September 1908. J 



227 



Edible Products. 



have been sold at prices much below cost 

 of production, thus causing such severe 

 competition in the local market as to 

 have rendered the carrying-on of the tea 

 industry in Natal unprofitable for some 

 time past. 



The figures, as supplied by one of the 

 largest groups of tea estates show the 

 division of wages to be for twelve 

 months as follows : — 

 Whites (including those 



in Durban Office) ... £3,833 



Coloured (including rations 



to coolies) ... ... £3,672* 



Owing to the possibility of preferential 

 railways rates being abolished at the 

 coming Pretoria Conference, it is neces- 

 sary to bear in mind that Natal tea, 

 taking Johannesburg as a central point, 

 is privileged as compared with imported 

 tea, to the extent of £3 3s. 4d. per ton. 

 To remove that privilege, without giving 

 compensation therefor, in the shape of 

 additional duty at the Port, would be a 

 very serious additional blow to an indus- 

 try already suffering from the effects of 

 the action of past Conferences, to a 

 degree that has deprived the share- 

 holders of any dividend for some years. 

 The equivalent additional duty to com- 

 pensate for the loss of the privilege on 

 the railway, taking Johannesburg as the 

 central point, would be about 2-5ths of a 

 penny per lb. 



Recommendations. 

 In view of the fact even in free-trade 

 Great Britain, the duty on tea at present 

 is 5d. per lb., or 25 per cent, higher than 

 the present South African Union duty, 

 and that, within recent years it has 

 been as high as 7d. per lb. in great 

 Britain, for revenue purposes, the 

 Commissioners, taking also all the condi- 

 tions into account, do not think that the 

 following suggested recommendations 

 err on the side of unduly favouring the 

 tea planter :— 



(a) That, in the event of preferential 

 railway rates being abolished, the duty 

 on tea imported in packets be restored 

 to 6d. per lb. 



(b) That, in the event of preferential 

 railway rates being abolished, the duty 

 on tea imported in bulk be 5£d. per lb. 



(c) That, in the event of preferential 

 railway rates, and the duty on box 

 shooks, printing, and rice, being retained 



* Since the above was written the following 

 figures have been supplied, as representing as 

 nearly as could be obtained from an estate to estate 

 enquiry, the division of wages paid during 1907, 

 over the whole tea industry in Natal. To Euro- 

 peans, £6,500 ; to Coloureds, £13,700. {Footnote by 

 Commission.) 



as at present, the duty on all imported 

 tea to be 5d. per lb. — Natal Agricultural 

 Journal, No. 4, Vol. XI., April, 1908. 



THE USE OF A MULCH IN THE 

 CULTIVATION OP CACAO. 



(Abstracted by R. H. Lock.) 

 [Journal d Agriculture Tropicale, May 

 1908, p. 138.] 

 The protection of the soil of a cacao 

 plantation is a difficult matter in the 

 dry season unless recourse is had either 

 to the cultivation of herbaceous plants 

 or to the use of a mulch of leaves, man- 

 ure, or other vegetable material. 



For a living mulch choice is generally 

 made of some quick-growing leguminous 

 plant like the Cow-pea (Vigna sinensis), 

 the Velvet-bean (Ulucana utilis), the 

 Soya-bean or Crotalaria. 



These plants have the additional ad- 

 vantage of fixing nitrogen from the air. 



O. W. Barrett, in a Report addressed 

 to the Agricultural Society of Trinidad, 

 recommends the growth of other useful 

 plants like Lemon grass, Citronella, 

 Ground-nuts and Manioc in Cacao as weli 

 as India-rubber plantations. 



The result of practical tests carried 

 out in Dominica seems to show that the 

 dead mulch possesses considerable ad- 

 vantages as compared with the living 

 one. These results are taken from a 

 lecture delivered by Dr, F. Watts before 

 the Agricultural Conference held at 

 Kingston in 1907. 



Experiments extending over four years 

 carried out by Mr. Jones, Curator of the 

 Botanic Station of Dominica, showed 

 that the plot treated with a complete 

 manure showed an increase of 160 shil- 

 lings to the acre, whilst the non-nitro- 

 genous plots gave a less satisfactory 

 result. But a mulch of leaves and grass 

 on a non-manured plot let to a still more 

 striking increase, as much in fact as 416 

 shillings per acre or more than double 

 that obtained from an acre which 

 received annually 200 kg. calcium phos- 

 phate, 75 kg. sulphate of potash and 200 

 kg. blood meal. 



Mulching the soil consists in covering 

 the whole surface, or merely the part 

 round the foot of the trees, with their 

 layer of vegetable matter in order to 

 prevent evaporation, to protect the sur- 

 face from the sun and violent rain, and 

 to reduce the amount of necessary culti- 

 vation. 



According to Dr, Watts' advice the 

 mulch is applied once a year, at the 



