544 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [February i, i8qo. 
"Tea planting in the Caucasus" runs the " Sea Ser- 
pent" close us a riva newspaper heading in dull sea- 
sons. The Journal deSt Petersbourg usually supplies 
a little nteresi mg i i formation uuder this head atbiief 
interval-, and the la est is tuae with a little persever- 
ance the efforts made on the littoral of the Black Sea, 
between Batoutn and Soukhoum, to acclimatise the tea 
plant will lead to the appearance of veritable planta- 
tions. The first tea plant was imported iuto the Cau- 
casus about half a century ago, and cultivat ed in the 
pub'io garden of Soukhoum. The attempt succeeded, 
but, as is tie case with many innovations, it was not 
persevered in because of the slowness of the develop- 
ment of the enterprise. Much time is required for the 
dt-ve'opmeut of the cultivation of the tea plant. The 
Tiflis exhibition has, however, proved that it exists. 
Prince Etistow has exhibited a tea plaut of superb 
growth, being forty years old This tree, with its flow- 
ers and fruits, is one of the ornaments of the exhibition. 
Colonel Solovts>>w has presented other tea plants five 
years old, cultivated in the environs of Bitoum and in 
perfect coudition. All these plants grow in the open 
air, and the seeds are so abundant that M. Solovtsow 
has gathered sufficient of them to sow next year a half 
dr ciatine of land. As to the quality of Caucasian tea, 
all rumours as to its alleged bitter taste or its so-called 
poisonous properties are, we read, not based on fact. 
We have heard all this, or something like it, several 
times t efore.* 
Some tea from Fiji, the Alpha estate, sold last week 
at an average of 8| J per lb. Travancore tea from several 
gardens was sold. The highest averages obtained were 
by the " Penshurst" estate, Is IJd and the "Poon- 
mudi" estate, lid. — H. and C. Mail. 
♦ 
LONDON NOTES AND COMMENTS ON 
OEYLON TOPICS. 
The recent " boom " in the Ceylon tea, market, 
jar beyond anticipation, has to a fair extent reacted 
on our export of tea machinery and estate, requisites 
for which a good enquiry has existed. The cost of 
most of these has been increased by the late rise in 
the metal market, consequent on dearer coal and 
higher wages. This advanC3 will no doubt be felt in 
the manufacture of the patent steel tea packages 
which have corns into demand during the pre-ent year. 
The Tea Gazette animadverts strongly and properly 
on the S ock Exchange gambling lately introduced 
into the Mincing-lane market under the name of the 
Produce Clearing House. It says: — "A market, ac- 
cording to old-fashioned ideas, is a place where com- 
moititifS are bought and sold; but of late years pro- 
duce markets hive largely followed the bad lead of 
the Stock Exchange, and become to a great extent 
centres of mere gambling. The evil has been largely 
ioten-ified since the establishment of the Produce 
Clearing House and the terminal market arrange- 
ments, &c. By these a spidt of gambling has been 
indue d among small dealers, particularly on the Con- 
ine 1 t, who operate on the remote chance of an easy 
profit; but the frequent consequent collapses have 
proved most detrimental to the wholesale dealers here, 
who now find this trade too h z rdous, and are really 
dubious of trusting anybody. 3rokers, financial houses 
and others who would be less of a pest to commerce 
if they had kept in their proper sphere, the turf, have, 
done very much to disturb legitimate arrangements, 
and we have by no means seen the end of the mischief 
that these harpies will effect." 
" We observe," says the Gazette, " that of late much 
attention has been paid in the columns of the Financial 
yews to tea, coffee and other commodities which are 
used as gaming counters in the Produce Clearing House, 
and this is likely to increase the undesirable Oapel- 
court methods which are so injurious to the community 
when applied to food products, although, of course, the 
successful gamblers reap a rich harvest. We would next 
* In the Caucasus, as in the United State?, tea will, 
doubtless, craw, but the labour question stands in the 
way of profitable enterprise, —Ed. T. A> 
iisk, is it compafii le with the interests of produce 
dealers that produce v;ilu s should be largely at the 
mercy of sets of gamblers by whose tricks and dodges 
bu.-iness is severely h;.ras-ed? And would dealers be 
wed advised to d scriminate against those brokers (it 
is unnecessary to name them here) who, for the sake 
of exira commis-ious, aid and abet, a system which is 
most prejudioal to legitimate business.'' 
