which the Canada Pacific is now 

 being built, there is a rare combination of both these 

 kinds of lands. And w ithal the whole country is one 

 where life is not made unpleasant by extremes of 

 temperature.— /'«/! Alall Umlrjct. 



Sale of a Coffee E.state.— Sir James Gordon, your 

 late Resident, has at last found a purchaser for his 

 coft'ee estate on the Nilgiris, known as Glenburn. Tlio 

 estate is 91 acres in extent, all coffee in full bearing 

 and realized 20,i 00 rupees, a third of the price asked 

 a year ago for the property, aud a little more than a 

 half of what was wanted a few mouths back. Tha 

 average crops were given at 16 tons, which was the 

 estimated outturn of the crop for 18S4-85, but up to 

 the end of April the coffee didn't ripen, and was not 

 (iff the tie.s when the estate changed hands. The 

 industry all over the District is greatly depressed and 

 the agouciia refuse alvances. It is not surprising 

 therefore to find that properties quoted at high prices a 

 short time ago are going a bc-gging. — Ootacamund 

 coiresponilent of Bangalore Spectator. 



Mit. Arnold White on Adulteratiox and 

 Emr!R.\tion. — This versatile ex-Ceylon planter whose 

 name is not unknown in the Eakwana and 

 Bila'igoda district^, after biing Secretary to an 

 Elcclrie Light Company in Li ndon, has now de- 

 veloped a new career as a social philanthropist — a 

 seeker-out of the nomad poor in the East of London 

 and a controversialist with Socialists. In the for- 

 mer capacity, Mr. White ha. contributal an article 

 to May's Contemporary in which the planter comes 

 out io his demonstration of adulteration, thus : — 

 " To take but a few instances : legalizing the sale of a 

 mixture of coffee and chicory has not reduced ad- 

 ultera'ion of these commodities, for the coffee is half-ripe 

 or inseet-caten, ' tails ' blended with ' finings,' and 

 the cliicory is fortified with beans, lupin seeds, acorns, 

 ' Llamln'o' powder,' mingel-wuizel, and spent t;in ; and 

 the most obvious proof of adulteration is, that the c 'ffee 

 is sold retail in London at a price at which it 

 cannot be produced on his estate by the coffee- 

 planter. A pennyworth of tea, as purchased by the 

 poor in many small East-end shops, does not contain 

 oneteiileaf. It consists of iloordust, the sweepings of 

 inferior te.is, China clay, fine sand, and spurious 

 leaves of ' Ma-loo ' mixture. Bread in the Erst-end 

 lias some peculiar characteristic well worth the notice 

 of a philanthropist." 



Tea WrriiiN- 25 Miles of Colombo. — I visited Dum- 

 hartou estate, Henaratgoda, some weeks back (I think it 

 was about a fortnight back) with two friends and was 

 most courteously reeceived by the resident superintendent 

 and his son. I had not seen this place for some time, 

 and was simply astonished at the m.arvellous change that 

 has taken place in the aspect not only of the estate itself 

 but its bungalow and its surroundings. Liberiaii and cacao 

 were rapidly giving place to tea, and tea was actually being 

 manufactured on the estate. I did not like to enquire, 

 hut I certainly think it must be from trees under two 

 years in growth, as I have visited the estate before aud 

 my visit previous to the last could not have been so far 

 hack as two years ago. One of my companions is one of 

 the most fastidious geuts I ever came across aa regards 

 what he oats and what he drinks. He had long since 

 eschewed tea, has become a great coffee drinker, is a great 

 authority on the best mode of grinding coffee, has his own 

 opinion of Dr. S.'s ground coffee as sold by a leading 

 Company, (;arries a patent coffee pot, one of AV^alker's 

 best, his own coffee, and lastly makes his own coffee. He had 

 not tasted tea it appears for years. We reached the estate 

 at about 10 a. m. having started from Henaratgoda rest- 

 house, ami after a walk round the estate went into the 

 bungalow and were there given a cup of tea made out of 

 the estate produce, and I can a.s.sure you each and all of 

 US, including our " fastidious " friend, the great coffee- 

 drinker, pronounced the tea really good. "We felt so re- 

 freshed after it that we walked ii good distance back on 

 our return to the resthoiise and each and alt made up our 

 mind to buy nothing but " Dumbarton " tea in the 

 luturo. So, not informing you as to the proprietorship 

 of the estate, I beg you will be so good as to inform me 

 where " Dumbarton Tea " is to be got.— Cor. 



