674 



■THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[Apirl I, 1886. 



ai tn lutiire supplies. It is becoming mere pvi.lent 

 evpry dsy that tbp capacities of tea-growing countries 

 hav,-- not yet I pen adequately tester!. Fresh capital, 

 itapn-nrs, is be Hz poured into As.sani, where there 

 is a practically unhmited field for its absorption. If 

 ■we annex Upper Rurmab, and gire free scope to Anglo- 

 Indian enlrrpri?,e in that direction, tea gardens may 

 soon bt; buani of there which will press tlic Ohinese 

 harder even than those of Assam. Then C'eylou iu the 

 tea market of the future is going to be a very import- 

 ant factor. Growers of Oeylou tea say they can deliver 

 it iu Luudon at 6d per lb., or little more than half the 

 minimum cost of Assam tea. It grows indifferently 

 over all the hillsides, and when the young gardons come 

 into full bearing it may be supplied without stint. The 

 crop of the current season is expect^jd to reach 

 0,i'00,00alb., or fully 10 per cent of the whole produc- 

 tion of Indian tea, and the planters predict that they 

 will be easily able to double the quantity next year, and 

 three years hence they hope to have their e.'iport up 

 to 20,UOO,000 lb. Then as respects the Indian tea com- 

 panies their financial position is thus stated. With the 

 best known appliances and the most careful manage- 

 ment they can grow tea at a minimum of lOd per lb. 

 In such a season as 1884-85 that would yield very 

 little profit on medium crops, while on inferior sorts it 

 might mean an actual loss. But on all teas command- 

 ing Is per lb. or over it represents a suhstanti.-^l profit. 

 Taking Souchongs as a standard they have been selling 

 during the past week at 9d to lOd for low grades and 

 from UJd to ]2Jd for fair to medium. As times go, 

 this, thoii.;,'h not a brilliant, is a sound, healthy market 

 for the piolucer. All the indications point also to 

 continued strength, if not to a further rise. There is 

 certainly some tenipt-Hion to bold operators to l.v,- hold 

 of the market a. d try to twist it up. Such an incident 

 may dev^-lop almost any day, and the fact that it hns 

 not yet shown itself betokens risks lying below the 

 surface and visible only to the initiated eye. One of 

 the.»e risks may be the vagueness of information as to 

 the new sources of supply that threaten the market. 

 Not oidy Ceylon, hut Java, Brazil, Florida, and even 

 Natal are all coming competitors to be prepared for. 

 Should tea growing take firm root in all these places 

 the marketable supply might in a very short time 

 exhibit a startling increase, for it requires only three 

 or four years to bring a tea-garden into bearing." 



SPIKES IN COCONUT TEEES. 

 SiK, — My sympathies are with "X. Y. Z." who 

 writes on "Iron Spikes in Coconut Trees" in your 

 issne of the Irtth inst. I am willing to allow that 

 the spikes might do harm to the trees if put in 

 too close and too deep, but like every otlier ex- 

 periment, this must be proved by trj-ing the effect 

 upon one tree. I know nothing about tlie legality. 

 or otherwise, of such action as a precaution against 

 thieves, but it seems monstrous to suppose tliat 

 it is illegal for a man to put spikes in his own 

 trees if he wishes to. Every garden-wall in the 

 nifl rmiiitrii has broken glass, or nails with the 

 points upwards, stuck along the top in thi; mortar, 

 a]id who has not seen iron spikes pointing up- 

 wards, and downwards too, along similai' barriers? 

 Whether you are right in stating that springgmis 

 are illegal I cannot say: but this I know, that, when a 

 boy, I often turned away from a blackbird's nest with 

 fl sigh of regret and one last wistful glance at the 

 Sliiniicy in which I had seen the square board 

 tipon the tree with Ihe terrifying announcement in 

 C.ipitrils " ]?pwaro of man-traps and spring-guns." 

