November i, 1887.J THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
thus bo sure of getting whatever profit might bo made 
out of their gardens, in one .shape or other; in- 
stead of allowing it to bo absorbed by outside capital- 
ists while their original shares went dividendless for 
jears, and steadilj depreciated in value till they becamo 
an utterly unmarketable commodity. 
Reviewing the foregoing, however, it seems to us 
that it may bo fairly concluded that tea doe* pay, at 
least as well as if not hotter than must other kinds of 
business; and that the gloomy and despondent view so 
often taken of tea planting and tea as an investment is 
due more to a bad habit of looking only on the reverse 
of the picture and a wilful closing of the eyes to the 
bright side of it, than to a careful consideration of the 
real facts, and a comparison with the state of other 
industries. — Indian Planters? Gazette. 
PEPPER ADULTERATION. 
The various prosecutions in the spring for the sale 
of adulterated Pepper have had a very satisfactory 
effect upon the London deliveries, which for the first 
thirty-five weeks of this year wore 5,442 tons, against 
5,013 tons in 1886. These figures are for Plack and 
White Peppers together, and indeed this is the proper 
way to regard the statistics of the trade, because, 
owing to decortication here, the use of the two kinds 
is now inextricably mixed up. It was pointed out that 
the retail Grocers would not knowingly have bought 
adulterated Peppers, and thus have compromised their 
good name for what yielded no appreciable profit. 
They were simply tempted by low prices, and did not 
know of the existence of the adulteration. They are 
now on their guard, however, and hence the improved 
demand for real Pepper. The wholesale houses are also 
taking sleps in the direction of increased caution, 
by more careful selection, the rejection of doubtful 
samples, grinding their own Pepper. &c. It is 
particularly satisfactory to notice tnat the adulter- 
ation of "White Pepper with Long Pepper appears to 
have received a very severe blow. Long Pepper 
has fallen 20s. per cwt., or about one-third of 
its then value, since the spring, owing undoubtedly 
to the prosecutions for its uso with White Pepper. At 
the great fall that has taken place, its use with White 
Pepper would give a profit of Cd for every pound - of 
Long Pepper that could bo mixed with White Pepper, 
so that the temptation to those fraudulently disposed 
is very great. Fortunately, however, the taste and 
smell of Long Pepper cannot be disguised, so that tho 
adulteration is readily to be detected. As it is pro- 
bable that the practice of adulterating Pepper is as 
yet only dormant, and might very readily bo revived, 
the actual cost of the lowest ground samples which 
the Grocers could safely sell may be useful. Tho 
present market value of good heavy Penan g, which is 
supposed to contain from 8 to 12 per cent of dust, 
is Ojd to 7d per lb. ; and uddiug fjd p ( - r lb. for the 
cost of grinding, this would bring its present first cost 
to7ld per lb. Those who bought a little time back, 
can, however, sell with n profit at that quotation. The 
lowest cost of ground common White Penang, taken 
in the same way, is 10j|d. In this case the market 
is lower than it has been. It is also satisfactory to 
notice that the demand for geuuiue Ground Ginger 
is increasing, since the recent prosecution for the use 
of spent Ginger for adulterating Pepper. — Produce 
ilarktW Be vit it. 
COCONUT CI I .T IV ATI UN IN CEYLON, 
siynne Korale, 3ntl] Sept. 188". 
We ore having strange wmther just now. Due 
feels aa it In- baa Imperceptibly glided into tlx; mid- 
dle Hi the N.-lv months with chilly morning and 
grilling!) bot days What completes the delusion ia 
that the Peak is clearly sjsil i. . 
