688 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 



[April i, xi 



export, for the simple reason that they can be 

 imported cheaper from elsewhere. The particular 

 article dealt with in this column affords an indirect 

 oontirmatiou oi Mr. Jones' experiences in tlic niiaor 

 industries. At all events, it is obvious that the 

 socalled minor industries have an uphill struggle 

 in the West Indies where the labour required for their 

 production is so immensely disproportionate to the 

 cost of labor in similar climes where such industries 

 are lirnily established and have a hold upon the 

 worlds's market. 



BLACK TEA. 



In the Blue Book containing the report of Her 

 Majesty's Consuls on China it is poiutod out that the 

 export of black tta has steadily fal'eu during the past 

 four t'fars. The demand for these teas in England, it 

 is stated, continues to decline, and this, taken in coii- 

 ucctiou with a large increase in popularity of ludiau 

 and Oeylou teas, leads Mr. Oousul Siuoiair and Mr. Ala- 

 baster to insist on the necessity for improvement in 

 the production of China teas, if the latttr are to keep 

 the market at all. Mr. Jamieson, at Kiukinug, gives 

 indirectly a further reason for the diminishing export 

 of China tea. Speaking of the proposal to impose a 

 li-kiic tax on tea in Kiangsi, he says ■—" The effect 

 would be that a great deal of the common teas would 

 not find their way to the foreign market at all, be- 

 cause they would be quickly replaced by the enhanced 

 production in India." This Mr. Sinclair declares to even 

 now bold true of the Foochow tea iudue'ry. Green 

 tea has, however, been fairly remunerative. The ex- 

 port is considered a large one, being over L'ti, 800,(100 lb. 

 Most of these teas come from KiukiaUff, Nitigpo, and 

 Formosa, and large quantities are destined for the 

 American market. 



The following is taken from a report lately Lssued by 

 the Iiand Mortgage Bank of India :— " Tea :— The 

 Bank's crop of 1885 has reached 21,215 mauuds, or 

 1 697,2001b., against 20,646 maunds, or 1,651,712 lb in 

 1884, being an increase in quantity over Ihe crops of 

 1884 of 569 maunds, or 45,488 lb. The manufactured 

 tea of all grades has been generally good, and the 

 quantity (1,128,358 lb.) sold up to date has realized an 

 average price per pound of Is 2-7I2d., or close upon 

 Is 2id per pound. The yi>lds from the Bank's gardens 

 in the Darjoeling district has been slightly in excess 

 of the estimated quaiitiiy, but the managers of the 

 Bank's ganiens in Assam, Cachar.and Sylhet have 

 been unsuccessful in reaching their e.stimates,ai tribut- 

 able in the directors' opinion, to causes diogether be- 

 yond the manager's control — such as the prevalence 

 of unfivourable weather for longer or shorter periods, 

 at some of the Bank's gardens :the occurrence of a dis- 

 astrous rainfall and conseijueutial flood at Shabazpore 

 (in Sylhetl in September last, which, according to the 

 manager's estimate, destroyed fully 400 maunds ot leaf, 

 besides doing serious damage to the garden and plant, 

 and a somewhat early closure of the season in some 

 districts. Energetic measures were at once taken by 

 the manager at Shabazpore to remedy the mischief 

 done, and this work has continuously been, and still 

 is in active progress ; whilst the latest reports from 

 the Bank's various gardens are generally satisfactory, 

 giving promise of increased yield in the ensuing year. 

