426 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[Dec. I, ibt<5. 



Dii Candolle calls attention to the fact that a 

 branch of a coffee-tree, preserved in a solution 

 niailc hy boiling water, with about seventeen per 

 cent of common salt, retained its green colour for 

 fifty-three years. — Indinn Oardciier, 



TuK largest field of pineapples in the world is 

 on an estate in the eastern district of New Province, 

 Bahamas. From one spot it is possible to see at a 

 single glance 1,200,000 pineapples growing. — Madras 

 Mail. 



Thk Means of Communication between Assam 

 and Calcutta seem still very unsatisfactory, to 

 judge from the following statement which appears 

 in the Indian I'laiiters' (iazette : — The journey 

 of a tea box from Sylhet to Calcutta, if related, 

 would contain some amusing episodes. It is 

 shipped first at Ivurimgunge, transhipped again 

 at l"'enchoogunge, sometimes, we suppose, at Narrain- 

 gunge, always at CJoaUmdo, and finally transferred 

 by bullock gharry from Sealdah to the brokers' 

 godowns. It seems somewhat incredible that the 

 same steamer that ships the tea at Kurimgunge, 

 should not continue the journey right through to 

 Narraingunge and save all the trouble of tranship- 

 ments which must cost money, and risk damaging 

 to the tea. Why should a steamer retxuire to lie 

 24 hours at I-'enchoogunge ? and then only steam 

 the following day tor two hours ? Wherein consists 

 the profit to the company itself? the steamers can' 

 only bank fires, they cannot put them out. There 

 is surely something strange.., incongruous in all these 

 ari-angemcnts. For a liigh charge for (irst-class ac- 

 commodation, one naturally expects a high rate of 

 speed to be maintained, but here he gets neither 

 comfort nor speed. Our Assam planters in the 

 districts of Sylhet and Cach:ir should agitate and 

 have this state of things altered. We trust soon to 

 hear that the journey from Calcutta has been re- 

 duced to such limits as will not deter intending 

 visitors from undertaking it. 



