December i, 1889.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
3?9 
Degro. In the coffee districts, proprietor asks a man 
with large family, and who owns a settlement border- 
ing on his property, why he never works for him, and 
mentioned that for years he had never seen either 
himself or any of his family on the payroll. " Well, sir," 
says the man, " I make about 500 lb. coffee every year, 
and I don't mean rudeness massa, but, I would see 
any one d d before I would work while the 
coffee money lasts"; (his expression was till he had 
ate out his coffee) and this is the sort of gentlemen 
we were told would make the railway pay on account 
of the enormous extra cultivation that would ensue 
when the facility for carriage was made evident ! 
TEA. NOTES. 
Ohittaqonq, Oct. 3rd.— Chittagong has had a fair 
quantity of showers and the weather is now clear and hot. 
Sootea. Oct. 6th. — Clear hot days with cold nights. 
No rain since the 28th ultimo, and the gorgeous sun- 
sets, whioh usually occur during the early months of 
our oold weather, have already begun. Outturn appears 
to be falling off seriously everywhere. The cold nights 
have the effect of making the leaf leathery, and the 
manufactured tea has already taken the Autumn appear- 
ance and flavour. In fact everything points to the 
early close of the most dismal rains I have yet seen in 
Assam. Polo and snipe are in. 
Dehra Dun, Oct. 8th. — We are still making tea 
but the cold nights are stunting the flushes. A little 
rain would be welcome. 
A meeting of representee planters from each district 
in Assam is to be held on the 29th of this month, when 
it will be proposed to form a local Tea Association 
with a paid Secretary to work in conjunction with the 
present Indian Tea Association. 
The General Committee of the Indian Tea Associa- 
tion have resolved to support a scheme proposed by the 
Agri-Horticultural Society for the annalysis of. the Tea 
Plant, soils, and the various manures practically 
available, and also for scientific enquiry into the che- 
mical changes undergone by Tea Leaf in the process 
of manufacture : the expenditure involved in the 
employment of an expert &c, will amount to RIO.000, 
which is expected to cover experiments and investig- 
ation over a period of two years. 
The General Coolie Eecruiting Association is, we hear, 
daily receiving accession to its numbers both of the 
trading Agents in Calcutta and of planters in Assam 
among the latter we may say the scheme is universally' 
approved of. — Indian Planters' Gazette. 
PLANTING IN JOHOBE. 
(From the Singapore Free Press, Oct. 16th.) 
I am trying a new departure in labour. A month or 
so ago Mr. Bentley asked me if I would take on some 
Kelantan coolies, as an experiment. They were to get 
$4 per month for the first two months, being only raw 
hands, and then rise to $5 per month: but a stipulation 
was made that they were not to rise above $5. This 
is a move in the right direction. At present our cheap- 
est labour is Javanese at $5.50 a month: and this is a 
long figure when compared with other countries, India 
and Ceylon for instance, especially when the cost of 
living is considered. Two dollars a mouth supplies 
them with rico. They grow tbeir own vegetables and 
catch their own fish. This leaves them $3.50 monthly 
for clothes, gloves and cigars ! or if not extravagant in 
these items, they can lay by pretty well the whole of 
this sum. I wish my income would quarter out in like 
proportions ! 
So far the Kelautaua are a success, working steadily 
and regularly. They are a merry lot ; and the other 
day when one of their number running dowu-hill with 
an empty whoel-barrow, tripped and turned a somer- 
sault over his barrow, which lauded on the top of him, 
their laughter was loud and long. The mau who came 
the purler seemed to enjoy it as much as auy of them. 
I had hp idea what unsophisticated navages they were 
until I got thera iuto the store ono day to carry some 
boxes. When they saw me stencilling the boxes their 
astonishment was profound ; when I proceeded to weigh 
the boxes on a Fairbanks' scale, it was still more so, but 
the climax was reached when the clock struck ! They 
crowded round it, and when it had done striking one 
after another went up to it and put his ear against it 
listening with staring eyes and gaping mouth to the 
mysterious tick inside ! 
Mr. Bentley, Protector of Immigrants and Dr. Wilson 
recently made an official trip to Batu Pahat, and came 
back with grand accounts of the coffee there. The 
Doctor managed to secure a plant of the Kola nut : 
"What's that?" I asked. "The drunkard's friend s 
replied the Doctor with a twinkle in his eye. So there" 
some hope for Singapore yet 1 
«. 
TEA PLANTING IN ASSAM : SHORT CROPS. 
(By an ex-Ceylon Planter.) 
Oct. 16th. 
This has been one of the wettest seasons ever 
known in Assam. Such an abnormally cold and wet 
season has not been conducive to large yields, and 
the outturn will probably be considerably under that 
of last year. Red spider, green fly and mosquito 
blights have each in their turn retarded 1 flushes, 
but although the outturn may be a little short in 
some casos, this will be made up for by the satis- 
factory prices we are getting. — In comparing Ceylon 
with India I notice that you predict that Ceylon 
will be able to produce its teas cheaper than India 
and that many gardens in Assam will he unable to 
carry on and produce tea at a paying rate. In this 
I think yon make a mistate. Your planters vie with 
each other in trying to show how cheaply they can 
turn out their teas. Assam planters have not yet 
felt the necessity for that, bat when the time comes 
to curtail expenditure I believe we can do it. Our 
teas per lb. are costing less now than formerly, 
not because we have reduced expenditure, but 
because we have been spending more and making 
more tea. What we want to do now before Ceylon 
shuts us up is, to improve our system of working 
so that we may be able to reduce expenditure without 
reducing the yield. 
The publicity given to everything connected with 
the tea industry and the unanimity among the 
p an ters themselves give Ceylon men a great ad- 
vantage over their brother planters in India. We 
here are so obstinately conservative that there is no 
such thing as unanimity. Gardens are far apart for 
one thing, and one never hears what is going on in 
a neighbouring district. Even in one's own district 
we know little of what is going on. This may 
appear strange, but is nevertheless true. In my own 
district there are gardens within easy distance 
which I have never seen. It's not the custom, and 
you only raise the ire of the manager if you pro- 
pose to have a look round his garden and try and 
pick up wrinkles. This state of things will no 
doubt improve in time. A move is now being made 
to reduce the oost of importing coolies, and a very 
substantial reduction is expected to be effected. At 
present it does not amount to more than your head 
money, and the average daily wage is half what 
yours is. 
CEYLON TEA IN AMERICA. 
Every indication of our teas making way across 
the Atlantic in public estimation is of special 
interest. We have been favoured with a 
sight of that most popular of American 
periodicals (for children), St. Nicholas 
for last month (Oct.), which opens with four 
pages of "Interesting Facts aboui Tea" — manifestly 
an advertisement, but so well printed and placed, 
as to have all the attractiveness of a Magazine 
article. The credit of its insertion is due to Messrs. 
Joseph Tetley & Co. of London and New York, and 
certainly there is very plain speaking for the benefit 
of Amerioan housekeepers and tea drinkers generally. 
