598 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [March r, i8go. 
in their front door yards, under the shade of the 
plantains, that may yield three or four bushels of 
coffee berries. These are sold to speculators to 
help to make up a cargo gathered in this way from 
various parts of the Provinoe. 
The increase in the production has been marked 
within the past few years. In 1887 a little over 
5,387 tons were exported, in 1888 about 7,501 tons, 
and up to the first of the present month 1,725 
pounds had been exported of last year's crop. It 
is expeoted that the crop this year will be about 
20 per cent larger than that of last year.— American 
Grocer, Jan. 1st. 
AGRICULTURE IN ThVsTRAITS SETTLE* 
MENTS: PEPPER, NUTMEGS, TAPIOCA, &o. 
We have from time to time had occasion to remark 
that however much promise mining and manufacturing 
interests might give, it was to agriculture that the 
people of this colony must look to as the permanent 
Backbone to the prosperity of the Settlement, and the 
truth of these reminders will be fully borne out by 
a study of the history of the growth of our Austrahan 
colonies, where, notwithstanding the importance of 
the mining industry, agriculture has been the making 
of the colonies. The discovery of gold no doubt greatly 
helped to produce this, as it brought a flow of capital 
and labour into the country which was sadly wanting, 
but after the gold fever was on the wane, it was found 
that gold could be got in a different form from that 
sought after, and the rapid rise in prices of land in 
and around the towns shewed that enormous proBts did 
not pertain to mining alone, whilst the new industry had 
the advantage of being always a sure i™stment. 
Large farms were cleared and occupied, and the bleat- 
ing of sheep and lowing of cattle replaced the mining 
mania. It is true that residence in Australia is more 
congenial both from climatic and social causes than it 
is in this Peninsula, but, on the other hand, tne nature 
Of the agricultural products in these eastern lands are 
such that only certain countries afford room for the 
pursuit, hence it is clear that the amount grown will 
always be within a limit rendering very outting com- 
petition almost imnossible. The cultivation of nutmegs, 
cloves, pepper, ta pl oca, coffee and padd. « "stated 
to a certain few places, and offers a fine .field to 
capitalists. It has never been denied that the industry 
is highly remunerative, though a considerable amount 
of personal supervision and patience is necessary to 
ensure success, the greatest objection being the years 
of waiting till the early stages of growth have been 
passed. In the Settlements at present, it is 
estimated that out of an estimated area ot 
about 900,000 acres, a little over one-third nas 
been brought under cultivation, while nearly a hair is 
quite fit tobeso. That this land could be occupied 
and profitably cultivated there is no reason to doubt, 
and the time will come sooner or later, with the open- 
ing up of the Native States, when the Government will 
be compelled to give attention to the cultivation ot 
cereals, such as paddi, which forms such an important- 
factor of daily food, and to extend privileges to those 
willing to engage in its production. At present little 
or no attention is given to agriculture by the Govern- 
ment, and the difficulties in the way of obtaining in. 
formation are too great to make that information much 
sought after. A grant for paddi seed to intending 
cultivators, with a few years free from revenue would 
probably assist in promoting the enterprise, and now 
that a science teacher has been appointed, clashes 
might very advantageously be opened up for the 
study of agriculture and mineralogy as a prelude to 
the establishment of an agricultural and mining de- 
partment, for which the development of the Native 
Stites will in time create a demand— Straits Times, 
Jau. 18th. 
Coffee in tub Aobas has done well when 
a field of 00 acres has given 500 cwt. of crop; 
but this i3 the result of high cultivation costing 
aa much as R150 per acre. Still that pays well 
with a crop of 5 owt. and over per acre. 
INDIAN TEA IN AMERICA. 
(Bv the "Peripatetic Planter.") 
I heard recently some items of news respecting 
Dehra Doon tea and Canada, which remind one that 
fact is sometimes stranger than fiction. Would it sur- 
prise you to learn, after all I have stated so emphati- 
cally here at various times, about ft light liquoring 
flavour tea being the one with Which to open the cam. 
paign in America, would it surprise you I ask, to 
learn, that the Canadians are taking so kindly to the 
light liquoring tea of the Doon, that about three- 
fourths of the total Doon crop is now imported 
into Canada direct? This was assorted to me re- 
cently as a fact, by one who is in the best posi- 
tion to know. The strange features in the case I 
have yet to point out. The first is, that by import- 
ing direct, the Canadians are said to be paying 25 per 
cent more than they could buy the tea for in London ; 
and this without any corresponding saving or gain 
in transit charges. It appears that they will have 
the Tea packed in half-chests and not in chests. 
The distance for transport is greater than if the tea 
came via London. The American Railways, however, 
are so greedy for business, that they land the Teas 
in New York and put tbem in their waggons free 
of charge, all charges being confined to their own 
traffic charges. The U. S. Customs encourage this 
transport trade, by allowing the Teas to travel in 
bond. The Canadian merchants, too, accept invoice 
weights, merely boring a hole in an occasional 
chest, without otherwise opening or damaging 
it, to draw samples, and only weighing one ohest 
in about a dozen. Very unlike London custom this. 
Well, notwithstanding the extra distance, and the 
proportionate extra cost of half-cliests as compared 
with whole chests, the cost of landing the Tea in 
Toronto (the first market, I understand) is just the 
same whether it comes direct from India or via 
London ; the warehouse and transhipping and other 
charges in London eating up the saving gained by 
the shorter distance. That is the second curious 
feature. The third is the outcome of the first. If 
the charges of transit are thus equalised, why should 
the Canadians prefer to pay 25 per cent more in 
first cost by buying direct, than 25 per cent 
less by buying in London ? I do not, of course, 
hold myself responsible for the statements of my 
informant, I give them as I heard them, and I 
thing they are sufficiently important, considering the 
well-informed source, to demand ventilation — as any. 
think like an unnecessary tax of 25 per cent upon 
first cost is a handicap upon the gross amount of 
sales. Of course there will be individuals who would suffer 
by this ventilation, if it chaDges the channel of the sup- 
plies; but when the greatest good of the greatest 
number is in question, individuals have always to take 
their chance. Can it be that Canadians are so well 
informed already as to the damage done to Tea by the 
chests being opened in London, that they prefer, 
knowingly, to pay 25 per cent, more, and have their 
Teas direct and in cases intact, than 25 per cent, less, 
at the cost of quality ? If so, they are capable of 
giving points and a beating to the London trade. Or 
is it that the Canadians argue, without a study of the 
facts of the case, that by purchasing direct, thev must 
naturally (they suppose) save all the London middle- 
men's profits and charges, and must be getting their 
Tens cheaper than if they bought in London? It is 
quite possible that, arguing upon general principles, 
that may be the idea upon which they are acting — if 
that is really their idea, their general principles have 
led them astray as I have already shown.— Indian 
Planters' Gazette, Jan. 28th. 
PRODUCTS ANDTNDUSTRY - IN BRAZIL. 
From the paper in January's Contemporary entitled 
" Brazil Past and Future" by M. G. Mulhall, we 
extract the following: — 
Coffee is the sheet-anchor of Brazilian industry and 
wealth. Its cultivation was introduced by a poor priest 
in 1754, and Brazil now grows 60 per cent of the coffee 
of the world, the crop in 1885 being estimated at 
