THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [October i, 1889- 
therefore they can be recommended. It appears, like 
the mango, there are numerous varieties of Cinnamon 
many of which are of little value. The Kola nut 
grows fairly well, but has not yet fruited. The gardens 
supply seeds, when in season, for persons wishing to 
take up the cultivation of this plant. Cardamoms are 
not a success at the Hope gardens, the plant thriving 
best in moist, shady situations from 1,500 to 3,000 
feet above sea level ; but Vanilla, as might be expected, 
grows and flowers freely. 
The Tea plantations have received careful attention. 
A small amount of tea manufactured at the gardens 
was submitted to a firm of tea brokers in London, 
whose report was of a very favourable character. 
There Bre thr*e areas under cultivation, one at Latimer, 
where the plant is perfectly naturalised, one at Upper 
Buzza, and one below the garden. In future it is 
proposed only to cultivate the latter area to supply from 
time to time leaf for experimental manufacture. The 
other plantations will supply a sufficient number of 
plants for those who wish to experiment with the 
growth in different parts of the island. From the 
Blue Mountain ridge down almost to the sea coast 
on the north side the conditions are favourable to 
the growth of tea ; extensive planting is not recom- 
mended anywhere in Jamaica, so long as labour is 
scarce. Tea is made only from the very young leaves, 
which burst out all over the bush once in two, three, 
or four weeks, according to the season. If these leaves 
are not picked at once they grow too large for 
manufacture. It is thus necessary on a tea plantation 
to have an abundance of cheap labour available at an 
hour's notice. Possibly the severe restrictions that 
are being placed on immigration in the United States 
and elsewhere may lead to a portion of the stream 
being diverted to Jamaica. Certainly the tea industry, 
which has grown to such enormous proportions in 
Ceylon, is impossible in Jamaica in the present state 
of the labour market, though all other conditions 
are extremely favourable. The plant has become 
naturalised, springing spontaneously from self-sown 
seed ; and the manufactured leaf, which received a 
gold medal at the Philadelphia Exhibition in 1877, 
still maintains its reputation, being qaoted at a much 
higher price than the Ceylon tea. — Chemist and 
Druggist. 
. 
SOUTHERN INDIAN DIAMONDS. 
The Annual Report of the Geological Survey of 
India and of the Geological Museum, Calcutta, for 
last year, has just been issued, and under the heading 
Peninsular India there is a brief survey of the Madras 
diamond fields in the Bellary and Kurnool Districts, 
of the Madras gold-bearing rocks, and of the coal 
fields in the Nizam's Dominions. Dr. King, Director- 
General of the Survey of India, in his remarks about 
the diamond fields, says that during one of his recent 
tours he again visited them, more especially with a 
view to the elucidation of the occurrence of diamonds 
at Wajra Karur, the district where the Madras 
Presidency Diamond Company is at present conduc- 
ting mining operations, but where, as Dr. King says, 
no outlier or remnant of the recognised diamond 
bearing beds (Banaganpillis of the Kurnool series] 
exist. The object, on the part of Dr. King and his 
associates, was the discovery of the original source 
or parent rock for diamonds; for it "gradually became 
evident that the gems known to occur in the peculiar 
gravelly shales near the base of the Banaganpilli 
sandstones may really be only pebbles just as much 
as the water-worn districts with which they are 
associated." Dr. King says he hopes that such an 
original source is about to be discovered by private 
exploitation an allusion probably to the work of the 
Madras Company. This Company is working steadily 
on. Small stones have been discovered in some num- 
bers, but the larger and more valuable stones still 
remain hidden. Mr. Bruce Poote is apparently of 
opinion that diamonds do not exist in the rock about 
this part and that being found only in the surface 
soil, they are only " part, of the superficial debris 
having been derived from a long disappeared upper J 
portion of the same neek rock which had passed 
through some carboneceous deposit which, in past 
ages, has also been worn off the face of the country. 
The neck above-mentioned is one of igneous rock, 
said to occur among the gneisses which bears some 
resemblance to the kimberlite (par. peredlite) or blue 
(miner's term, not a bue clay) of the '■ Cape diamond 
fields," in; which some of the Wajra Karur diamonds 
are said to have been found. Dr. King however 
prefers as yet to consider that these diamonds are 
from the debris of outliers of Banganapilli sandstone 
which once existed near or at Wajra Karur. But 
he concludes by saying that in the meantime no 
diamonds have been detected in the specimens of 
" neck " rock which have been treated by himself 
and his colleagues. 
Wajra Karur is about sixteen miles distant from 
Banaganapilli, and the diamond-bearing strata covers 
the old Cuddapah rocks as with a thin skin. That 
diamonds were found in this locality in some abun- 
dance in former days appears from the fact that 
many Guzerat merchants dwelt here, and carried on 
a trade in diamonds, and that after the district was 
ceded thirty diamond mines were in operation. As 
however, between 1803 and 1838, the annual average 
revenue derived from the working of the mines was 
only R3,600, the owners allowed their leases to 
gradually expire. During the above period also only 
seven diamonds weighing more than a pagoda each 
were found. At Banaganpilli, in Kurnool, Dr. King 
made an inspection several years ago, but saw no 
diamonds in situ nor did he hear of any diamonds 
being found for four or five days at a time. The 
diamonds which were brought for his inspection, and 
which were said to have been extracted from the 
mines at Banaganapilli, were " disappointing on account 
of their minuteness, flaws, and dirty colour." No 
stones of a greater value than R400 were found 
there. Dr. King was able to trace the extension of 
the diamond-bearing stratum for several miles to the 
west beyond the region wherein it was worked. 
There are several other places in the Kurnool, Kistna, 
and Godavery Districts where diamond mines have 
been worked, notably at Baolcouda. Kollur, Mala- 
villy, Bhadraehellum, &c. At Kollur, in 1669, is sup- 
posed to have been discovered the Great Mogul 
diamond, orginally of 289 carats belouging to the 
Emperor Aurungzeoe, and subsequently to Shah Jehan. 
It has also been suggested by some native writers that 
diamond known as the Kohi-noor, or ' mountain of 
light' was so named in consequence of Kollur being 
the place where it was found. This famous gem was 
possessed in turn by Shan Jehan, Nadir Shah, Shah 
Soojah, Runjeet Singh and Dhuleep Singh and it was 
confiscated by the East Indian Company in 1849. 
It was sent to England in the charge of Colonel 
Mackeson and Captain Ramsay and presented, on 
the 3rd July, 1850, at a levee, by the Chairman 
and Deputy Chairman of the Company, to Queen 
Victoria from whom it ia now claimed by the " proud 
and implacable foe of England." — Madras Mail. 
+ 
THE POOR PROSPECTS OP COFFEE 
IN BRAZIL. 
As Brazil is India's foremost rival in the coffee 
trade, any information regarding the crop prospects 
in that country ought to interest coffee planters in 
South India and Ceylon. Some fourteen months ago 
we published some extracts from a home paper con- 
taining a forecast of the season's coffee prospects, 
which had been compiled by Messrs. Lacerda and Co., 
of Havre. As this firm's views seem to have been 
verified to a remarkable extent, it is desirable to show 
what the same firm thinks of the coming season. 
This we are enabled to do thanks to a long com- 
munication with which we have been favoured, together 
with statistics on the coffee trade issued by some of 
the most eminent firms in Europe. For last year it 
was estimated that the outturn of Brazilian coffee 
would amount to 4g million bags of Bio de Janeiro s 
