THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. TJanuary 2, iS8 8 
Tea in Fiji. — Mr. Barratt, of the firm of Mackinnon 
& Barratt, Masusa Plantation, Wainunu, an ex- 
perienced Indian tea planter, who has been engaged 
in the culture of the shrub for the last three years 
in Fiji, has written an able article ia the Fiji Times 
recommending it as a suitable industry for men of 
moderate means. He declares that it will give re- 
turns in Fiji 25 per cent, better than any which 
have come under his notice during his Indian ex- 
perience. — Colonies and India. 
Cocoa Adulteration. — Amsterdam, Nov. 23rd.— 
Our leading cocoa manufacturers have lately been 
pestered by invitations from a London firm of dealers 
in colours and chemicals to try a new cocoa 
adulterant. In their letter the firm in question say, 
" We hand you herewith sample of a finely levi- 
gated brown which we are supplying for the pur- 
pose of bringing up the colour of cocoa ; it is per- 
fectly harmless, and being of light gravity and rich 
colour is particularly well adapted for the purpose." 
The sample is a mineral brown, and upon analysis 
was found ,to consist simply of oxide of iron and a 
little alumina — certainly not' very desirable ingre- 
dients in cocoa or chocolate, — Chemist and Druggist. 
The Change from Coffee to Tea : Eota- 
tion of Crops ! — An experienced Manager writes of 
a recent trip he took through upland districts he 
had not seen for some time: — "Queer changes one 
sees now-a-days. was a fine coffee estate with 
no end of cinchona when I saw it last, less than three 
years ago, and now it is a grand sheet of tea with 
a most palatial-looking factory which contains 
everything complete for turning out the tippy stuff 
we are in duty bound to drink nowadays whether 
we like it or no. I counted exactly 13 coffee trees, 
and I saw a few scrubby looking shrubs 1 which 
I was told were cinchonas. Who will say the 
Tropical Agriculturist does not cultivate the land 
in the most approved fashion by rotation of crops 
after this I should like to know. , , , 
, , are now all in tea and the nicest looking 
tea estates, in my opinion, in the four districts, 
but then I am probably prejudiced. The jat on 
is not quite so good as on the rest of them, 
but then the soil isn't so good either, and it is 
soil that very frequently makes or mars jat, but I 
have no fear but it will do well by and bye." 
China Tea Exports and Prospects. — A cor- 
respondent, writing before our correction on the 
export comparisons, says: — "A mistake has been 
made in your China tea figures : the total shipments 
last year from China to England were 147 million 
pounds not 127, the latter had been shipped by 
this time, as the statement you published show, 
the decrease will therefore be 33g millions and not 
13J ; it is now 31 millions and will be larger. In fact 
it will be nearer 40 than 30 millions probably. It 
is wonderful what nonsense people write, when 
they expatiate on subjects they do not understand. 
The Foochow merchants think the cultivator 
should produce tea for their benefit, not for his 
own. They nowhere propose to subscribe the 
capital to make the changes in cultivation they re- 
commend. They say that India and Ceylon can 
lay down dust &c. at 2d per pound, whilst they 
admit that the cost of tea is 6d, or it will be that, 
in a year or two. as if dust and fannings were not 
a part of the whole yield. Planters sell dust &c. 
at 20 cents because half a loaf is better than no 
bread, and it is better to take 20 cents for dust 
than throw it away. Their suggestions based on 
absurd ideas of the life of the plant might have 
been put forward by children. They should offer 
to make good the loss of revenue to the Chinese 
Government, if it does away with the lekin and 
export duties— and then their recommendations will I 
ba attended to." I 
Tea Experts and Tea Garden Manage- 
ment. — Eeading over Mr. Armstrong's paper in its 
reprinted pamphlet form, we feel that our friend 
" Peppercorn" (page 459) (though no doubt "kinder 
sarkastic ") was unduly 6evere in his criticism. 
Sentences detached from their connection no doubt 
may afford puzzles, but the paper read consec- 
utively cannot fail to be followed, at least by 
those, for whom it was specially intended, tea 
planters (not excepting " Peppercorn ") acquainted 
with the technical language necessarily used. — 
A more serious matter in connection with Mr. 
Armstrong's paper is the evidence he affords 
of the special necessity for careful supervision 
of the work done in the tea fields, in " pluck- 
ing " especially, as well as in the factory. 
Is it not clear that there will be a wide cry 
for additional help when all the tea now growing 
is being fully cropped, and is there a sufficiency 
of suitable factory or field assistants now in train- 
ing. Are Ceylonese parents with sturdy sons 
not afraid of work, looking forward, as they ought, 
to getting their sons into factories ? We learn 
that Mr. Barber has been the means of training 
several factory assistants of the type we refer to, 
who have readily found employment. As regards 
field-work, the hardest-worked man we have heard 
of is a wellknown Kelani Valley proprietor who, 
unlike his neighbours, despises "breakfast in the 
bungalow," when " plucking " is fully on, keep- 
ing out rather all day to see after this imrxirtant 
work, and breakfasting as in the busiest days of 
old with coffee, " in the field." May the shadow 
of this hard-working planter of the old school never 
grow less ! 
Indigo Trade in San Salvador.— The quantity of 
indigo produced aunuallv in San Salvador varies from 
9,000 to 15,000 bales of 150 lb. each. Indigo seeds are 
sown broad-cast like wheat and oats, and ploughed 
ill. Every seed germinates twice, and thus there are 
two annual crops. Prices fluctuate greatly and the 
natives are capricious in their demands and fancies. 
The crop, as prepared for market, is graded like cotton 
and wheat in the United States, and the numbers 
"6," "7," "8," and " 9" on the bales define the class 
or grade to wbich the bale belongs. The last of the 
figures designates the best, and the first the lowest 
grade. The absolute cost of production is about two 
shillings aud eightpence per lb. while in India tlie cost 
is stated to be about one shilling. In Sau Salvador 
the indigo is cut with machetes, instead of reapers. 
When cut, the indigo is soaked iu vasts, "puddled," 
boiled, straiued, and dried, and this is all done by the 
eimplest means, and by manual labour. The natives 
convey the indigo to the market towns in packs on 
their backs. Samples are spread on mats, beside wbich 
the farmer sits awaiting customers, aud these are 
attracted from many parts by the annually recurring 
indigo fairs of Salvador. These market periods in 
each city commonly last from eight to fifteen days. 
The particular saint of each of these indigo markets 
is specially invoked during the continuance of the 
sales, and thus the priests and churches share in the 
profits incidental to these gatherings of the people. 
The first great indigo fair of the year begins on 
August 30, at Santa Rosa, the next when the first 
closes, at Ohalatenango, the next at Sesuntepeque, 
and then follow those, attended by vast numbers 
of people, at San Miguel, near the harbour of La 
Union, which begins on the 17th aud lasts until the 
25th of November. Formerly consumers of indigo in 
the United States bought aud imported their supplies 
from India through Liverpool or London, but they 
now buy largely from San Salvador, and instead of four 
or five hundred bales, as in former years, it is ex- 
pected that one-sixih of the whole crop of 1887 will 
be taken by New York and Boston, aud by cotton- 
mill owners of the South. There is an export duty 
on indigo in Salvador amounting to about 14s, per 
bale, — Ckemiit and Druggist. 
