November i, 1889.I THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST! 3*5 
Tobacco. — The damage - to the tobacco crop by 
reason of excessively wet weather varies from 15 
to 25 per cent—American Grocer. 
Pepper at the Straits. — In the course of 
the annual Eeports on Lower Perak and Batang 
which give a good deal of information on plant- 
ing with different products— which will all be 
republished in the Tropical Agriculturist — we have 
the following reference of special local interest : — 
The pepper planted by Haji Ali in Juue, 1886, is now 
very fine, and is loaded with fruit. That planted last 
year by him and others is also doing very well. I find 
that pepper planted against dead wood posts is far finer 
than that planted against li ving dedap trees. In every 
place where the two supports have been tried together 
the result is the same. It appears as if the roots of 
the dedap rob the pepper of moisture nourishment. 
But the " dead posts " used in the Straits ara 
of teak ? 
The Cinnamon Trade of Ceylon. — The presf-nt con- 
dition of the cultivation of and trade iu cinnamon ia 
discussed in a recent issue of the Cei/lon Observer of 
Colombo. In the days of the Dutch .nonopoly the 
Ceylon cinnamon, by far the finest in the world, firstrate 
bark was sold at a pound sterling for a pound in weight 
and as late as.1830 the average price of Ceylon cinnamon 
in the London market was as high as 8s per lb. But 
with the abolition of the monopoly and the consequent 
enormous increase in the export the price has fallen, so 
that the price last year was only Is 3d per lb. In the 
monopoly days the average export from Ceylon rarely 
exceeded half a million pounds ; but with the removal 
of restriction the exports rose to about three million 
pounds. This included not only the baled spice, but 
also " chips " previously worked up in the distillation of 
cinnamon oil. The large proportion of thes* chips in- 
troduced into the market at last reduced the splendid 
Ceylon cinnamon to the level of a competitor with the 
Chinese bark known as cassia lignea. A combination a 
few years to restrict the export of chips failed ; but 
a new one is being formed for the purpose. Growers 
have been driven to take this steps by the constantly 
falling price, which was recently down to 9d. Cinna- 
mon bark is used to flavour chocolate and puddings.it is 
an iugredieut in the incense used in some religious 
buildings, and is a constituent of some patent food for 
cattle. In medicine and confectionery the bark and 
essential oil are used to some extent, while it is 
combined with sulphur in a new mode of preserving 
meat. Except, perhaps, in this last direction, there is 
no prospect of increased consumption of the famous 
and once costly Ceylon spice. In some parts of Cey- 
lon, especially in the well-known cinnamon groves 
near Colombo, the shrub is being cleared away to 
make room for the coconut. Besides pledging them- 
selves not to trade in chips the leading planters agree 
also not to manufacture cinnamon-leaf oil, in the 
interest of the fine aromatic oil distilled from the 
cinnamon bark, chips being the residue. The two 
oils are wholly different in quality and taste, yet at- 
tempts have been made to adulterate the bark oil 
with that from the leaf. The latter somewhat resem- 
bles clove oil, and is employed to rub inside the covers 
of books as a preservative against fungi and insects. 
It would seem almost impossible to adulterate the 
bark oil, with its peculiar and delicate flavour, with 
the leaf oil, for the coarse and pungent odour of the 
brittle leaves of the cinnamon tree as compared with 
tho delicate aroma of the bark, and its oil is one of 
the peculiarities of the plant ; yet when one sees the 
delicate citronella and lemon grass oil of Ceylon adul- 
terated with suoh a substance as kerosene one is 
prepared for auy kind of adulteration. The Cingalese 
prepare from the roots of the cinnamon a substance 
like camphor, which is made into oandles for festive 
occasions. The bark of the cissia plants of China 
J8 greatly inferior to the Ceylon cinnamon, but the 
leaves have a pleasanter scent ; this China cassia is 
supposed to bo the cinnamon of tho Mosaic and other 
aucient writings. However this may be, the Ceylon 
cinnamon, once so famous and so valuable, has fallen 
upou evil days, and now, like the silvor in Solomon's 
time, ia " little accounted of."— London Times. 