OtnnplsJnta are rile on all side* that roconuts are 
very Miinllsi/.ed in this and the previous Miana, ami 
tb.i, it won't pay plantirs to dry their nuts owing 
to n couple linndrtd or so of uuts more be ing r< - 
quired in makes rami} of copra, i mount i , rn 
selling cheaper since July than I have ever known 
before in mj limited experience in tin Korale. a* 
tho property I superviso is young, and the crop 
small, it was always deemed expedient to sell the uuta 
ratber than turn them into copra, as small parcels of 
copra are not affected by mill-owners. No offers being 
made recently for my nuts, whereas in former years 
active competition prevailed, the only course left wan 
to convert them into copra. The result was en- 
couraging both as regards tho outturn of copra 
and the price obtained for it — 1,150 nuts went to 
the candy of copra and the price obtained for thearliclo 
clean and well dried was the sasne as that ruling 
for tho best kinds. In this instance at least the 
fallacy was exploded that the vehicle in which copra 
reaches Colombo determines its price. I sent in neither 
boat nor cart copra, yet the price I obtained for it 
was equal to the best boat-copra. Let planters take 
encouragement from my experience. They can rest 
assured that for clean, well-dried copra they will 
obtain top-prices in either of the German houses 
owning mills. 
The Hapitigam planting prophet raises a wail in 
your issue of the 10th instant that he is discredited, 
and that his neighbours " know better than I do, whai 
to do, and how to do it." He must not be surprised 
at this, the result of his affected superiority to all 
coconut planters, and to his laying down dictums 
without adducing reasons in support of them. Now 
to his system of cultivation as enunciated by him 
" for tho tenth time " to enlighten a perverse and 
stiff necked generation of planters. He starts with 
a plantation five years old, and he requires that the 
tree should have " at least 2 feet of clear stem, 
and a head of not less than twenty green leaves." 
Impractical as usual to begin with, for the planter 
is not only required to measure the stem of every 
individual tree on his plantation, but to count the 
number of gre.en leaves each tree is carrying ! for, 
mind you, the bone dust he U6es for a plantation 
having these his two essential requirements " is not 
a suitable manure for young plants, or weak or dwarfed 
trees of any age," so that not only must the measure of 
the tree's stem and the number of leaves it is carrying 
be ascertained, but when applying the manure the 
planter must stop short of the roots of young plants and 
dwarfed and weak trees; for the bone dust is sown broad 
cast, it must be remembered. Let us now regard his 
system from an agricultural point of view. A coco- 
nut tree under ordinary circumstances does not come 
into bearing till it is between eight or ten years 
old, so that to force it into bearing in the fifth 
or sixth year is to induce precosity which is incon- 
sistent with longevity and is harmful to the constitution 
of the tree. I would regard a man who practised 
this Bystem as either ignorant of agriculture, or as 
being eminently selfish in leaving to his heirs a 
worn out property. Pone dust is regarded as ahighly 
stimulating manure, and is used with caut'on foreren 
trc a in bearing, as its use once commenced must always 
bo persisted in. What will be the result I ask of its 
use on young trees forced into premature bearing? 
What is the object besides of manuring '! In sound and 
practical agriculture it is to return to the soil tho 
elements of fertility removed from it by crops. Accord- 
ing to my ideas of agriculture, all that is necessary for 
a tree till it reaches the bearing stage, is to en- 
courage its growth by loosening the soil. Given a 
well-grown, healthy tree and you can do what you 
like with it to make productive. Your correspond- 
ent uses lour cwt. of bone dust sown broad-cast for 
an acre of land i <■., about li lb. per tree counting "5 
trees to the acre. Is not that au extremely large 
dose especially for young trees '■ Besides, most of 
the immure will he wasted when sown broad-cast, 
lor trees of five years ot uge euu hardly be expected 
to have sent roots all over the ground, except 
perhaps in exceptional localities with rich, free soil. 
In practice it will be found that the feeding roots 
are found almost exclusively round the tree mid well 
within shelter of its branches, and a practical Welsh 
gardener told us years ago that tbr HbrOU roots 
round the stem of a tree supply it with fruit-forni- 
ing materials, while the larger roots which spread 
further away supply materials for tho formation t>( 
