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The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



Under those circumstances, the experiment 

 appears to me to be worth a trial. I anticipate 

 that the cost will be quite nominal and. should 

 the experiment fail, no harm can come of it. If 

 the insect finds its environment unsuitable, it 

 will merely fail to establish itself and die out. 



I find that Clerus Jormioarius occurs throughout 

 Great Britain, and that it can be taken abun 

 dantly in parts of Scotland. A journey to 

 Germany would therefore be quite unnecessary. 

 The habits of the insect should render it easily 

 transportable by post, as it could be packed in 

 decayed wood in which it would most probably 

 travel quite comfortably. 



My entomological friend has very kindly 

 offered to arrange for the collection of a con- 

 siderable number of the insects and will send 

 them on to me in the course of the summer. 

 It appears that the Clerus is 'in season' about 

 midsummer. I have felt myself safe in guaran- 

 teeing that the cost of collection and transport 

 (a matter, probably, of a few shillings only, or 

 at most of two or three pounds) will be defrayed 

 by the Planters' Association. I shall be obliged 

 if you will endorse this small liability. — I have 

 the honour to be, your obedient servant, 



(Sgd.) E ERNEST GREEN, 

 Government Entomologist. 



GENERAL REVIEW OF JAVA TEAS 

 IN 1908. 



[From the Export Bureau.] 

 Bandoeng, February, 1909.— The past year of 

 1908 has seen a great advance in the Java tea 

 industry and results must have been satisfactory 

 to all connected with the trade in this country. 

 Total exports have shown 



A 25 PER CENT. INCREASE 



on the previous year and have now reached 

 a total of 33,254,124 Half Kilos or 36.579,536 

 English pounds, against 26,624,002 H K or 

 29,286,402 English pounds in 1907 ; and against 

 15,214,234 H K or 16,736,157 English pounds 

 in 1901 ; which means that production has 

 more than doubled in the last 8 years. The 

 results of the new clearings and planting of 

 the last few years are seen in tbe figures of 

 1908 ; and it is certain that each coming year 

 must show a further and regular increase in 

 our exports, because planting has for the past 

 few years been general (to a large or small extent) 

 on nearly all estates and in many cases these 

 extensions have been to quite large extents. 



SEVERAL NEW COMPANIES 



have been started during the past year and it 

 seems probable that we shall see a 50 millions 

 export for Java teas within the next seven or 

 eight years or so. It may be here mentioned 

 that the 



IMPORTS OF TEA SEED FROM BRITISH INDIA 



during 1907 and 1908 are spoken of as having 

 been in very much larger quantity than in any 

 previous years. The deliveries of local Java 

 seed are also of very considerable quantity and 

 the many estates that are producing good 

 seed have no difficulty in selling their entire 



crops. Holland has in 1908 received 18^ million 

 half kilos against 14| in 1907 ; England nearly 

 Hi millions against 8| ; Russia (including ship- 

 ments through North China ports) 3 millions 

 against 2£ ; while on the other hand both 

 Australia and " other ports " show a decrease in 

 the quantity received, namely 300,000 half kilos 

 against 660,000 for Australia and 180,000 H.K. 

 against 851,000 for "other ports." The total 

 increase in exports from 1st January to 31st 

 December, 1908 to all ports is 6,630,122 half kilos 

 or 7,293,134 English pounds. 



PRICES 



during 1908 taken generally have been good for 

 the class of tea which Java produces; which 

 amongst the world's supplies are, with a fe»v 

 exceptions, classed as "low, and medium grade " 

 teas. The prices for such teas have not of 

 course kept up to the extraordinary high level 

 of the latter part of 1907, but on the other 

 hand they have never fallen to that very low 

 basis which is sometimes seen for the inferior 

 sorts of teas. In Amsterdam the year started 

 with extremely high rates for low and medium 

 sorts, but from February there was a steady 

 and big decline in prices right through the year, 

 until the January basis for ordinary PS. Pekoe 

 and BP's fell from 40, 41 and 41 cents down 

 to 28, 30 and 32 cents respectively in November 

 and December, with an average rate of 33, 34 

 and 35^ cents for the 15 sales of the year. For 

 ordinary Dust, Broken Tea and Pekoe Farmings 

 the decline was from 38 and 40 cents to 23 and 25 

 cents, with an average rate for the year of 29 

 for Dust and 32 for PF's and small leaf Broken 

 Teas. Teas of very good medium quality of 

 the Gn. Malang, Gn. Tjerapaka, Panjairan, 

 Pagilaran and Pasir Nangka type in January 

 stood at 45 cents for PS. Pekoe and also BOP 

 grades, but selling irregularly and generally 

 lower, these prices fell by July to 35, 39 and 

 41 respectively, with however the good average 

 price for tho 15 sales of 39, 42J and 43£ cents 

 for PS, f and BOP. Well made OP's of 

 medium and finer sorts were always in good de- 

 mand and tho prices ranged between 50 and 58 

 cents for the finer Iea6; and between 38 and 44 

 for those of medium grade, and averaged 52^ and 

 40 cents respectively. The best BOP's, with 

 which Amsterdam is not well supplied (all the 

 best teas going to London) did not fetch good 

 rates until right at the end of the year. Prices 

 varied between 43 and 63 cents but only once 

 was there a price of over 50 cents and the average 

 Amsterdam rate for the 15 sales was but 4S cents 

 with a highest rate in nearly all sales of 43 to 47 

 only. Witpunt Pekoes also saw a big decline in 

 prices with an 80 cents rate in December against 

 101 cents in January, for teas of the Soekasarie 

 type. 



IN LONDON 



the market ran much on the same lines as that of 

 Amsterdam, except that medium, good medium 

 and finer BP's and BOP's were generally on a 

 higher level on the .English market. Finest 

 BOP's of theGoalpara type sold well throughout 

 the year, the price only once falling below 10i 

 pence, while the average for the 16 sales that 

 have been quoted was 11 pence. Good BOP's with 

 good tip and strong colory liquors of good me- 

 dium quality of the Perbawatie, Tjiwangie and 



