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THf TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [November i, 1889. 
Deli, so far has nothing to fear from competitors 
in the tobacco growing line. Her rivals under that 
bead still lag behind. The Germans tried their best 
to grow the leaf in Bast Africa and Zanzibar, with at 
first bighly flattering prospects. An experienced plan- 
ter was got out from Deli to manage the estates, and 
at the outset, the results looked promising enough. 
The outcome, for all that, has been thoroughly dis- 
appointing. The Dali planter has returned to Europe, 
and the shareholders in the Company under his man- 
agement have lost their money. The main cause of 
the failure lay in the scarcity of labour. People in 
Europe cannot understand that the fact of a man 
being coloured does not qualify him to be a tobacco 
labourer. They do not take sufficient account of the 
circumstance that the success of tobacco cultivation 
in Delhi depends upon Chinese coolies. That African 
negroes fail to come up to them needs excite no 
wonder except among ignorant shareholders. 
Last month the "China" arrived at Belaman with 
82 free coolies from the Celestial Empire. The num- 
ber is considered satisfactory, owing to the paddy 
season in China interfering with emigration. 
The district of Bila begins to draw attention for 
tobacco growing. Wot only has a Dutch Company 
taken up land for the purpose, but the firm of Pluma- 
oher and Kohrig also. Previous pioneers there had 
met with only disappointment. — Straits Times, Sept. 
9th. 
FINE SALE OF CANNAVERELLA 
CINCHONA BARK. 
Mr. E. John sold a very fine parcel of " Canna- 
verella " bark yesterday, about 23,000 lb. 
renewed shavings (analysis 5*25) at 10 cents per 
unit — 52£ cents per lb. This is very good indeed. 
CINCHONA IN CEYLON. 
Mr. Wijnschenk-Dom has just returned after 
a trip of some 17 days' duration through our 
Cinchona distriots : he has visited the Agras, 
Udapussellawa, Badulla and Madulsima districts, 
and he has returned quite satisfied that Java has 
very little to fear from the competition of Ceylon 
an the early future. Four or five years, he thinks, 
will see our exports of cinchona bark dwindle 
away to an unappreciable quantity. Our visitor, in 
fact, saw no expanse of cinchona cultivation worthy 
of special note save on Cannaverella estate. That, 
he maintains, is the finest cinchona plantation in 
Ceylon : it is worth coming from Java to see it ; 
and Mr. Macfarlane he found to be an enlightened 
and enthusiastic cultivator, very much after the 
fashion of the Java planters who give all their 
thoughts to cinchona. Mr. W.-Dom was everywhere 
most kindly received, but most of the other gentlemen, 
as he says truly, had tea and coffee more in view 
perhaps than cinchona. He thinks that Cannaverella 
might well be the Ceylon show-place with reference 
to cinchona, and then we have to realize that 
there are perhaps 25,000 to 30,000 acres similarly 
cultivated in Java, and a good deal with ledgerianas 
of which there are few in Ceylon. All this may 
be true, but we suspect it will be found that the 
Uva districts with a more encouraging market can 
go on permanently, giving two or three million 
lb. of good marketable bark, even after our total 
expo t dwindles to a half or third of what it now 
is. Out visitor after seeing our districts does not 
think it ib necessary to form a Syndicate in Java, 
i ^> 
Cheap Teas. — A correspondent, in sending us 
the following advertisement cut from a home 
paper, says : — " Here is the secret of the very cheap 
tea : Advt. Lodging-house keepers and others — 
used tea leaves bought any quantity, at 5s per cwt. 
Apply No. 659, Advertiser Office." 
Tea in Johoee. — The other day Mr. Mackenzie, 
of Michaelstowe Estate, Johore, sent us a packet 
of Pekoe tea grown there, and of which the retail 
price in the Straits is a dollar a pound. The tea 
has since been tried, and it is very good. It is a 
better class of tea than can readily be got retail 
in England, for, oddly enough, the best teas sent 
to London are not consumed there, but are sent 
to Ireland, where they are bought by a virtuous 
and starving peasantry. — Straits Times, Sept. 17th. 
Coffee. — A Perak correspondent writes : — Coffee, 
Arabica and Liberia, are both doing exceedingly 
well in this locality; all that is wanted to make 
the planting of the fragrant bean a success being 
cheap free labour, and that lies in the hands of 
the Government. At present exhorbitant rates are 
paid for public works by Government officers and 
contractors, while the unfortunate planter is com- 
pelled to pay an equivalent, if he wishes to have 
his work done, or else import coolies from India, 
at much expense, to find that at the end of the 
2nd or 3rd month the best of his men have gone 
to Government works, where they can double their 
wages and free themselves from their liabilities. 
[We think our correspondent exaggerates a little. 
Contract labourers cannot leave till their contract 
has expired ; although of course a few may run 
away and trust to avoid recapture.] — Strain Times, 
Sept. 17th. 
Johoee Tea. — We are glad to learn that Johore 
tea is being pushed to the front. Mr. Turing 
Mackenzie, of the Michaelstowe plantation, who 
has lately arrived from Ceylon is about to send 
samples of his teas to the Argentine Republic 
International Agricultural Exhibition which is to 
be opened in April, 1890. It is only by steps such 
as these that any new growth can push its way 
into new markets and make its merits known. 
There is no reason why Straits planters should be 
behind their active fellow planters in Ceylon. No 
chance is lost by Ceylon planters and their vigorous 
Association to thrust their way into every field 
and Ceylon tea everywhere, at home, the continent 
in America, and the Colonies is being well advertised 
The proposed Straits Planters Association should 
not neglect the claims of tea but should take 
every chance of making the local product better 
known, and thus increase the demand. We have 
this day received a sample pound packet of Johore 
tea price one dollar and shall make a point to 
submitting its contents to critical palates for ap- 
proval. — S. F. Press, Sept. 11th. 
Coffee in the Wxnaad is beginning to look up. 
We hear of one gentleman largely interested in the 
cultivation and a most successful planter, starting 
a fresh clearing of some six or seven hundred 
acres in the neighbourhood of Nellacottah. It is 
a common practice for tyros, to open fresh land 
as soon as the market goes up, forgetful of the 
fact, the five or six years must elapse before the 
new clearing will make a return and that present 
prices may not be maintained till then, but when 
an old hand well accustomed to the fluctuations 
of the market does the same thing, we may rest 
assured that faith in coffee is unshaken. It is 
very satisfactory to note this indication of a re- 
turning faith in our most popular product which 
has contended against great difficulties natural and 
artificial. Bug, borer and leaf disease have united 
their forces to extinguish the cultivation but without 
success. Low prices and high charges, combined 
with the difficulty of obtaining money for working 
have done their worst, but with no better result. 
Coffee still is king and there are not a few who 
believe it will continue to be so. — South of India 
Observer, Sept. 14th. 
