June i, i8S6.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



S71 



Cinchona Babk in Holland. — The public sales of 

 bark held at Anitsteidam on April I5lh comprised 

 1,500 bales and ")(iO cases, wsighing about 1 1.5 tons, 

 the whole being sold with strong competition. Some 

 lots of druggists' barks fetched extraordniaiy prices ; 

 among otliers, Cali.sayii Jmankti, in long ipiill,. con- 

 taining 1-75 per cent quinine, at o-8Hf. per A kilo ; 

 and ditto, containing O-tiT per cent, at 3--13f per S 

 kilo. The maxnnum realised by C.Aniiliia (2-H per 

 cent) was 2-311. ; C. Si-lmkr(ij't (liT per cent) 

 1-oil: and C. Sua-inilmi (1-47 per cent), 1-lOf. Of 

 the latter variety, the assortment ofiered was not 

 remarkable for good appearance. Among the buyers 

 present were the managers of the Francfort, 

 Mannheim, IJrnnswick, andAuerbach quinine works., 

 — Chemift (111(1 l>ni!i;iist. 



ENTOiioLo<iY. — The Asian suggests to the 

 Ciovcrnment of India the necessity there undoubtedly 

 exists for appointing an Imperial Entomologist, 

 whose work would be to study the life, habits, 

 itc, of such insects as the tea-bug, the rice-pest, 

 the red-spider, the locusts, Ac, which periodically 

 cause immense da.nage to crops, and to suggest 

 such measures as may be deemed feasible for 

 their eradication. The appointment of such a specialist 

 would ensure continuity of investigation and study. 

 One of the duties of the Imperial Entomologist 

 should also be to report fully and exhaustively on 

 all insect plagues whenever they occur. This kind 

 of work is done admirably in America. The ex- 

 igencies of the situation demand that this blank 

 should be tilled up without much delay. — M(«Iius Mail. 



Tni-: Dkclink <ik Coi-ki-k. — The merchants engaged 

 in the coffee trade are complaining that the con- 

 sumption of coffee is so rapidly decreasing that 

 before long the importation of this once important 

 connnodity will be reduced to insiguiticant dimen- 

 sions. Year by year the demand for tea has advanced 

 with remarkable strides, and the consumption of 

 cocoa has also largely increased. But coffee is 

 becoming less and less popular. Last year the 

 quanlily imported only amounted to 41,000 tons, 

 'which is not much more than half what it was four 

 years ago. It ia, of course, quite possible that this 

 falling-off may to gome extent be coincident with the 

 general depression in trade, though the augmented 

 consumption of tea and cocoa scarcely bears out 

 this theory. At the same time it must be re- 

 membered 'hat coffee-drinking, though it had 

 the start of tea. never obtained a firm footing in 

 ihis country. We are, indeed, still ignorant of the 

 art of making it properly. Its popularity was of 

 comparatively brief duration, and at no time did it 

 (iml much favourjwith the people at large. — Stamlaid. 



bKiNi;i.vo Waste Lands under CtiLxivATioN wrni 

 1'V>wi.ke"s Stkam Plouoiiing Machi.vkky. — A ai-t of 

 Ui.!< machinery has recently been most 8ucce->siiil!y 

 .-^titrted on C ijit. Chapman's estate at iJaii near AUa- 

 liubud. It is on the double engine system, cone engine 

 at I ftch end 01 the licld and the impiempiit liuuled 

 backwards and forwards by moans of winding drum 

 and steel wire rope. Tins .system is now adofiteil ntiili 

 jiarls of the world for opening up jungle lauds, and as 

 t)ie engines can be applied for sawing, pumping or 

 driving the machinery when the laud is too W'-t to work 

 there is no doubt it can be successfully used in many 

 pails of India. The set allude'l to 19 now breaking up 

 new land in a way acknowledged by those who havu 

 seen it, f.ar more sati-factory thin it would be possible 

 to do with ordinary digging and the country plough. 

 The cost inclusive of Kurojiean mechanic in charge 

 at U:{00 per month, coal at K14 per Ion and allowing 

 ■-0 per cent, for interest of rapi al and depret iatiou of 

 inacluiiery is only about K^i per Knglis'i acre, and on 

 f stales wliere wood fuel is procurable this price i:aii bi! 

 reduced con.siderably. As the success of steam plough- 

 ing marhinery d^-pends greatly on having implomLiits 

 specially suitable to the land to be cultivated, Messrs. 

 towler Jc Co. inform us they will be pleased to visit 



aiiylami intending purchasers may think of cultiv.itiug 

 and advise as to plant necessary. 



