90 



' TJie Supplement to the tropical Agriculturist 



In the selection of immune varieties one is 

 faced with the unfortunate fact that many of 

 the most resistant forms are the least valuable, 

 producing poorer fruits and seeds than the de- 

 licate forms. But by judicious hybridising this 

 defect of the immune race can be largely coun- 

 teracted. Mr Lewton Brain has collected a 

 good deal of information on this point. Both 

 in the case of vines and in wheat many disease- 

 resisting forms have been produced. 



IN CONNECTION WITH COTTON CROPS, 



it is remarkable how great is the range of varia- 

 tion with regard to the resistance o f the plants 

 to the wilt disease (Neocosmospora vasinfccta). 

 By selection and suitable hybridising, Rivers 

 has been able to obtain varieties which re 

 mained untouched by the disease, while of the 

 neighbouring crops 95 per cent, were destroyed. 

 In the West Indies the Bourbon cane has been 

 given up on account of disease, but very useful 

 and disease-resisting hybrids have been pro- 

 duced by crossing the valuable but easily at- 

 tacked Tjeribon cane with the resistant Indian 

 Tschan cane. 



It will thus be seen that breeders have the 

 power by careful selection to combine disease- 

 resisting powers with relatively great fertility, 

 and therein lies our hope for the future success 

 of agriculture— Nature, Nov. 7. 



CARNAUBA WAX 



is a species of vegetable wax, which is 

 obtained from a palm tree (Copernicia cerifcra^ 

 Mart.) The palm in question grows wild 

 and in abundance throughout many parts of 

 the West Indies and is being tried by at 

 least one firm we know of in Ceylon. Car- 

 nauba wax is an article of high commercial 

 value. It has been used during many years 

 past for the manufacture of line quality candles, 

 also during latter years as a basis for boot polish. 

 Quite recently, it appears, the discovery has 

 been made that carnauba wax is the substance 

 most suitable for the manufacture of records for 

 phonographs and gramaphones, and the addi- 

 tional demand thus created has had the effect of 

 materially increasing the value of the wax in 

 question. At the present time the market 

 prices of carnauba wax range from £170 to £225 

 per ton. The value of the wax is dependent 

 upon three factors— tint, texture, and richness 

 in oil, and for trade purposes the wax is graded 

 into three qualities. The first quality is of uni- 

 form pale cream tint, smooth and homogeneous 

 in texture, and is rich in oil. The inferior 

 qualities are darker and less uniform in 

 colour, somewhat porous in texture and less 

 rich in oil. 



MARKET FOR INDIA AND CEYLON 

 TEA PLANTING SHARES. 



A Review of the Year 1907. 



The feature of the year under review, so far as 

 the market for tea was concerned, has been an 

 almost complete reversal of the conditions of 

 the preceding year. Following on the tendency 

 which manifested itself towards the end of 1906, 

 we have to chronicle a more or less steady and 

 sustained high value for the commoner classes 

 of tea, accompanied by a low and unsatisfactory 

 market for the finer kinds of Assam, Darjeeling, 

 and high elevation Ceylon teas. These two 

 divergent tendencies were no doubt largely due 

 to cause and effect. Apart from this abnormal 

 feature, the market has, on the whole, been well 

 sustained, and has been helped by a fair absorp- 

 tion of British-grown tea in markets outside of 

 Great Britain. 



When accounts for the year 19 6 were issued 

 in the spring, results panned out extremely 

 well. The finer tea producers had had the cream 

 during the autumn of 1906, while the cheap-tea 

 producers got the full benefit of high prices for 

 the latter part of the selling season in early 1907. 

 Taking a representative batch of Indian com- 

 panies, we find the aggregate profits amounted 

 to no less than £650,000, against previous year's 

 £485,000, and only £340,000 for 1904. 



Share values were, as usual, mainly influenced 

 by the actual or anticipated state of the Minc- 

 ing Lane market. During the list six months 

 those of the Assam and Darjeeling com- 

 panies shared with the Sylhet, and Dooars 

 ones in the general movement to a higher level, 

 but during the autumn the first-mentioned class 

 suffered a heavy set- back, which was all the 

 more noticeable, as the producers of Cachar, 

 Sylhet, Dooars, and Travancore were in many 

 cases speculatively raised to a very high level, 

 such shares as Chubwa and Dooars Company 

 rising even higher than the highest reached 

 during the period of inflation at the end of 

 last century. These contradictory features are 

 sustained right up to the close. 



Interim reports and accompanying interim 

 dividends are for the most part favourable, 

 but directors now follow (and rightly so) a 

 cautious policy in making such interim distri- 

 butions before the outcome of the season's 

 working can bo known with certainty. 



Crops from Northern India and Coylon are 

 moderate in quantity, and although supplies 

 from Southern India tend to become a 

 more important factor, and Java and even 