Sugar Planters in the West Indies are anxious 
that the leading engineering firms at home should 
give more attention to improved machinery for 
sugar. Says the Demerara Argosy, after referring to an 
Australian and quadruple effet, worked on the 
novel principle that the vapour from the first effet 
will be found sufficient to vaporate the liquid 
in three other effets, and in two vacuum pans : 
" It is said that so great is the manufacturer's faith 
in this scheme, that he has supplied the machinery 
free of cost at first — payment to be made out of 
saving of fuel in its working. Why cannot English 
and Scotch makers show the same oourage and 
enterprise ?" — Home and Colonial Mail. 
Ceylon Tea "Dagoba Brand." — We have 
had the opportunity of trying a sample packet of 
this tea of the quality supplied to Penang (whore 
Chinese are among the principal customers) and 
can speak of it in high terms. The brand is 
likely to become one of the best known over the 
world of Ceylon teas : besides Agenoies in the 
Straits and United Kingdom, we learn that the 
enterprising proprietor is about to establish 
agenoies in Baltimore and Washington, United 
States, where he will serve a large population, the 
higher classes of whom are ambitious of following 
European fashion and " afternoon tea " as iu Paris 
should become universal. We trust there will be 
a big demand for " Dagoba " packets. 
Records op the Geological Survey of India. — 
Vol. XXII, Part 2. 1889. Contents :— Note on Indian 
Steatite, complied by F. R. Mallet, Superintendent, 
Geological Survey of India. — Distorted pebbles in the 
Siwalik conglomerate; by 0. S. Middlemiss, b. a., Assis- 
tant Superintendent, Geological Survey of India. (With 
one plate). — " The Carboniferous Glacial Period.'' 
Further note by Dr. W. Waagen, on a letter from 
Mr. 0. Derby, concerning traces of a Carboniferous 
Glacial Period in S. America. Translated by E. O. 
Cotes, Assistant Superintendent, Indian Museum. — 
Notes on Dr. W. Waagen's " Carboniferours Glacial 
Period," by A. B: Wynne, f.G.s., and Dr. Ottokar 
Feistmantel. — Report on the Oil-Fields of Twingouwg 
and Beme, Burma ; by Fritz Noetliug, Ph. D., Palaeon- 
tologist, Geological Survey of India (With one plate 
and a map). The gypsum of the Nehal Nadi, Ku- 
maun ; by C. S. Middlemiss B.A., assistant superin- 
tendent, Geological Survey of India. (With a plate). — 
On some of the Materials for pottery obtainable iu 
the neighbourhood of Jabalpur, and of Umaria ; by 
F. R. Mallet, Superintendent, Geological Survey of 
India. 
Coffee is considered, by Messrs. I. A. Rucker 
& Bencraft, to be in a sound position, and promises 
to be a rising article. The following are a few 
of the reasons why coffee must advance : — 
(a). All over the world the trade is more or less 
scantily supplied, a hand to mouth policy being the 
fashion, (b). The visible supply is moderate, aud 
promises to be much smaller, (c). The visible supply 
is on a scale which no longer allows us to compare 
statistics and values with the years of over-production, 
but on the contrary, with the years of under-produc- 
tion, (d). The current crops in the Brazils are 
turning out smaller than was anticipated, (e). The 
abnormal drought all over the coffee growing districts 
of South America precludes any hope of large crops 
for next season, no matter even if the blossoms be 
favourable. (/"). The great danger ahead is that after 
abnormal drought we may suffer from excessive tro- 
pical rain, and that the blossoms on impoverished 
trees may be damaged and washed away. (g). In 
the North of South America, where the same sort 
of drought has been current, the crops which are 
some months ahead of the Brazil crops, are more 
or less very badly damaged, as regards quantity, (h). 
The statistical value based on the visible supply is 
only a few shillings below the current value, aud 
we maintain that present rates shew little discount 
of the future. 
