574 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



tact out long ago. When the trapper is outfit- 

 ting for the winter, next to his bacon, salt and 

 flour always comes the pound or the two pounds 

 of tea, Coffee indeed being not thought of at 

 all. The Hudson Bay Company in outfitting 

 its trappers in the Far North load their dog 

 sleds up with a liberal supply of white fish, 

 which does equally as well for the dogs as the 

 trapper. If wild geese have been killed in 

 plenty during the previous fall, a few of those 

 for the trapper only are strapped on the sled ; 

 then comes some salt, a little bacon, flour, 

 matches, a few candles and surely the pound of 

 tea. On my recent hunting trip of 38 days I 

 took with me a canister containing 12 ounces 

 of the top line of a chop of ' String ' Eoochow 

 Oolong. My guide and 1 used from it morning 

 and night, and also at times when we came to 

 our cabin for dinner. It was always good, 

 always cheering, always nourishing, and that 12 

 ounces lasted us for the whole trip and a little 

 left. In England particularly the consumption 

 of tea is always increasing. There when 'riches 

 take wings and reputation falls to pieces ' tea 

 is the final comforter. An English writer elo- 

 quently extols ' tea as a soothing drink ; the 

 dissolvent of all unmannerly humors, the ally 

 of all good grocers, the friend of the whole 

 human race, the contemner of class, the com- 

 fort of the duchess and of the washwoman, the 

 faithful companion in all ranks of life of every 

 waking and many half-waking hours.' It is 

 this homely impartiality of tea that makes the 

 eulogist's task so easy." Mr. Martindale also 

 looks for a higher range of prices on tea, as a 

 result of the present rebellion in China and says: 

 " In the meantime the man who sits down and 

 waits for present values to shrink and go back 

 to the former low levels will, like Kip Van 

 Winkle, wake up some day and find that the 

 world 'indeed to move ' and that he has been 

 left high and dry on a rocky shore without tea 

 and minus his profits from not being on the 

 band wagon rather than behind it." — American 

 Grocer. 



ROSELLE. 



The roselle (Hibiscus subdariffa) which was 

 introduced and distributed to a limited extent 

 this spring by the Bureau, is making a most 

 satisfactory growth at the experiment stations, 

 and a good yield of fruit aud seed for future 

 distribution is expected. 



The roselle is an annual related to the cotton 

 and okra, and is probably the only plant in the 

 world whose calyces are utilised for food. The 

 plant flowers in October and the rapidly devel- 

 oping fleshy calyces are picked and used in 

 making sauces, jellies, or jams, very similar in 

 flavor to those made from the cranberry. A 

 good wine is also made from the calyces. A 

 very agreeable cooling drink may be made from 

 the leaves and tender twigs, steeped in boiling 

 water. In India the roselle is grown princip- 

 ally for its fibre. 



The many useful qualities of the roselle and 

 the ease with which it may be cultivated are 

 sure to make it a favourite among all classes as 

 soon as it becomes known in the Philippines. — 

 PMlippitie Agricultural Review for October. 



RICE, DRY GRAIN, COCONUTS, TO- 

 BACCO AND COTTON IN N. PROVINCE. 



The paddy crop of the peninsula and Pu- 

 neryn having failed in 1909 for want of rain, 

 on which it is entirely dependent in the north- 

 east monsoon, the population was feeling the 

 pinch in 1910. Ploughing rains in 1910 were not 

 altogether timely, but fields were sown, and the 

 crop was almost on it s last legs owing to drought 

 when heavy rain fell and saved it. In December 

 a period of drought set in, and for the second 

 time the crop was in jeopardy, when on the last 

 day of the year there was heavy rain, sufficient 

 for the crop till harvest time. The harvest was 

 medium to good, an improvement on several 

 years past. In 1910-11 paddy has been between 

 Rs.2 and Rs.2'50 per bushel ; the price of the 

 various kinds of dry grain has been normal. 

 Coconuts have suffered greatly from the long 

 periods of drought. Tobacco has been a good 

 crop. This industry, on which the people depend 

 for ready cash, was in great trouble during 1910 

 owing to the Indian Government putting up the 

 duty on Jaffna tobacco exported to Travancore 

 to a figure which stopped the trade. An adjust- 

 ment was eventually arrived at, the old duty 

 being re-established on condition that no more 

 than the average quantity of the last five years 

 should be exported from Jaffna. On this ar- 

 rangement there is overproduction this year, 

 and the necessity for other products to replace 

 tobacco to some extent is apparent, but not easy 

 to organise, as the Jaffnese are conservative in 

 the extreme and lack power of co-operation 

 Some tobacco traders are, however, making ar- 

 rangements to secure a lease of a land near the 

 town of Jaffna for experimental purposes, and 

 encouragement has been given to this project by 

 a visit of Mr. Van Leenhofl, a tobacco expert 

 recently in Ceylon on Government account, Mr. 

 Van Leenhoff examined the local conditions of 

 this industry and will report to Government. 

 Cotton is grown in the island of Delft, and there 

 is some thriving in the Jaffna Jail. Para rubber 

 is growing on Government land at Vavuniya ; it 

 is kept alive by irrigation.— Mr. Freeman's Ad- 

 ministration Report lov 1910. 



PLANTING IN TRINIDAD. 



Whilst clean-weeding in the East is almost 

 a sine qua non, in Trinidad and Tobago the 

 nearest approach to clean-weeding is that car- 

 ried out on sugar estates, while in cacao plan- 

 tations the weeds are merely kept back to some 

 extent by the practice of "brushing," that is, 

 slashing them down with cutlasses, leaving the 

 roots in the ground and scattering the seeds over 

 the soil. According to a brochure recently 

 issued by the first-named Colony's Department 

 of Agriculture, rubber planting there is in its 

 infancy, and, owing to lack of confidence or 

 the necessary technical knowledge in cultivation 

 and extraction of latex, the progress has not 

 been very rapid. There are at present in 

 Trinidad some rubber trees of ages varying 

 from one to fifteen years of the following species, 

 and the following figures have been returned 

 in answer to circulars from the Department :— 



