July f, 1887.! THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
39 
bats destroying tea plants. 
Deab Sib— Can you, or any of your correspond- 
ents, tell me how to get rid of Bandicoot rats, 
which are doing much damage to my two and 
three years old tea ? 
They cut right through half inch thick roots, 
and in many cases pull the plants right out of 
the ground. 
They stick pretty well to one patch in a rocky 
field, and I can find no trace of them in the 
daytime, neither do my dogs scent them, and 
there are no holes. I have tried poisoning, tom-toms, 
reward for tails, but all to no effect and the dam- 
age is serious. Any advice will be gratefully re- 
ceived by- Yours faithfully, PEOPRIETOR. 
[On an estate in the Nanuoya district, about a 
score of the very finest plants were destroyed about 
six months ago, by bandicoots, in the manner de- 
scribed. This was in a corner quite close to a 
belt of jungle. Nothing that we are aware of was 
done, except to put the coolies on the scent of 
this game. The damage soon ceased. We scarcely 
understand the failure of good dogs to trace the 
bandicoots by sight or scent.— Ed.] 
• Coffee and Tea in Ootacamund. — The retail price 
of coffee in Ootacamund is just now 30 rupees a 
maund. The sudden rise has affected consumption 
among the poorer classes of natives to such an 
extent that its use is almost abandoned by hundreds 
who regularly drank coffee before. This is the 
opportunity for those who believe in the introduc- 
tion of a cheap tea into the bazaar. Put up in 
convenient little packets or sold by the ounce, a 
large demand for cheap tea cannot fail to spring 
up, of which local dealers should not be slow to 
take advantage. — Nilgvri Express, 1st June. 
Plantings in Ceylon. — A correspondent in one of 
the Oeylon planting districts writes: — "Tea has ad- 
vanced much since I was here three or four years 
ago. There are tea factories in all directions, any 
men who have not factories, and cannot afford to 
build, are selling their leaf, contracting to supply 
a certain amount- regularly for a certain time. The 
tea factories are furnished with better machinery 
than formerly, and the rolling is no longer done by 
hand. Coffee has done better this last season than 
it has done for years, but there is much less coffee 
than formerly, as it lias given place to tea. Lal our 
is Bcarce." — Madras Standard, May 18th. 
Brazil Coffee. — The following are the objec- 
tions to the export of coffee in the hull, as pre- 
sented by a correspondent of the Jornal on the 
31st. The shipping of coffee in the hull will lead 
to adulteration, for the Germans mix roasted 
hull with the roasted bean ; it will render useless 
the considerable expense incurred by planters in 
mounting cleaning machines ; it will cause loss 
to the country through reduced freights on the 
railways, and the reduction on export duties ; it 
will attract rats on board ship, and the hulls 
being an excellent manure, the export will tend to 
the depauperizing of the plantations. — Rio News, 
April 5th. 
A New ASPAKAGUS. — Some little interest has been 
netted by the announcement of the discovery of a 
new ami remarkable variety of asparagus on the 
Steppes of Akhal-Tekiz. It has not been botanically 
indoutified, but it is represented as growing perfectly 
wild, the stalks being Dearly as thick as a man's arm 
and attainirg a height of five or six feet, so that 
one of them is said to suffice ten Russian soldiers 
for a meal. If the preference of experts for wild 
asparagus finds justification in this variety, and its 
flavour is described " s equ>0 to that of the beat Eur ipea a 
kinds, a.'paiagus lovers may have a good time before 
them, — J'liarmuceutical Journal. 
Indian Tea. — The latest reports from the tea dis- 
tricts are that the weather in Assam has been, on 
the whole, very favourable, but in the Kachar and 
Terai districts blight has become prevalent, and in 
Darjeeling complaints were made of the coldness of 
the weather which stopped rapid flushing. — Pioneer. 
Coffee. — A correspondent at Calicut wriMng to the 
ITadras Times says : — The pricu of Coffee which is 
daily going up, has risen to R1.500 per ton owing to 
the very deficient crop. As an instance, it may be 
mentioned that one estate iu the Wynaad, of over GOO 
acres under plants, has only turned out this season 64 
bushels, the worst result known for some years. The 
owners, preferring to dispose of it locally to sending 
so small a quantity to England, have sold the crop 
outright to Messrs. Hinde & Co. iu its uncured state 
— a proceeding which has been followed by many others. 
Ouffee, which was sold in the local bazaars a month ago 
at 14-0 per viss, is now securing R2-0-0 and promises 
to go much higher. This state of things is attributed 
to a deficient rainfall, and to an absence of rain at 
the time it was wanted. 
Cultivation in Tunis. — A recent report by Sir B. 
L. Play I air of a tour along the coast of Tunis 
gives the following notes on the cultivation of desert 
land. At Gabes, he says, a great improvement has 
taken place in one year. Only two stone houses 
existed twelve months since, and now there is quite 
a small town. Oued el Melah, 8 miles from Gabes, 
is where Colonel Rondaire proposed to make a cutting 
which should inundate the Sahara. Artesian wells 
have been sunk, and Consul Playfair says : — " It is 
not more than six months since any attempt was 
made to bring the land around under cultivation, and 
already the most surprising results are apparent. The 
ground is perfectly flat and sandy ; it was covered 
more or less with sparse scrub, which by decom- 
position during centuries had added a certain amount 
of vegetable matter to the soil ; indeed, in years of 
unusual rain the Arabs had been in the habit of cult- 
ivating small patches here and there ; but for all 
practical purposes the land was desert and absolutely 
valueless. Now 160 hectares (375 acres) have been 
cleared, arranged for irrigation, and sown with cereals 
and Lucerne ; a vegetable garden has been made, and 
a nursery of young trees planted. Everything is 
looking flourishing and hopeful. AVide roads have been 
laid out in all directions, and marked out by rows 
of Date Palms ; even the commencement of a village 
has been made. Two other artesian wells are being 
suuk, one on either side, and when all are completed 
it will be possible to irrigate 3000 hectares (7500 
acres) of land.'' — Gardeners' Chronicle. 
Indian and Ceylon Teas. — The supply of Indian 
Tea placed upon the market has been much smaller, 
aud as the demand continues active, prices on the 
whole remain very firm. The medium descriptions, 
owing chiefly to the limited selection obtainable, have 
been largely competed for, and as the recent arrivals 
appear to have brought but a comparatively small pro- 
portion of these grades, it is not improbable that a 
strong market will continue for the present. Values 
for the commoner teas have also shown a hardening 
tendency, while the AVhole Leaf descriptions, especially 
good-class souchongs, are from Jd to Jd. dearer. Com- 
mon low-priced broken teas have shared in the in- 
creased firmness, but the finest sorts have been in less 
request, and show no change of importance. Judging 
from the continuous expansion in the consumption of 
Indian teas, there appears for the present every prob- 
ability of a strong market, as, at the present rate of 
deliveries, the stock bids fair to be considerably reduced 
before there is any material addition to the supplies by 
the arrival of the new crop. The Ceylon teas brought 
forward this week have shown some improvement in 
quality, and as there has been a good general demand, 
they have on the whole fetched firmer prices. The 
small quantity of Java tea sold steadily at about late- 
rates. At the public sales 14,770 packoges were ottered, 
iucludingU2,062 Indian, 2,528 .Oejfon, and ISO Java teas. 
The inquiries generally were active, and nearly the 
whole sold at firm to advanced rates. — Product J I 'ark' 1 .<■' 
RevUic, May 14th, 
