2tG The Supplement to the 



half of the year were, however, 22S.394 bags in excess of the 

 landings for the same period in 1906, and total imports 

 for 1907 have exceeded those fur the previous year by 



Kice .. 3,406,611 bags 3,311,735 bags 

 Prices, which have been on a high level throughout the 

 year, indicated an advance about the middle of the period 

 under review, but declined again towards the close of 

 the year. 



RICE IN BURMA. 



The area under rice cultivation in the fifteen 

 principal rice-producing districts of Lower 

 Burma is now reported to be 7,292,211 acres. 

 Reduced areas are reported from several of the 

 more important districts, and the reductions in 

 the district estimates of the outturn have re- 

 duced the provincial estimate. The total fallow 

 area is shown as 523,760 acres, and the area 

 destroyed stands as 70,684 acres. The surplus 

 available for export is estimated at 2,486,000 

 tons cargo rice, equivalent to 42,135,593 cwts, 

 of cleaned rice.— M. Mail, Feb. 25. 



THE LIFE OF TEA BUSHES IN INDIA. 



With reference to the life of tea bushes in 

 India, the " Times " publishes the following 

 jetter from " X : " In your article of Decem- 

 ber 20 upon the production of tea it was stated 

 that the bushes in India are capable of lasting 

 for a very long period, but no specific instances 

 of endurance were named. As the matter is one 

 of special importance, I send you information 

 that has reached me in the course of investi- 

 gation. It fully contirms what was said. From 

 Assam I learn that the oldest tea at Chubwa, put 

 out in 1837, was still vigorous in 1902, aged sixty- 

 tive years, when the China bushes were replaced 

 by a finer jat of plant upon which labour could 

 be more profitably omployed; while I hear of tea 

 in the Tingrai district planted by Bruce, pro- 

 bably about 1840, which is still being worked. 

 In Darjeeling the bulk of the old tea, which is 

 still being cropped dates from 1865 back to 1860, 

 while there are small plots at Lebong planted 

 in 1856 and 1857 still bearing well. In Cachar 

 and Sylhet some of the bushes first planted at 

 Doloo about 1858 have been cultivated without 

 interruption up to this season ; at Arnicherra 

 there are small areas planted in 1857 still being 

 worked; some of the old tea around Lulleecherra 

 planted about 1858 is now in bearing, and part 

 of Goolni made in 1864 is yielding well. In 

 Uooars the earliest tea is at Dam Dim and Hohe ; 



Ti •opted I Agriculiur ist 



it was planted in 1873 or 1874. In Travaucore the 

 oldest, dating from about 1883, is still vigorous 

 and healthy, some field yielding as much as 700 

 lb per acre. To those statements of fact I ap- 

 pend opinions received from planters of excep- 

 tional standing and exprience respecting the 

 probable-life of the gardens. " The measure of 

 endurance of the tea plant on Indian soil is de- 

 pendent entirely on how both are treated. As 

 planters wo cannot claim to have been quite fair 

 to the tea bush until recent years." " I would 

 most certainly say that the life of a garden 

 planted and worked under present conditions 

 would be much longer than one planted thirty to 

 fifty years ago. We know now that young tea 

 must be allowed to arrive at maturity before it 

 can be regularly plucked and pruned." "There 

 is no reason why the tea in Travancore, which is 

 at present twenty-four years old, should not in 

 crease in yielding capacity, and there seems to 

 mo no reason why it should not live another 

 fifty years, probably longer, provided it is well 

 treated." " I have such respect for the tea plant 

 that I believo, properly treated, it would 

 live longer than the oldest man.'' — //, <$c C. 

 Mail, Jan, 31. 



THE A.B.C. OF BEE CULTURE. 



This book has since 1877, when it first ap- 

 peared, held its place as the standard work on 

 Bee-keeping, but the present enlarged edition, 

 which has been thoroughly revised and brought 

 up-to-date, must replace all previous ones as 

 a regular vade-mecum on the subject. Ar- 

 ranged alphabetically, dictionary-wise, there 

 is no concoiuvable point connected with api- 

 culture that the authors (Messrs. A. I. and E. 

 R. Root) do not refer to and satisfactorily ex. 

 plain. With the " A. B.C. ' in his possession 

 the amateur will never be at a loss. That over 

 100,000 copies of the work are already in the 

 hands of bee-keepers all the world over is a 

 sufficient guarantee of its value. The present 

 edition will add another 15,000 to this number. 

 The new edition consists of 600 double-column 

 pages and as the publishers announce is "boun- 

 tifully supplied with many excellent illustra- 

 tions." At the end is a most interesting Pic- 

 ture Gallery of apiaries and bee exhibits. The 

 work has already been translated into French 

 and German. And yet— such is American en- 

 terprise — this Eticycl optedia, which might more 

 appropriately have been named the " A to Z of 

 Bee-keeping " is available at the modest price 

 of 1 dollar and 50 cents per copy. 



