April i, 1886.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



r2i 



ISDUX TEA IN AUSTRALIA AND AMEKICA. 

 The total shipments of Tea to Aiistralii ami New 

 ^calami from tlie time the Syndicate commenced 

 its operations up to the end of last season have been 

 as tullows : — 



Through Through Total, 



the Syndicate. Other Sources. 

 Soacon lt>. lb. tb. 



1880-81 287,198 801,722 l,0»8,!-20 



1881-82 472,i»04 3«V,9«4 84IJ.868 



1882-»;( l,fi51_'>U 1.67lr''-'7 2.72:1288 



18S.i-t*4 68.flin 271,712 :140.613 



18iM-S5 31,165 1,368,817 i;«2.982 



The ^hipnleuts of Tea from Calcutta to America dur- 

 ing the past four Sejifions have been : — 



Through Through Total, 



the Syndicate. Other Sources. 

 Season tti. tti. tti. 



1881-82 195,850 2,740 l!«.5na 



1882-83 52:{,012 IW.SOa 082,818 



18«3-»4 128,730 123,265 2.-)l,!)fl5 



18ai-S5 41,894 85.2*4 127,718 



Samples of Indian Tea were also sent to Moscow 

 aud .\msterdam. In the former ease, no encouragement 

 followi'l. but a-smuch as 43,610 lb. wure forwarded 

 to Amsterdam, and free sample«t were largely ilistri- 

 butetl, with, it is believed, good effect, as heretofore 

 ludian Tea wa-s <juite unknown there. It may be 

 safely ooncludeii that through the efforts ma'le. thus, 

 by the Syndicate iji the v^trinus ('Nilouial markets, 

 Indian Tea has acquired a footing which it only needs 

 c&reful fostering to ilevelope into a large trade, for 

 on its mefitA alone Indian Tea is bound to succeed. 

 — ladiun Teix Ocizettt. 



I sometimes appeared, as in ao example exhibited, on a 

 plant styled a " male plant," was generally distinguished 

 by the presence of a peduncle, from that derived from 

 an undoubtedly " female pliut." — CJutsnulandi r. 



KOYAf- SOCIKTY OF QrKEXSLAND. 



The President brought forwartt a sample of the 

 roots of Cifpt'rwi esctilrntus^ the e.dible tubers of which 

 are known in the south of Kurope as Amanih^ lif Uri-e. 

 He had introduced thi.s into Queensland -some years 

 sinc<-, and had observed that in iti habit uf jjrowth it 

 was scarcely to be distinguished from that pest oi gard- 

 eners, the •' nut grass,'" ('</jM-ruj< roUfi>'hi.^, Iahu. Dr. 

 llaiicroft also remarked that the small bulbs, which he 

 had previously brought before the society as forming 

 an article of diet amongst the blacks of the interior, 

 aud which were kno#n as I'oira, had proved on cultiv- 

 ation to belong to a Cv/^--.i/- allied to this C. racuUntus. 

 As a farther example of a Cyperaceous plant of econ- 

 omic Vrtlne affording an esculent. Dr. Bancroft directed 

 att^-ntion to an JliUochans, an aquatic aedge which had 

 lately been intro<luced into the gardens of the Brisbane 

 Acclimatisation Society through his agency. He also 

 exhibited the fruit of the camlle-nut-tree, Aleurilts 

 mnliii-riinii. found in the gardens of the colony, aud 

 remarked that beyoml the value of its kernel as a proli- 

 fic oil-produ'-.er, and its use as an extempore illnm>uator 

 amongst the Polynesian IslanderA, there resided in this 

 kernel comestible properties which were not to be de- 

 spised. 



Amongst other plant products of economic value ex- 

 hibited were the fruit of the Ling of the Chinese Trapa 

 bieorni^f the seeds of which are farinaceous in a marked 

 degree, and, like those of other species of the genus, 

 largely used on this account as an article of food. Also, 

 the so-called fruit of Horenia dulcis—i.e., the fleshy 

 petluncles of the true fruits, and which contain a sweet 

 edible pulp. As illustrating the importiuce of a cou- 

 sideratiun of the .sexuality of plants. Dr. Bancroft drew 

 attention to the male and female it-florescence of the 

 Oarob tree, of the Mediterranean Ceratmia sViifU/i. 

