5i2 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. IjA^UAiiV i, 1886. 



this side, without receiving damaging reports of 

 such a nature emanating from men wlio are sup- 

 posed to liavc a knowledge of such things but 

 wlio though perhaps liard hit themselves, ought 

 to be more moderate in their remarks, if only 

 for the piresent and future welfare of ' old 

 Lanka.' On commencing this letter it was not my 

 intention to have enlarged so freely, but when one 

 begins talking on the subject of Ceylon interests 

 it ia a tempting topic." 



For Catarkhai. Colds. — One drachm of camphor, 

 coarsely powdered or shredded, is stirred iuto a vussel 

 containing very hot water. A paper cone, placed 

 large end downward over the dish, is the means by 

 which the camphorated steam is inhaled through the 

 nose. Dr. G. E. Dobbson asserts positively, through 

 the Lancet^ that if this treatment is continued for 

 twenty minutes, and repeated three or four times in 

 as many hours, great and usually permanent relief 

 follows. — Popular Science Nrma. 



Tea in Oevi.on. — Many absentee proprietors are now 

 in such haste to liurry iuto Tea, that the necessary 

 instructions are being conveyed to their &Iauagers — not 

 by means of letters but by telegrms. Kalutara — the 

 youngest of our Tea districts — has just rececived its 

 second Tea Roller — intended for Torwood Estate under 

 the Superintendence of Mr. J. A. Cochar. The first Si- 

 rocco will also soon be on its way to the sajne district. 

 It has been remarked tb;it many of the Dimbula aiul 

 Lindula 'J'eas are below the average standard of Tea from 

 other districts, notwithstanding the use of the most 

 approved Macliiuei'y. The Teas are said to be thin and 

 W(;ak in the cup. It must be rennjmbered that in 

 the districts referred to much of the Tea is planted 

 in with the Coffee, and we think this fact alone is 

 sufficient to account for the complaint. When the 

 Coffee is eradicated the quality may imjirove. — "Ceylon 

 Advertiser." 



Orchid Exportation from Brazii,. — We confess to 

 a certain feeling of satisfaction at reading the 

 following extract from a letter written by one of 

 the Compnguie Ooutinentale : — "The Jlnniciijal Council 

 (of the island of St. Catherine) has also imposed a 

 tax of 500,000 leis (=2,500 francs), (m lach individual 

 leaving the island with plants, and an additional tax 

 of 5 per cent provincial dues ; and all this because 

 a collector last year boasted to have t.iken from tlie 

 island more than 100,000 francs worth of Orchids, 

 saying that the Brazilians were simpletons who did 

 not know the value of their weeds, as they call the 

 OrchHs. I for.see the time when, all the couutriis 

 acting m the same way. Orchids will become very 

 rare - in Europe, and where it will not be easy in 

 future to introduce them in hnge masses. It is 

 alleged that certain tlistricts formerly rich in Orchids 

 are no longer so now. The great fault does not, 

 however, depend on an excessive quantity of Orchids 

 sent to Europe, but on collectors, who after having 

 obtained the desired numbers, set the forests on fire 

 and thus destroy the plants and prevent them from 

 being collected by others." If this be true, hanging 

 i 8 too goo<l for such murderers. — Gardeiitfs* Clnviicle. 



