194 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [September i, 1885. 



colTee, he consumea lefs than IJ !b. tea anmiallj-, 

 What a strange contrast to the state of things in 

 this, the mother-counfi V 1 It wonhl have been inter- 

 es'iug if the Ch:'mber of Commerce lad ex- 

 tended the scope of thtir speriilatioiis and put forth 

 the various possible reasons wbich actini^ together 

 have caused I'nglislimcn to iliink nothing but t'a, 

 and their descendants to drinli nothug but coffee. 



One thing is char, that the United States of 

 America open a vast mls?ionary liehl for the Ceylon 

 t a-planter. Think of a posfil'le consuming power of 

 550,000,000 lb. of tf a annually, even at this present 

 date! VV. M. L, 



THE COFFEE TRADE. 



In our laj^t report we noticed the year 1S83 ii.i the turn- 

 ing point in the cotfee trade. In the increa.sed con.sump- 

 tiou, a result of low prices caueed hy an artitieially forced 

 production, the induslry pa.s.sed into mere conservative 

 nianageraent, and its results were satisfactory to both im- 

 porters iiud jobbers. 



T.in fortunately this healthy reaction was not maintained, 

 and from causes, perhaps, not entirely inherent to itself, 

 tho trade was again, in 18SJ, depressed and unsatis- 

 factory to all concerned. The liquidation of the Brazil 

 Syndicates, noticed in our last, was a perpetual menace 

 to the stability of prices, and caused a timidity in purchases 

 which destroyed all animation or speculative feeliug. 



The total receipts of ootfee for the United States from 

 all sources was two hundred and thirty thousand tons in 

 1SS4, against two hundred and twenty-eight thousand tons 

 in 1883, an increase of two thousand tons. The total 

 deliveries for consumption were two hundred and 

 twenty-four thousand tons in 1883, against two hundred 

 and three thousand tons in 1883, an increase of twenty-one 

 thousand tons — 10-15 per cent — an increase which has 

 created some surprise. The per capita consumption of the 

 United States in 1884 was 9§ lb. 



Ot the importations, New York received in 1884 one 

 hundred and seveuty-seven thousand tons, against one 

 hundred and eighty-nine thousand tons in 1S83, a decrease 

 of twelve thousand tons, and the total deliveries were one 

 hundred and seventy thousand tons, against one hundred 

 and sLity-three thousand tons in 1883, an increase of seven 

 thousand tons. There has been considerable change in the 

 aggregates ot trade at the seacoast ports, Baltimore and 

 New Orleans having notably increased their importations; 

 ft result, as is shown, of lower railroad freights from 

 Baltimore to the interior than from New York, and cheap 

 river freights from New Orleans. The receipts at New 

 Y'ork still represent nearly seventy-seven per cent of the 

 entire receipts east of the Rocky Mountains—less by six 

 per cent than the representation of 1883, but in excess of 

 that ot any year previous. 



Prices opened at twelve and one-quarter cents for fair 

 Rio in January 1884, declined to nine and three-quarters 

 In June, July and August, and remained at this point at the 

 close of the year. 



Experience has shown that no estimates of unharvested 

 crops, ecpecially of coffee, are reliable. Enough that a full 

 average crop ifi now anticipated, and that it will prove 

 ample to meet evi-n the large consumption which is now 

 Msorded. ^ ' 



•— ■♦ ' "-^ 



CAPli GonrfEtDiRKV.— A correspoudeut writeel- -" I 

 send by poot to you, enclosed In a matob-bix, a 

 sample of what I think to be rather a freak ofgocse- 

 berry nature (Cape Gooseberry) ! two berries in one 

 ehell or skin." Not common, but occasionally occurs 

 iu mcht fruita of the kind. 



CoflTEB Redivivuh.— Lindula, 29tb July.— Mr. A. H. 

 Thomae haa very great faith in the revival of coffee, 

 and does not approve of planting tea m cotfee, either 

 one or the otiier ; and from what 1 've seen all the 

 way up I agiee with him. Coffee in large fields here 

 loi Us well and tit to bear, and, if H. V. has worn itself 

 out and its lite history be oomiog tg ao end, colTeo 

 ^ill flouitUh green again,— W, F. 



CEYLON UPCOUNTEY PLANTING REPORT. 



