and Magazine of the Ceylon A grieultural Society, 



615 



that in the first place steps should be taken to 

 ascertain whether the scheme for a Central Re- 

 cruiting Agency, to embrace both sardari and 

 arkutti recruiting, would be likely to be accep- 

 ted by Proprietors, and a Memo, was given in- 

 dicating broadly the lines upon which such an 

 Agency might work. The terms of the Memo., 

 which was to be submitted to members of the 

 Association, were agreed on ; it was arranged 

 that the Secretary of the London Association 

 should be asked to ascertain the views of home 

 Proprietors and to cable as soon as possible 

 .whether the scheme would be likoly to receive 

 such support as would warrant further steps 

 being taken in connection with it. 



THE RUBBER INDUSTRY IN JAMAICA. 



Systematic rubber planting in Jamaica as an 

 industry has only of late years begun on estates, 

 but up till now there has been no systematic 

 tapping of trees and keeping of statistics of 

 yibld, on which to base commercial calculations 

 of the profitableness or otherwise of the busi- 

 ness. From the standpoint of a profitable in- 

 dustry there is a great hope in rubber, especial- 

 ly as, although the trees require good soil, they 

 can be grown to advantage in many places, dry 

 or wet, upland or lowland, or in patches. This 

 business would not only be of value in creating 

 a now profitable industry, but would inciden- 

 tally assist in reforesting the more select lands. 

 Intelligent advice has been at our disposal, as 

 to varieties to plant. Mr Robert Thompson says 

 Manicoba rubber for certain dry parts ; Virgen 

 rubber for certain select parts of the mountains; 

 Castilloa and Para for moist lowlands, up to 

 ],80Ufeet, the latter may also grow up to 2,000 

 feet, but would require test. — Jonrnat oj the 

 Jamaica Agricultural Society, for April. 



RICE EXHIBITIONS IN SIAM. 



The Royal Agricultural Department of Siam 

 has made a new departure by instituting 

 provincial rice exhibitions, at which both 

 native and foreign varieties are exhibited 

 and distributed for 



EXPERIMENTAL CULTIVATION. 



Groat interest has been taken in the first ex- 

 hibitions, to which 450 cultivators sent speci- 

 mens of their produce, and it was announced by 

 the Minister oi the Interior that in future 

 similar exhibitions would be held in all the 

 principal provinces, while a large central one 

 would be organised in the capital at which 

 every facility would be given to manufacturers 

 of agricultural and other machinery which may 

 be in any way connected with or useful to rice- 

 growing — Rangoon Gazette, May 18. 



INDIAN DUST AND HANKOW 

 BRICK TEA. 



The large and increasing consignments of 

 Indian tea dust sent to Hankow are, we now 

 know, for the manufacture of "bricks," partly 

 for consumption in the districts to the north of 

 that city, though the greater portion finds its v. ay 

 to fthipia, whence caravans convey it across the 



dyal (or moadow) in Eastern Tibet to Lhassa 

 and other towns. Now Rhima is no great dis- 

 tance on the old route to China from Assam, it 

 strikes therefore that wo could lay down ' bricks ' 

 made on the Upper Assam gardens cheaper 

 thau they can be sent by the long round-about 

 Hankow route The road to Rhima from all 

 accounts can at no great cost be fitted for either 

 rail, tram or motor carriage, so say travellers, 

 then there should be no great difficulty in veri- 

 fying this statement ; should it really turn out 

 feasible we should have a profitable enough 

 market almost at our door. If the scheme suc- 

 ceeds, it would be better perhaps to have a 

 central brick making factory which could take 

 the dust oft' the planters' hands, as there is 

 quite enough work in the tea houses of existing 

 factories without bothering individual planters 

 with anything additional. An outlet for Lower 

 Assam bricks might be found, via Dewangiri, 

 as the people to the North of that place not long 

 since expressed a desire for trading with U3. — 

 Indian Planters' Gazette, May 23, 



TEA m RUSSIA. 



American Consular Report. 



Consul William W Masterson, of Batuin, 

 transmitting the following information, reports 

 that the Russians are believed to be the greatest 

 consumers of tea of any people in Europe :— 



About one-half the tea imported into this dis- 

 trict is received by sea at the ports of Batuin 

 and Novorossisk, and is entered through the 

 customhouses of Tiflis, Baku, Askhabad, Bok- 

 hara, Samarkand, Kokand, etc., but a groat 

 portion of the tea reported from the custom- 

 houses at Askhabad, Bokhara and Samarkand 

 is imported direct from China by caravan and 

 by the Siberian Railroad, and it is impossible 

 to tell just how much comes by sea and how 

 much overland. 



Of the 37,759 tons of tea imported into the 

 district during the past seven years, over 32,000 

 tons were green tea, the most of which .is re- 

 ported in the three Central Asian custom-houses 

 of Askhabad, Bokhara and Samarkand. The 

 brick tea received at Novorossisk and Batum 

 (2,226 tons and 6,403 tons, respectively, during 

 the past seven years) is of poor and cheap 

 quality, and is imported in this form. 



The tea that comes into this district by sea is 

 brought by the steamers of the Russian Volun- 

 teer Fleet, a line that runs from Vladivostock to 

 Odessa, via the Suez Canal, and the item of tea 

 is at present the most valuable part of the car- 

 goes of the ships coming west, it is estimated 

 that about 75 per cent of the tea imported into 

 this district comes direct from China, and prac- 

 tically the remainder from India. 



The consumption of tea is not confined to any 

 particular class, but from the prince to the 

 peasant all the people are tea drinkers, and the 

 use of coffee and cocoa is not in any manner so 

 universal, being, in fact, almost unknown out- 

 side the cities and larger towns. 



Owing to the almost semi-tropical climate that 

 prevails in this part of the Black Sea region, 

 frequent attempts have been made to cultivate 

 tea in paying quantities, and the Russian gov- 

 ernment; at ita experimental, station located 