 That the former were there a quarter of a century 

 Ago is uneloiibted, because I saw thein. But thieves 

 (ire not so kin(.!y lised in England as here; and 

 I do not b'-'liovc there is a country in the world 

 ^■here sr^ mui-h discouragement is given to honest 

 thrift as in Ceylon. No sooner does a man by his 

 Industry possess a plot of coconut palms, of coffee, 

 i.r ijf anything else, than he is assailed by thieves 

 who steal the fruit of his labors, and by cattle 

 wljicli detitroy and trample upon trees wliicb be 



has been at so much expense and trouble to raise. 

 I say nothing about insect pests, or low naarket 

 prices, after this ; but I do say that severity instead 

 of Inrivq /.(Hf/ncs.s should be shown to 



STEALERS OF PRODUCE. 



KAINIT AND SALT IN AGEICULTUBF. 

 27th February 1880. 

 Dear Sir.,— With reference to your article on Mr. 

 Hughes' very valuable letter, and your supposition 

 that kainit would be more largely used as a manure 

 "if Goyernment did not interfere with the import 

 of kainit," owing to its containing 50 per cent 

 of common salt, I beg to say that it has been 

 imported into the island, and I believe without 

 Government interference. I used it largely in 

 compost heaps of ravine stuff and tish. I believe 

 it was in the .January number of the Tropical 

 Afinailtmisl that a very interesting extract on 

 kainit as a manure appeared. In Sabonadiere's 

 "Coffee Planter" an analysis of this "German 

 Potash Salt " by Voelcker is given : — 



Moisture a-si; 



"Water of combination . . . . . . lO'SS 



* Sulphate of potash 24-43 



,, ,, lime . . . . . . 2*72 



„ „ magnesia 13'22 



Chloride of magnesium 14-.33 



., ,. sodium . . . . . . 30-35 



Insoluble silicious matter . . . . 0'71 



10000 



I agree with Mr. Hughes , that, if salt is mixed 

 with any substance offensive in smell, no one 

 would go to the trouble of obtaining the pure salt 

 from the mixture by solution and evaporation, and 

 use it as an article of diet afterwards. Instead of 

 Government going to the expense of destroying 

 surplus salt, it will be true economy to sell it to 

 agriculturists with a written guarantee that it will 

 be used for agricultural purposes, after mixture 

 with some offensive substance of course. — Truly 

 yours, A. W. B. 



Ceylon C.u'.io.— Messrs. J. P. William & Bros, 

 of Henaratgoda write : — "We send you by this post 

 a sample of prepared cocoa for the market from 

 Trinidad cocoa trees specially selected and sent by 

 Mr. Morris (now Assistant Director, Kew (hardens) 

 for your inspection. Messrs. Somervilk ^v Co. 

 have valued this cocoa for R52 to Ro.t per cwt. 

 at Colombo remarking : ' It is very line and there is a 

 special demand for cocoa of this colour.'" The 

 beans are of a very line color and delicate odour. 

 They can be seen at our oflice. 



rnvLr.ovKRA IN New .Soirit Wales.— Experts have 

 given their opinion that the scourge of the grape 

 vine, plw/lor: la i;rft^ttri.v, is to be seen in the vine- 

 yards of Camden "beyond dispute." Its appearance 

 is attributeablo to the loose ailiuinistratiou of the 

 Act relating to the importation of vine cuttings, and 

 to the vines in Camden being -tadly neglected. ^V■hat 

 will strike many of our readers with surprise is that 

 this dreail pest is said to be largely owing to the 

 prevalence of the Isabella vine iu that locality, and 

 that the line is "well-known to be a favourite with 

 the insect referred to." The threatened rai^bit in- 

 vasi.in from the sister colony is an evil of uo small 

 magiiitUiic, and now here is another evil not to be 

 d'.'spis''d or neglected. So far as we know />lii/fftuera 

 has never been seen in Queensland ; and it behoves 

 our statesmen ami every individual colonist to be up 

 in arms against this insiiluous foe. .V little, and a 

 very little, negligence will snlfice to land this curse 

 to the vine-grower iu our midst. — Qiincudaiul Aijri- 

 L'uUurist. 



* Coutaiuiug potsfib IS'iU, 