 Accurate data of the cost of production in 18S5 has 

 not yet reached London ; but the directors believe that 

 the cost ot the crop 18S5 laid down in London, and 

 inclusive of freight, insurance, and London charges, 

 will be about lOid per pound, taking the rupee ex- 

 penditure in India at Is 7d. The area of extensions 

 that will actually have been carried out during the 

 year at various of the bank's gardens cannot be ac- 

 curately ascertained until closed accounts for the year 

 have reached London, but the direct<us believe that 

 the ilebit to capital in respect of such extensions as 

 have been carried out will bo about 1(.10 rup; es per 

 acre, equivalei.t at Is 7d per rupee to £7 ISs 4d , whilst 

 tho cost of the upkeep of tea under three years of 

 ago debited to capital will oot exceed fifty rupees an 



acre, equivalent at Is 7d per rupee, to £S 19.< 2d. If 

 the estimated cost of the 1825 crop is uppro.xinately 

 accurate and the remainder of the cropyi^tto 'ne sold 

 realizes tlie sume average price as that which has 

 been already sold, the profit on the season's tea crop 

 (taking the rupee at Is 7d) will amount to about 

 £■^'0,00(3, which with income derived from other sources, 

 will not only cover the whole of the bank's expend- 

 iture 1885 for debenture ii>t.-rest and general charges, 

 but will suffice to reduce the debit balance t() profit 

 and less of £17,346 10s 9d brought forward from 18.-S4 

 by al'Out £8,000. The estimated yield from the bank's 

 gardens in 1886 is -26,000 mauuds", or 1,880,000, being 

 an increase over actual yield of 1885 of 2,385 maunds 

 or 19' ',800 lb, and under favourable circumstances the 

 crop may perhaps be laid down at some reduction on 

 this season's cost. The particulars of each garden's 

 estimated crop, as well as the realized crop and the 

 average sale price to latest dates during the current 

 season, as compared with season 1884, are submitted 

 in tabular form. — H. ^ C. Miiil. 



I 



Matano, Sahawak, 1.5th Feb. — Cirichouas an d 

 Liberian coffee arc thriving well here, and I hope to 

 open 150 acres of the latter this year for a small 

 comijany. The Chinamen are largely exteudiiig 

 their pepper acreage owing to the present splendid 

 prices. I fancy pepper is, just uov,', about tho best 

 paying product going. Hoping all connected with 

 the old paper are flourishing. 



Coconut Rkfdse. — We have hoard a good deal lately 

 about immense heaps of finre refuse on estate.-;, unsale- 

 able and useless, except as manure. Njw that the 

 question of fue» supply for our tea machinery is be- 

 coming so serious o one, it would be as well to sec if 

 j this refuse fibre and dust could not be utilized as fuel 

 upcountry, either in its present condition or saturated 

 ! with some more inUammable substance, say petroline. 

 { With the help of hydraulic pressure, the refuse dust 

 ' and fibre might be made into solid blocks of suitable 

 size and shape for tho furnaces. xVs the raw material 

 costs little or nothing to commence with, these blocks 

 shoul 1 form a very inexpensive fuel for up'ouutry use, 

 and should soon find a steady market. The coconut 

 .shells broken small, might be mixed with the refuse, 

 i and make it more valueable. We imagiue that an al- 

 j most unlimited demand would arise for this fibre fuel 

 I were it prep.ned in a bandy form, and collected in 

 I *iuautity from the v.^o-ious estates al-uig the sea-borde. 

 Local "Times." [While we doubt if the refuse would 

 I make a good enough fuel to pay for heavy cob: ot 

 ; caviiagc, we believe it to be a valuable application to 

 soil to keep it open and retain moisture.— Ed.] 



AsoTHEE New Cle.akixo roii Tea. — We had a 

 inagnihcent burn at noon today on the hill-range 

 overlooking the Kandy lake, just a little below Mr. 

 Pyper's new tea plantation, as it seemed to us 

 looking on from the town. It was a grand sight to 

 see the enormous clouds of dense smoke that 

 darkened a portion of the atmosphere, driven along 

 westward in lage masses ; while all along the burn, 

 at least of so much of it as was seen from the 

 town , lambent tougues of tianie were seen shooting 

 through the dark volumes of circling smoke that 

 were being hurried along the brow of the hill. Of 

 course all this means more of available ground 

 for the cultivation of the plant whose leaves play 

 so important a part in the preparation ot " the inp 

 tlutt clifen hut not inebriates." Perhaps the time 

 fs not far distant when the hills that bound the 

 city of Kandy on the South, will be one beautiful 

 tea garden, from Boseneath to Haiitane, while from 

 each extremity a staunch teetotaller would look 

 with deepening interest across the vast expanse, 

 and watch the successftil cultivation of the new- 

 product, which is to restore to Ceylon a long epoch 

 of agricultural prosperity and liiiancial crpdit. — 

 Oar. 



