May i, iSgo.i 
TH£ TROPICAL AQftlOUtf UftlSf . 
'/49 
1887 when the imports were only a third of those 
last year. They point out that the development 
of the Ceylon tea trade stands unrivalled, seeing 
that virtually it only began in 1881 with an 
export of 300,000 lb. and that in nine years 
this has grown to 33,000,000 lb. representing a 
value of £1,500,000. India with the vast aoreage 
at its disposal, can show no such progress ; for 
it took lur twenty years to attain the same position 
as a tea exporter. It is noticed that Ceylon teas 
are becoming appreciated on the Continent and 
orders from Russia especially for high-grown pekoes 
have given inoreased competition to the London 
sales. Messrs. Wilson, Smithett & Co. do not 
much believe in "green teas," the demand at a 
good price being limited, and the Americans paying 
poor rat< s for their green teas as a rule. The 
Brokers ire more in favour of true Oolongs of a 
quality like the Formosa Oolongs. 
In the list of estates with total quantity of tea 
sold and averages realized in 1889 (as compared 
with 188 ) Messrs. Wilson, Smithett & Co. have this 
year confined the marks given to all selling 20,000 lb. 
or upwards. They have also divided the list into 
four groups:— Over 200,000 lb.; 100,000 lb. to 200,000 
lb.; 50,000 lb. to 100,000 lb.; and 20,000 lb. to 50,000 
lb. They indioate the altitude as far as possible 
by initial letters. The first mark in this list is 
" Wallah \ " which sold last year 342,000 lb. about 50 
per cent more than in 1888 with an increase of 10 
per cent in the average or Is lid. K. A. W. sold 
533,000 1b. and Mariawatte 480,0001b. or over the 
million between them and at the same average 
of lid. Glenugie heads the second group with 
129,000 lb. averaging Is 2*d. Goatfell heads 
the third group with 72,000 lb. average Is 3Jd. 
At the top of the fourth group comes Hoolankanda 
with 22,000 lb. averaging Is 9d by far the highest 
in the whole record ; Portswood follows with 
43,O0Olb. at Is 4£d against Is 3fd in 1888 ; and 
then come both Alnwick and Sheen with the same 
average of Is 3£d, the quantities being 42,000 and 
39,000 lb. respectively, 
The average obtained for the different groups of 
distriots is of interest : the principal ohange being 
in Hewaheta which stood first last year, but is 
now down to fifth. 
Messrs. Geo. White & Co. in their Report give an 
estimate of the requirements and shipments for 
"the coming season" — that is 1st July 1890 to 
30th June 1891 :— 
Required for Home Consumption 190,000,000 lb. 
do do Export 35,000,000 lb. 
225,000,000 lb. 
Iudia will send, say 
Cejlou do 
Java &c. do 
Leaving China to supply 
110,000,000 ib. 
45,000,000 lb. 
6,000,000 lb. 
95,000,000 lb. 
225,000,000 lb. 
This firm would like the Ceylon " tea season " 
for orop estimates and export figures altered to 
correspond with that of India. Unfortunately this 
has not bien done. 
CINNAMON AND COCONUTS. 
Vevanooda, 23rd January, 1890. 
In spit) of the very dry weather we are having, 
Oiuuamun pools fairly well. As is to be expected, the 
more mature sticks do not peel ; iudeed these peel 
only at intervals and during- very favourable weather 
as a ruld. Some Planters peel all during the dry 
season and professedly ouly coarse atioks, The reason 
they ftdduoo for the practice is that uuIcsb they do 
this, thoy will have no Ciuuamou for the following 
year, as coppicing helps shooib. This is hirdly correct. 
If you follow the peelers into the field during the 
idry season you will find that barely 5 per cent, of 
the coarse sticks peel. The rest are all tested with 
the catty. The wounds thus caused gape till the wet 
weather and growing season come round and, will 
not, as under favourable circumstances, cicatrise and 
be healed. Very often they bleed freely. The result 
is that such sticks are checked in growth, the leaves 
then turn yellow, and as often as not they are 
never fit for peeling again, and have to be removed 
by the pruners. Again, careful observation will show 
that the shoots thrown out during the dry season 
are generally the thiu and sickly ones that are removed 
by the pruners. Forced cuttings during the annual 
droughts are, I think, productive of more loss and 
harm than gain. Among Tea Planters the style of 
picking that is most profitable is a vexed question. 
As in everything else, a middle course is said to be 
the best, and medium picking finds the largest 
number of adherents. Among Cinnamon Planters, 
too, whether fine or coarse cutting is the best is 
not quiet settled. The adherents of each system 
have much to say in favour of what they practise, I 
have given the subject a good deal of attention, and 
am inclined to think medium cutting better than 
fine, even though the Cinnamon resulting from the 
latter system fetches dazzlingly high prices. This 
more especially, when sjasons cannot be calculated 
on. Making fancy Cinnamon occupies much time, 
and unless you have a very large force of peelers, the 
season is partially lost. Delay in harvesting your 
crop means, apart from having so much capital 
lying useless, your Cinnamon growing coarse. The 
result is that the coarse qualities predominate, and 
that what is gained in the higher prices of the 
finer Cinnamon is lost in the larger quantity of tho 
coarse qualities that is turned out. 
Coconuts always run up in price aa the smaller 
crops are harvested, and the balance is thus main- 
tained. The crops of the S. W. months are generally 
the large crops. This is easily understood, as the 
S. W. rains follow the trying drought at the begin- 
ning of the year. During this period the trees re- 
ceive a very severe shock to their system, and 
in obedience to a law of Nature make a violent 
effort at reproduction. These shocks to fruit-bearing 
trees are sometimes artificially produced, as by branch 
and root pruning. The latter is too severe for a 
tropical climate, and even branch pruning can be 
overdone. However beneficial a stirring of the soil 
may be, I am averse to the frequent stirrings when 
pereunials are cultivated, owing to the severe shock 
the trees receive. The prices of Coconuts are higher 
now than they have been for many a long day, and 
Coconut Planters are sorry that they have so little 
crop to benefit by them. I have heard of the 
price of nuts as R37'50. This may be apocryphal, but 
R35 to 36 can be obtained now for 1,000. 
A correspondent in the Observer in sending a 
cutting to that paper on Coconut Butter hazards 
the guess that possibly this is the stuff that is 
manufactured here. That dessicated coconut and 
not butter is manufactured here is no secret. The 
only secret about the Mills is the mode of manu- 
facture, and that for obvious reasons. It is ru- 
moured that the business may be extended, and that 
new appliances for dessicating will be used. What 
with competition, the Mills, I fear, cannot get 
sufficient nuts for their wants. — Local " Examiner." 
Preservation of Leathek. — Oalifornian papers 
announce the discovery of a substance which has an 
extraordinary effect upon leather, rendering it water- 
proof, pliable, and almost indestructible. The discovery 
is alleged to have been made in the laboratory of 
the State University of California. Some combination 
of fatty matter and sulphur is hinted at as the 
ingredient which is to revolutionise the leather trade, 
preserve shoes, and turn old boots into new ones. Assum- 
ing a certaiu amount of truth in the statement which 
reaches us, it would seem that our Califoroian friends 
have it upon something like our Cishurstiue,— 
Gardeners Chronicle, 