The local Manager of the Ce>lon Gemming and 
Mining Syndicate, Mr. Harding, has left for Colombo 
to make arrangement for the prospecting tour of Mr. 
Barrington Brown, who has quite recently taken his 
departure for the same destination. Government has 
originally fixed its royalty on gems taken from crown 
lauds at 20 per cent, on the nett profits, though why 
this shou'd be demanded when native gemmers are 
permi 'ed to dig on payment of a very small fee only, 
is difficult to understand. However, we learn that 
the local authorities are now disposed to accept a 
much smaller royalty in addition to a moderate annual 
rent. 
When the Syndicate has established itself, and ob- 
tained data on which to proceed, it intends floating a 
C mpany, with a capital of £250,000, whose operations 
will probably embrace plumbago mining. 
A wrapping machine for fruit is the latest outcome 
of American ingenuity. This is a machine for wrap- 
ping fruit for shipment, a metal carrier moving the 
wrapping paper forward to where the fruit are fed, a 
clamp pressing the edges of the paper in necklike form 
round the fruit while the fruit-holder and clamp are 
rotated so as to twist the wrapper round the fruit, a 
discharger then forcing it out. — Ceylon Advertiser. 
Plumbago, in practically inexhaustible quantities, is 
reported to have been discovered eighteen miles from 
the Lower Blackwood coal seam, midway between Vasse 
and Quindalup in Western Australia. 
Tbopioal Plants in the Bivieba.— The new Bulletin 
of the royal G irdens at Kew contains an interesting 
report on the cultivation of tropical and sub-tropical 
plants in the French and Italian Riviera. Iu a pre- 
liminary note Mr. Thiselton Dyer explains that nowhere 
have these plants been made the subject of experi- 
meutal cultivation on so vast a scale as in the Riviera. 
The exceptional conditions of the climate have tempted 
persons possessed of horticultural tastes and consider- 
able wealth to try freely in the open air a great variety 
of plants ordinarily to be seen in Europe only under 
glass. With a view to ascertaining what bad actually 
been done in this direction, Mr. Dyer was authorized by 
the First Commissioner of Works to despatch Mr. 
Watson, Assistant Curator at Kew, to report on the 
subject. During October this gentleman visited a num- 
ber of private gardens between Hyeres and Mentone, 
especially the famous gardens of Mr. Hanbury at Mor- 
tola. In his report Mr. Watson mentions a considerable 
number of palms, bamboos, cycads, agaves, yuccas, &c, 
which from their rarity and supposed delicate nature 
would not have been expected to thrive even in such a 
avoured region as the Bwiera. — London Times. 
«, . 
Eangala, Jan. 17th.— I am glad to say it is rain- 
ing again : it fell heavily last Sunday and Monday, 
over 4 inches being measured during the two days — 
that is on the lower estates, up above it was much 
heavier. A slight drizzle on Tuesday and Wednes- 
day and heavy again yesterdiy and this morning : 
It is good soaking rain, almost every drop going into 
the ground, no wash visible anywhere. It is doing 
much good and will start us all plucking merrily 
in a few days. The upper Eangala estates planted 
on new land are giving 4001b. made tea per acre. 
At one time such good results were scarcely hoped 
for. Tea on old land is likewise steadily improving, 
we move along slowly but surely, age in both old 
and new land being the sine qua non here. I hear 
a big theft of cardamoms took place on Tuesday 
night either on Cottaganga or Gonavielle : <i gang 
of thieves are on the move again and v?W want 
cooking alter sharply. 