Lktteks on Tea. — Messrs. Davidson it Co., of 

 the Sirocco Works, Belfast, have issued in a neat 

 little pamphlet, the circulation of whicli will do 

 good, the letters written to the llel/a.^t S'cirs f.ctler 

 by Mr. S. C. Davidson and Mr. .losejih Anderson 

 which we summarised in our issue of the "Jlst 

 April. The following is the preface to the pamphlet: — 

 Letters on Tea. Preface. 



The following correspondence was originated by the 

 publication of an advertisement in the 'Belfast news- 

 papers, headed " The Tea Tr.ade, " and signed by 

 Mr. .loseph Anderson, of North Street. In order tlia,t 

 the subjects dealt with in these letters may be |iro- 

 perly understood, and their relative bearings appre- 

 ciated, it is necessary that a copy of this advertise- 

 ment slionld precede the correspondence. It accord- 

 ingly receives first place, and the several letters fol- 

 low in their consecutive order of date. My letters 

 in this controversy liave been mainly statistical, their 

 object being to give the public facts and figures to 

 more accurately define the superficial inferences and 

 partial statements embodied in Mr. Anderson's ad- 

 vertisement above referred to, concerning the cost and 

 manufacture of Tea, and to elucidate what he also 

 in it alludes to as " mitlcadinff ih'.u'ii/ttioiis .and tneaii- 

 imjh'ss Unti.s employed by unscrupulous vendors to de- 

 ceive the public." My last letter in this correspond- 

 ence appeared in the local newspapers on the IHh 

 March, and alongside it Mr. Joseph Anderson pub- 

 lished a further advertisement, in which by inference 

 he accused me of having in my letters subjected him 

 to " persistent misrepresentation, " and of making a 

 " determined effort to cry down the sale of tbo Finest 

 Teas." This accusation I distinctly repudiate, and 

 in support of my repudiation I herewith publish the 

 entire correspoudence in pamphlet form, so that any 

 of the public who may be interested in tlie m.atter 

 may have an opportunity of critically comparing all 

 the letters side by side, and thereby ascertaining 

 accurately whetherthe " persistent misrepresentation" 

 is on my side or his. In no place have I advoc- 

 ated any reduction in the i/iialtti/ nf Ihf tea so/d ; 

 on the contrary, the hard statistical facts which I 

 quoted should unafh/ promofc the demand for fiw^it tca^^ 

 by urging their sale to the consumer at fair, instead 

 of at unduly high prices. From the figures given in 

 my letters it will be apparent to what extent con- 

 sumers have been paying artificially high prices for 

 their tea. The extra price might be roughly estimated 

 at about a shilling per lb. over and above a reason- 

 able margin for profit on the rates ruling in the Lon- 

 don auction sales for good qualities. It is believed 

 that the majority of tne tea imported into Helfast 

 might be tdassed as of good quality, and a shilling 

 per lb. on the 7,79'2,%0 lbs. of tea imported into Belfast 

 during the single year of lHH.5 represents the im- 

 mense sum of £389,1)48 sterling. This tremendous 

 sum of money (or even the half of ill ought surely 

 to do more good if left annually distributed amongst 

 the vast multitude of consmners, than it can possi- 

 bly do in the pockets of the comparatively few sellers. 



About a third of a million sterling is a long price 

 for KDii.iiiiiiers to fiuii for retaining to Belfast tlu' "dis- 

 tinguished position" referred to in Mr. .Vnderson's 

 letter of 23rd February. 



Tea is now an article of diet, and most so to the 

 working cla.S30s. It is subject to the heavy import 

 duty of sixpence per lb., and it shmdd not fiar^ta hear 

 a fitrthee taxation to the connKtnrr in tlie form of ex- 

 orbitantly high profits usually charged by sidlors to 

 cover their losses on other articles, and for the slight 

 work and labour required in its retail sale. 



As a grower of Indian Tea, I am directly interested 

 in seeing the qualities designated " worthless trash " 

 (the supplies of v bicli come mainly from China) driven 

 out of the niarkot to make room for Indian teas, the 

 average quality of which is so greatly superior to 

 that of the China teas. If good tea be supplied at 

 fair prices, " worthless trash" will die a natural death. 



S. C. Davihson. 

 Sirocco Works, Belfast, 22na March, IH8(>. 



