km 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



iirst plunking, ta'tes place being the best. The 

 tender leaves are put into large baskets (taxings) 

 and taken to the village. The newly plucked 

 leaves are thrown into boiling water contained 

 in a pot or pan set over a burning fire and 

 stirred with two long flat bamboos serving as 

 ladles for a couplo of minutes till they become 

 soft. They are then ladled out with a small 

 bamboo chin or open basket fitted with a 

 handle and thrown into a larger chin. After 

 the watar has been well drained the leaves 

 are emptied into a rough bamboo mat 

 and kneaded and rolled into small 

 balls, both men and women being 

 employed on the work. These are thon shred- 

 ded and spread out on a mat to dry in the sun 

 for some fifteen minutes when the tea is immedi- 

 ately packed into freshly cut hollow bamboo 

 joints about 2 feet in length. These joints are 

 generally of two sizes, one holding a viss of tea 

 and the other about half a viss and a rupee will 

 fetch from 4 to visses on the spot and from 5 

 to 12 at a distance. A joint is saidto hold a viss 

 if the bamboo is large enough to admit four fin- 

 gers stretched out Hat. These joints are tightly 

 packed wit h the tea so as to extrude all the juice 

 and prevent fermentation. The joint is tilled up 

 to within 4 fingers breadth from the top; a couple 

 of jack leaves are next pressed on top of the 

 packed tea and the joints are thon closed with a 

 layer of mango or jack bark pounded into 

 dust or with a layer of ash dust and 

 then buried in a vertical position mouth 

 downwards in the ground at a depth of a few 

 feet and left in this state for a year. At the end 

 of that period they are dug out and are ready 

 for consumption by the household or for sale. 

 Tea which has not been buried for a year is 

 scarcely ever eaten or if it is, is not appreciated. 

 The tea never goes bad during the time it is 

 buried nor is it subject to insect attacks, though 

 white ants do sometimes attack only the out- 

 side of the bamboo. Tea thus pickled is eaten 

 with salt and sessamum oil and is considered a 

 delicacy by the Burmese. The normal outturn of 

 tea from these gardens is about 90 visses per acre 

 and tea is one of the main staples of internal 

 trade of Katha, small quantities being exported 

 to the adjoining districts.— Rangoon Gazette, 

 March 30th. 



Rubber Cultivation in Bukmah. — We are 

 indebted to a well-informed correspondent for 

 the following information :— 



My experience in rubber being confined to 

 Mergui, I find it difficult to give you an idea 

 of the acreage planted with rubber throughout 

 Burma ; but, to my knowledge, there are about 

 4,500 acres in the Mergui, Tavoy and Shweggin 

 Districts and in Rangoon, not including small 

 holdings owned by Chinamen and Burmans— 

 there are also plantations in Tonngoo, Bas- 

 seiu, Amherst and Bhamo which 1 have heard 

 of but do not know the acreage. I think 

 rubber is being tried tentatively throughout 

 the Province, whenever it is thought it will 

 succeed. The Mercantile firms in Rangoon 

 appear to be interested in rubber and so do 

 the .public here generally. 



From the above, we infer there cannot be 

 more than 10,090 acres planted with rubber 

 altogether in Burmah. 



CITRONELLA OIL IN CEYLON 

 AND JAVA. 



A native gentleman, interested in the Citro- 

 nella Oil Industry and export trade, has a sug- 

 gestion to make as to the best means 11 whereby 

 Ceylon Citronella Oil may be brought up to the 

 high standard of Java and Singapore.'' His sug- 

 gestion is, "that Government be requested to 

 give over at the upset price a few thousand 

 acres of land to be devoted to the cultivation 

 of the Singapore variety. This will serve as 

 a stock garden whence other planters can 

 draw their plants, so that in course of time 

 the present inferior variety will be replaced by 

 the better variety with desirable results. As 

 this venture will be of lasting benefit to the 

 industry the person undertaking it should be 

 given special terms of payment for the acreage 

 he would undertake to buy : for instance, a rent 

 per acre for so many years, with the option of 

 buying at a fixed rate at the end of that time or 

 payment for the total acreage in several yearly 

 instalments.'' Our correspondent then names 

 a well-known Sinhalese capitalist who would be 

 willing to undertake the raising of the standard 

 of Ceylon citronella oil under the above con- 

 ditions; and he mentions that it is reported 

 " there are hundreds of thousands of acres of 

 waste land (not forest) in the West Giruwa 

 Pattu of Hambantota District, part of which 

 would be eminently suited to the pro- 

 posed venture." This is certainly a mat- 

 ter that should bo looked into ; because 

 anything that would lead to the utilisation of 

 waste chena or scrub land in the Hambantota 

 district ought to be of advantage to the Gov- 

 ernment as well as the labouring class of the 

 neighbourhood. But we are puzzled to under- 

 stand why if Ceylon citronella oil is so inferior 

 to that of Java and the Straits, the demand 

 for our product continues so good — and why 

 leading European as well as Native exporters 

 resisted tho proposal of Mr. Kelway Bamber 

 at a recent Agricultural Society's meeting to 

 establish a new test calculated to raise the 

 standard for Ceylon oil ? Will our correspond- 

 ent oblige us by giving the respective prices 

 per ounce in Europe for Ceylon and Java 

 citronella oil, to show tho advantage of intro- 

 ducing the grass yielding the latter P 



TitiNiDAD Cacao Exports. — Cacao growers 

 in Trinidad — says the Agricultural News, March 

 7th — are certainly experiencing a favourable 

 season and good returns for their produce, and 

 even if prices drop somewhat before the whole of 

 the crop has been gathered in, the increased out- 

 put as compared with last year should go far to 

 make ample compensation to producers. During 

 1907, a total of 251,755 bags of cacao wore ship- 

 ped from Trinidad, of which 134,611 went to 

 Europe, 114,749 to New York, and 2,388 bags to 

 Canada. In January, 1907, the amount of cacao 

 shipped was 16,308 bags, while during the corre- 

 sponding month of 1908, the exports reached 

 46,139 bags, or very nearly treble the output for 

 January of the previous year. 