3rd August 1885. 



Black bug continues its havoc, and you hear of its ad- 

 vance into •' fresh fields and pastures new," appearing in 

 Udapussellawa, Haputale and elsewhere. I have sad ex- 

 perience of what a buggy estate means, and those who are 

 just entering on this hard trial have my deepest sympathy. 

 And yet there is nothing being done for it, no combined effort 

 to check its advance. Is it because we all acknowledge that 

 cotfee like a bankrupt estate is being gradually wound 

 up? or that we accept the conclusions of the late Dr. 

 Gardner that nothing can be done — this ipse dixit of 

 thirty or more years a|ro — and fold our hands? I have an 

 enttiusiastic friend who spurns such an ignoble course. 

 " Be beaten with that poocbie !" he says with true scorn, 

 and then sits down to his miscroscope to renew his 

 examination of the pest. What time has he not spent 

 in patient search and ingenious experiment. He can 

 describe its gait, the action of its mandibles, knows 

 the number of its legs, the length of its antennie, and 

 has calculated to a fraction the angle of the cock of its 

 ridiculous tail. He invites verification of his statements, 

 sets you down before the instrument, and awaits your 

 report with an interrogatory "Well?" *'Do you mean to 

 tell me," he says, "that all the science of the nineteenth 

 century can't give us a cure for tiiai ?" Aud deprecating 

 discussion you meekly reply: "I should think not." "Then 

 why is the thing allowed to go on unchecked ! What has 

 the Government done to fight it? Has the Director ol" 

 the Royal Botanic Gardens turned his attention to- 

 towards discovering an antidote? and where, oh! where 

 is the Planters' Association, and its Oommittee in the 

 matter?" So he goes on — a terrible fellow — and yet, when 

 you think of it, there is " a method in bis madness." He 

 has a last thrust which comes home to all of us : "What 

 if it should spread to tea ? " What if it should ? you say 

 to yourself, conjuring up its results and then — what a 

 vision ! He may be late in preaching his crusade, but 

 not too late ; it had been well if sonietliing had been 

 done earlier, but there are fine fields of cotfee yet to 

 be spared from ravishment, without considering at. all 

 the future of tea. 



To those who know this insect well, it makes its pre- 

 sence felt in many ways. It checks your energy, batHes 

 your skill, leaves you with a heavy deficit, and sits on you 

 like a nightmare. It lias influences even subtler than these 

 and affects reo.lly valuable efforts for social amelioration. 

 Fancy its spoiling the good taste of an orator who 

 had introduced the pest " to point a moral and adorn a 

 tale." The audience was a youthful one, and for tlie sake 

 of the young digestion knowledge had to be crumbled 

 down. After an introduction our enemy was thus de- 

 scribed : — '* Black-bug is an insect. It is — well — it 's not the 

 least like the bug with which you are all so well ac- 

 quainted " ! ! And to this it has come at last ! I shudder 

 when I think where it may not next appear. Already on 

 the platform ; what if it should find its way into the 

 pulpit ? 



Ah ! my good enthusiastic friend, the days surely are 

 ripa for your sending round the fiery cross. So leave your 

 micrcscopc, and in the columns of the Ohserwr preach 

 your crusadf. Peppeboobn. 



Nkw Withering Api'abati's,— Tho nrranjgemttits of 

 the tats on Sem^-nwaita estate, tile joint tnveiitioh of 

 Mr. U. Fairweathorand h!s assistant, Mr. Westlalld, Is 

 ctirtaiidy most ingenious. Instead of the sloping arrange* 

 taent, which lifts up and is let down, to be met with on 

 most estates, Mr Fairweather 'stats travel between an upright 

 framework, and are prevented from " sag{iing " by a hook 

 or a guide attached to wires which pass along the framework 

 between each tat. A crank, which works a rope, draws 

 out these tats into position, and discbargts them one by 

 one in a most simple and effective manner so that the 

 loaf is subjected to a minimum of handling, whilst great 

 rapidity io obtained in the spreading of the leaf, 'We 

 believe the Mariawatte tea factory is being fitted with 

 the new withering apparatus and we have no doubt that 

 other factories will adopt this convenient arrangement, 

 which, for its completeness and simplicity, reflects great 

 cr»dit on its ingenious iuventors.—Looal •' Times," 



