5i<i 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[Feb. ,i 1886. 



this estate — i.e., between September, 1884, and June, 

 18S5, the maautacturing season: — 



lb. 



i an acre originalf'imported) plantedNov., 1877 . 600 



5^ acres planted out Nov.; 18S0, 70) I'u. to acre . 3,850 



2(1" acres planted out Nov., 1831, 500 lb. to acre . 13,000 



18 acres planted out Nov., 1882, 250 lb. to acre . 4,500 



50 21,950 



It will be understood that the amounts per acre 

 for the various ages can only be approximate, seeing 

 that the variously aged trees are picked at one and 

 the same time and leof mixed. But seeing I have 

 manufactured 22,000 lb. of tea, if we reduce the 

 amount per acre for one age, we must increase the 

 amount per acre for the other. I am aware that 

 tlie yield will appear excessive, considering the age 

 of the plants, but the total result is as above, aud 

 area picked over as stated. Surely this return, in a 

 very dry season, will settle the question of sufficiency 

 of rainfall in Natal for tea-growing. 



It may be interesting to give a general view of 

 the present position of the tea industry. The letters 

 are placed in lieu of names of estate.'!, as I have 

 not applied to the owners for leave to publish the 

 names . 



LOWEK THOELA DIVISION, VICTORIA COUNTY. 



A Estate, 110 acres planted, 10 to 20 acres 



preparing for planting coming summer 



B „ 7 „ 13 



*^ »j n 7 ») V 



D „ 50 „ 20 



E .. 20 „ 5 



F „ 30 „ Unknown „ „ 



^^ 51 ' », ,, ,1 ,, 



H „ 5 „ „ „ „ 



^ »» 4 „ ,, „ „ 



" „ 5 ,, 5 „ „ 



DnUBAN COUNTY. 



K „ 20 ,, Unknown „ „ . 



ALEXANDBA OE ALFRED COUNTY. 



I" » — 11 50 „ „ 



M .. — » 50 



2os „ 762 ;', " 



It may be safely assumed that 50,000 lb. weight 

 of tea will be made in Natal during the coming 

 season, with a very large increase each succeeding 

 year. 



In conclusion, I think I may fairly lay claim to 

 hive proved that tea-growing in Natal is a success — 

 not merely that it will grow, but that it will grow 

 to pay, and pay well, as an article of export. The 

 initi.al iliHiculties have been overcome, and the future 

 will doubtless show great improvement in the manu- 

 facture as e.xperience is gained. — Yours, &c., 



J. Liege Hulett. 

 Kearsney Tea Estate, Nonoti, Natal. 



Tea IN THE Caucasus. — One of our Russian 

 correspondents informs us that under the auspices of 

 a society the cultivation of Tea in the Caucasus is 

 likely to be successful. Experience has shown that 

 the shrub thrives at Souchoum-Kale, Batiim, aud 

 various other places near the eastern shores of the 

 Black Sea.— Grtr(/e/ic/*.s' Clironicle. 



Swollen Mouth aftek Eitino Pineapplk. — i. 

 correspondent of the Bi-ilUli Medical Journal states 

 that '* A gentleman about forty years of age received 

 a Pine-apple as a presiint. The fruit had an unusually 

 dark rind [Black Jamaica]. He ate several slices after 

 dinner, carefully cutting off the rind, none of which 

 touched his mouth. Within a few hours his lips began to 

 swell. The swelling did not disappear for twenty- 

 four hours. The tongue was not affected. The 

 gentleman had no other uneasiness or pain." \\Ve 

 had a similar experience in some Pine-apples raised 

 from suckers that came ashore from the " Tyne " Mail 

 steamer, which came ashors off St. Albans Head in 

 1853.— Ed.] — Gardeners' Chronicle. 



ANNUAL REPOfiT, BY DR. KING, OF THE 

 ROYAL BOTANIC GARDEN, CALCUTTA FOR 



THE YEAR 1884-85. 

 The progress of the garden during the year has, 

 I think, on the whole, been very satisfactory. Various 

 plants of economic interest, and oipecially lil)re- 

 yielding species, have received attention during the 

 year. At the request of the Government of India, 

 a further attempt was made to introduce into the 

 Iirovince of Bengal the kind of plantain {Miisa 

 Itxtilis) from which Manilla hemp is derived. Pl.ants 

 of this species were accordingly distributed to the 

 Magistrates of districts. As I anticipated, this at- 

 tempt {like its predecessors) was a failure, and from the 

 .same cause. The low temperature of the cold weather, 

 proved too much for the plants aud they all died 

 A small patch of rheea continues to be kept up in 

 the garden, from which quantities of green stems 

 were made over during the year to persons interested 

 in discovering an efficient cheap method of extracting 

 the fibre. Quantities of roots were also distriliuted 

 to several applicants. Bow-string hemp is a fibre 

 which of late has attracted con.*iderable atti-utioii. 

 It is no doubt an admirable fibre, and is not difficult 

 of extraction from the plant (,>Sanseviera Zci/lanicn) 

 that produces it. The plant is not indigenous in 

 this part of India, but it grows well here; and a 

 good many plants of it have been distributed during 

 the year. In several of my recent reports I have 

 referred to the .lapan paper mulberi'y as a hoi)eful 

 source of paper fibre for Bengal. I am happy to 

 say that the trees of this species in the garden 

 continue to grow well. Although now only three 

 years old, they are twenty-five feet high aiid have 

 proportionately thick stems. The fibre contained in 

 the bark is one of the best materials for paper 

 known. It is easily separated, is strong, and reipiires 

 little bleaching. As the tree grows thoroughly well 

 and coppices freely, I think it quite possible that, 

 in the course of time, natives may be induced to 

 grow it on the odd corners of land which are so 

 common near Bengali villages. It is gratifying to 

 find that the bhabur or sabai, a native grass to 

 which I first directed attention in my .annual report 

 for the year 1877-78, has now become a recognised 

 raw material for paper, and that it is largely used 

 in local manufacture. Mahogany and the various 

 plants yielding Indiarubber continue to be propagated 

 and distributed as the resources of the garden permit. 

 Much attention lias of late been directed to the 

 coca plant, the leaves of which contain an important 

 alkaloid called cocaine, and efforts have been made 

 during the year to prop.agate quantities of thi plant 

 for distribution. 



In former reports I described the havoc committed 

 in this garden by the grubs of a cockchafer which 

 appeared iu the soil of the garden in myriads and 

 ate up almost every plant that it contained, sparing 

 only the larger trees. During the year under review 

 this pest gradually disappeared, and towards the end 

 of the year Mr. Jaffroy had succeeded in ro-stocking 

 the garden with plants of sorts. But many of the 

 rarer kinds, got at considerable expense from Europe 

 and elsewhere, have disappeared, and their rejilace- 

 raont must bo a matter of time. The grub is, I 

 hear, extending its ravages in the Darjeeling district. 

 It is to be hoped that it will confine itself to the 

 weeds in tea gardens, aud that it will spare the 

 tea bushes.* The sides of the sanitarium hill above 

 the garden (by slips from which the garden suffered 

 considerable damage in former years), appear at 

 last to have become consolidated ; and it is to be 

 hoped no more damage will occur from that source. 

 The vegetable garden owned by the municipality, but 

 worked by I\Ir. .Faffrey for the Municipal Commissioners, 

 having been greatly damaged by successive landslips, 

 gradually became a losing concern, and was towards 

 he end of the year resumed by the Ooniraissioners, 



* The cockchafer grnba, so destructive to the 

 rootlets of coffee, have certainly, as yet abstained 

 from attacking tea. — Ed. 