 Linn., the source of " Caramel," -.he flowers of a parti- 

 cular tree b.-ing restricted to those of one sex, and re- 

 marked tint this fruit tree was more a<Iapte 1 to the 

 climate of the Darling Downs than to that of Brisbane, 

 and that it was uece,ssary to have plants of both sexes, 

 or in the event of possessing a female plant or i>otcntial 

 fruit bearer only, to have access to the pollen dorived 

 ft im flowers of a tree of the opposite sex. The Papaw 

 was not a persistent moncucius plant, but the fruit wbich 

 91 



THE SUrtAR INDUSTRY IN INDLA. 

 ' Some attention has lately been given tu the sugar 

 industry, to the manufacture of j'iggery, to the intiu- 

 ductiou of new de.scriplion of mills, and to the general 

 progress of this important enterprise. Many years a^o 

 the sugar trade of some of the sea port towns on the 

 Coromauilel Coast was an important oner fa,':!ories were 

 estiblished both by Kurop»an and native merchants, and 

 in the inland districts too much attention was devoted 

 to this industrj'. A German missionary acquired htrge 

 plots of lanil in the North Arcot district and plaute.l 

 sugarcane with the object of manufacturing sugar of 

 different qualities, and, if possible, the description known 

 as loaf sugiir now obtained from EngUnd. His efforts 

 Were to some extent successful, and for a few years the 

 enterprise turneil out well. But with his return to 

 Europe owing to failing health, the whole concern, 

 which was placed in the hands of natives, went t*i the 

 wall, and to this day may be .seen the ruins of the fac- 

 tory, the -^htMls and other buildings once devoteil to 

 carrying out a really paying industry. The manufacture 

 and exportation of sugar for about two decades hardly 

 received any attention. European and native merchants 

 preferred to embark in cotton, coffee and other enter- 

 prises, but now that there is a full in the.=*e directions, 

 sugar is beginning to look up again, and with new and 

 improved machinery a decided improvement has taken 

 place in this industry and still further development is 

 apparent. 



A recent report submitted to Government by the 

 Director of Agriculture shows that Messrs. Thomson 

 and Mylne of lieheea, in Bengal, have succee led in in- 

 troducing a large number of their mills into the .Madras 

 presidency. A mill was first sent Ut North .\rcot and 

 thence to Ooimbatore, but the results were not satis- 

 factory as no enqm'ri' s were made by growers of cane. 

 Since than the int eduction of the cane mills in the 

 Bellary district has been most satisfactory, for we 

 learn that the local representatives of Messrs. Thomp- 

 .son and Mylne sold eighty-one mills in the first eight 

 months of last year, and of these seventy-five were 

 bought in the Hospett taluq, Bellary district. The 

 extension of sugar-cane cultivation in the Ceded 

 districts, IS chiefly due to the enterprise of a well- 

 known merchant of Bellary who has not oiUy intro- 

 duced improved ploughs and other machinery, but who 

 has been instrumental in starting cotton mills and other 

 industries which must, in time, prove remunerative and 

 materially improve the condition of the ryot classes who 

 have for years reared no other crops than the cheap 

 cereals that are the staple food of the poorer classes. 

 We have not particulars of the extent to which the 

 sugar industry has been of recent years pushed on in 

 Bellary and Hospett, but the following information of 

 the working of the new descriptions of mills iu the 

 Godavery district may be of interest. 



The Godavery and Vizagapatam districts are import- 

 ant centres of the jaggery trade of the presidercy. In 

 certain favorable seasons, the supplies shipped to Eu- 

 rope have been very large and not long ago the quality 

 of the jaggery put on board ships leaving the roads was 

 of the worst possit-le description. With the introduc- 

 tion of new mills there may be some improvement in the 

 quality of the article prepared fo." ^hipment. A nitive 

 flrm in Coconada writing to the Agricultnrsl Reporter 

 to the local Government states in a letter, d .ted 2nd 

 March last, that since 18S1 they endeavoured to obtain 

 machinery for crushing sugar-cane. an<l after much diffi- 

 culty they obttii.ied a mill from Beheea which crushed 

 all the cane growi on a field ten acres in extent. The 

 repairs to the mill were carried out by the country 

 smiths, and by inducing- other ryots to view the mills, 

 they procured a few, and during the first year of the 

 introduction of the Beheea mills, forty-eight found 

 their way into the Go-laver; district. A depot wa« 