New Era Comek. — We have been asked by many 

 of (.ur readers, " What is the New lira Coffee 'i 

 Wiiat is it made of ? " anil if it is a cbeap 

 substitute for coffee, etc. We are pleased to in- 

 form all wbo have asked these iiueslions, and 

 for the benefit of others that have not, who, 

 CO doubt, have seen tlie advertisement ou the 

 front cc.ver of the American Grocer, that New Era 

 Coffe.- is for pe. pie who cannot, or slioidd not 

 drink the regular importrd cofTee and teas. It ia no 

 cheap substitute for tea or cnft'ee, hut an article of 

 great merit, and every grocer should keep it in 

 stock, as they all have mure or lefs customers who 

 never buy cue dollar's worth of either tea or coffee, 

 and are drinking hot water and milk for their 

 breakfast or other meals, because tliey have not been 

 informed of something better, and never get rid of 

 their dyspepsia and constipation, nervousness, etc. It 

 in made entirely from wheat by Pulnalu's patent prc- 

 C0S1 of treating, steaming, drying and roasting, which 

 lake* seviral days to complete; it is unequalled as a 

 UUtlitious, healthful and strengthening table beverage 

 «ud really supplies a want that has long existed : it 

 contains "health-producing elements net posstssed by 

 ten Of coffee : it« energizing effects ate not followed 

 by reaction. Tliis .s. iintific proce.«s, occupying as it 

 does several dajs, the olij cilonable pioperties of tlie 

 grain arc removed and the .-tarch aud glutinous pro- 

 perties ore so changed that the kernel is rendered 

 h.ml, brittle and seini tinii = |iari'nt. One excellelit 

 fi-it.ii'rc <if ibi- *^'' "■ l'>a Coirec is its entire freedom 

 from any properties that can iiijme the most delicate 

 organisation : therefore, it is very nice for children, 

 who thrive on it as a beverage. AVe can reconimcrd 

 the goods \ery h-gbly to the grocers, and we hope 

 lb v will «ipreci.tc its merits and give their custoiu- 

 urs ii than 'e to buy a good article.— .-Imfricffn Gtocer 



[ : ut wliy. dishonestly, call it coffee if made from 



)i A f It i» a cb 9t i-f the woret kiud.— JJp-1 



The Tea Trade in the British Pkovinces. — A 

 provincial tea agent in the old country reports a 

 considerable improvement in his tea business during 

 the past year, in spite of all the principal grocers 

 having Ceylon tea now. He thinks the jiopularity 

 of Ceylon tea is now at its height. Of those who 

 now sell it, there will undoubtedly be a proportion 

 who will give it up. Se\eral who used (o advert i'^c 

 it for a while, don't have any now : ho suppo.-es 

 because they have dilKcuUy in iiialchiiiii, as they sold 

 out, and as all" changes of style and ijuality inter- 

 rupt trade, they have thought it better to put 

 confidence iu their own blends. He attributes his 

 own increase of trade to advertising. 



Laiiocbeks per Acre in English Aiuiitiu/runi: 

 CoMi'AiiED WITH Tkopic.u,. — Nothing struck us more 

 forcibly in Australia than the small number of 

 hands employed on vast pastoral runs : a couple 

 for each 500 or 1,000 acres, except in slieep shearing 

 time. The following passage from Lord Salisbury's 

 Newport speech, shows that one man per 100 acres 

 suffices for grazing land in England, while in eollce 

 culture and much more in tea culture in Ceylon, 

 at least A coolies for every 8 acres are reijuired, 

 or say 300 persons for 200 acres. Here is what 

 Lord Salisbury said : — The growing of wheat has 

 become, over a vast extent of the country, an 

 unprofitable occupation. A farmer knows that on 

 the growing of wheat depends the continuance 

 of arable land, for if the wheat crop does not 

 pay the chance of his arable land paying is 

 very small. The consequence is that iu every 

 part of the country, especially on the east of the 

 island, large tracts of land are going into grass. 

 Grass does not pay well, but it pays moderately, 

 and the landowner, farmer proprietor, or occupier 

 naturally takes to farming that which is most 

 profitable to him, and the invariable result is that 

 the number of hands required in agriculture 

 diminishes — three men for every 100 acres feipiired 

 for arable land, and one man to e\cry 100 acres 

 for pasture land. 



Coca.- -The latest information respecting this 

 new product is not very encouraging to would- 

 be cultivators of the Kri/thro.ii/luii Coca in 

 Ceylon. An e.xhaustive paper by Ur. Squibb ou 

 ' Coca at the Source of Supply," which we are 

 republishing in full in the Tropical Aiiriiiilliirisl 

 among other things tells us about the production 

 and consumption of coca. Coca seems to be pro- 

 duced throughout the whole Auuean plateau 

 from Ecuador to the Argentine Republic. At 

 present, Peru and Bolivia seem to be I he exporting 

 countries : and in the former 7.t million lb. arc 

 said to be gathered, of which all but 37^,000 lb. 

 are consumed in the country. The Peruvian (.iov-. 

 eminent are said to tax a piodu.tieji of over 15 

 milliou lb., but only 5 per cent, heie again, is said 

 to be a\ailable for export. 'J'liat makes a total 

 export to the United States andEurope of 1.125.000 lb. 

 One million lb. of coca would yield at least 2.500 lb. 

 of cocaine, while one-fourth of lliat quaulity 

 would probably over-stock the mark-.ns of the whole 

 world. .Surgeon-General Balfour, addressuig II c 

 India Ollice in July last, inentio:ud that Mr. 

 Howaril had bought all the coca leaves in the 

 English market at 3s per lb., but that, Bs 30,0(10 

 lb. were on the way from New York, it was ix- 

 peeled the price would fall to (id per lb. If, 

 however, the coca leaf, as Dr. Balfour seems to 

 think, may yet take its place in India and Europe 

 alongside " of tea and coffee, there may then be 

 room for profitable cultivation in the East. Dr. 

 Balfour's paper will also be republislied in full in 



our T. J. 