Oil Mills.— The Poiidicherry Steam Oil Mills 

 Company, which was formed in Pondiclicrry about a 

 year ago, for the pui'pose of extracting oil from seeds 

 and groundnuts by means of improved machinery, 

 worked by steam power, has just completed the factory 

 and buildings, and the erection of the machinery, and 

 crushing operations will, it is expected, commence 

 some time this month. The machinery was oflicially 

 tested last week, and its wm'king sanctioned by 

 M onsieur Jemeau, the Cliiet Engineer of the colony, 

 assisted by the Chief Engineer of the Messageries 

 Maritimes" Company's steamer "Tibre." The pro- 

 moters of tlic undertaking base tlieir claims to 

 success, firstly, on account of the greatly reduced 

 cost at which oil can be produced by machinery 

 as compared with native country presses, and, 

 eecoudly, by teasou of the larger outtuiu, and saving 

 from wftst«. Tlie Company eeems to liave seemed 



a good bargain in the press and steam engine, 

 which were bought second hand eijual to new, 

 and. which with the buildings, works, offices and 

 preliminary charges, complete, will represent a 

 total capital outlay of under E10,000. The share 

 capital of the Company is 1150,000, so that there 

 will be a working cash balance available of 

 ElO.OOO. It is intended, for some time to come, 

 to confine the crushing to ground-nuts, the pro- 

 duet of which is mostly shipped to Burinah and 

 Mauritius.* The chief drawback against cheap 

 working will be the cost of fuel ; in other res- 

 respects the Company's arrangements appear to 

 be such as to insure economy. The shares are 

 held by a a tew of the leading residents of Pon- 

 dicherry, mostly merchants, a committee of whom 

 control the management gratuitously. An artesian 

 well has been successfully sunk in the factory 

 compound, the water from which being pure, is 

 well adapted for steam iiurposes. — Madras Weekly 

 Mail. 



Labor in TwNiD.iD. — Public Opinion, a paper 

 published at Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, in its issue 

 of Oct. '20th laments over the customs returns for 

 September, which show a decrease of £15,000 for 

 imports and £2,300 for duty paid, the total decrease 

 for the nine months being £740,070 for imports and 

 £17,100 for duty. On this our contemporary remarks:- 



"W^ouUl we could say that a considerable part of this 

 decrease was ilue to increased production of native pro- 

 visions to replace foreign imports, but no such so- 

 lace ia admissible. The decrease simply means the 

 pauperization of our poj)ulatiou and their consequent 

 iiiability to purchase. Years 'oefore this great crisis 

 the present writer, and others who bad the real 

 interest of the country at heart had raised a warning 

 voice that the abandonment of the liberal policy of 

 Sir Arthur Gordon would sooner or later, bring forth 

 its bitter fruits. All our laws have tended to tester the 

 prepoudtraiice of eue industry to the exclusion of other, 

 and, at the first crisis, we are all prostrate. Fosttrlhe 

 sugar industry by all means, but do so in an intelligent 

 and broad spirit. It is our mainstay, therefore does it 

 require to be propped up by minor industries. 

 The writer then goes on io compare Trinidad with 

 the sister colony Barbados, and states that the 

 depression in the latter is caused by the high price 

 of landed property having burdened estates with a 

 load of interest. The writer then proceeds : - 



In Trinidad we bavi: many advantages which do not 

 exist in Barbados. In the first place we have other 

 industries, other products which, on the whole, almost 

 equal in gross value our sugar crop, and, nt the pre- 

 sent moment, especially, far surpasses it in nett pro- 

 fits. Our cocoa crop alone is equally in gross value 

 to fully two-thirds of our sugar crop. Next, in re- 

 gard to sugar, our lands are more fertile and do 

 not require the heavy expenditure in artificial manure, 

 without which no result c^n be obtained from the in- 

 ferior and exhausted lands of Barbadoes, But against 

 those advantages, we have the terrilde drawback of 

 dear labour. It is calculated that the indentured cooly, 

 if all the expenses of Ids introduction iuto the colony 

 and those which bear exclnsivciy on the planter, such 

 as indenture fee, Iiospilafand otliei expenses are added 

 up, cost about 50 cents for a full day's woi k. This is 

 enormous. 



We should think so. The Creole laborer earns 20 

 to 25 cents per task, but he cannot live on this, 

 so supplements it by other means ; in Barbados the 

 laborers receive about (id a day, but they work only 

 four or live days in the week, the rest of the time 

 being occupied in the cultivation of gioinid juo- 

 visions : this system, the writer in Public Opinion 

 considers should be introduced into Trinidad. 



* What product? The oil, we nmlerstood, wi'iit to 

 Marseilles to take thi' place nf olive eil. AVe [iresinue 

 it is the oil cake wnicU ie sent to Burma and 

 Mauritius,— E». 



