22 LETTEKS ON AGRICULTURE. 



Olives for pickling and export to America and England, and olives- 

 for oil, form, second to the cultivation of the vine for wine purposes, 

 the next greatest culture. Many thousands of the olive trees were 

 planted by the Moors a century or more ago, and the good and bad 

 varieties are mixed together. The crop is a precarious one, insect 

 pests being abundant, but a good year will yield very heavy returns, 

 up to 80 per cent, I have been told. Forests of olives of many miles 

 extent are traversed on the railways from Malaga to Barcelona. 



The vine is in evidence everywhere and wine is said to be "cheaper 

 than water" in some places. The methods of preparation are not as a 

 rule modern and the wines are strong, and fetch (with some special 

 exceptions) low prices on the market. The culture of wine grapes is 

 no longer very profitable. 



NOTES ON CONDITIONS IN CHINA. 



Colombo, Ceylon, Janimry .£, 1902. 



We remained in Shanghai only so long as was necessary for the 

 Japanese steamer on which we left San Francisco to unload her cargo 

 of American dried fruit, tinned beef (with the Department inspection 

 tags on it), and American flour. 



European and American business in the city of Shanghai is boom- 

 ing. Many new houses are in process of construction, and of late the 

 white population has considerably increased. New enterprises are 

 seeking to get a foothold everywhere; office rents are high, and it is 

 often well-nigh impossible to get suitable office rooms. 



The missionaries, displaced by the troubles, are returning to their 

 posts, and foreign merchants claim that the outlook for trade improve- 

 ment is most favorable in this region, as Shanghai, at the mouth of an 

 immense waterway, is and must remain the great distributing point of 

 all central China. 



I am informed that American trade is more than holding her own 

 against that of other countries, and the impression seems to be that 

 she has decided natural advantages and should be able to keep them. 

 Japan's trade has greatly increased here of late, and she is not only an 

 active but ma\ T become a dangerous competitor. 



A twelve days' stop in Hongkong enabled me to go to Canton in 

 search of the south Chinese peaches and plums, scions and trees of 

 which, I am happy to write, are now en route to Washington, together 

 with some promising leitchees, bamboos, and persimmons for Cali- 

 fornia and Florida. 



Canton, one of the largest of Chinese cities, said to have a population of 

 more than two millions, lies seven hours by steamer up the great West 

 River from Hongkong, which latter is for south China what Shanghai 

 is for central China, the great distributing point. 



