C 2 8 THE TROPICAL 
dr\ r weather of 188" will probably tell unfavourab'y 
on the outturn of 1888. Th s art a under Cacao has 
not in-Teased. In fact st me land planted with Cacoa 
and found unsuitable has beeu planted with other pro - 
duets. The exporls for 1887 were 17,460 cwts. against 
13,056 cwts. in 18- G. 
Oardamons. — The crop of 1887 has been an ample 
one, and the export has inc eised ; but during the com- 
ing year, notwithstanding a larger acreage iu beariug, 
it is unlikey that the s-ini« quantity will be again 
reached. The Exports for 1887 were 384,015 lb. and 
55 packages, ag inst 238,947 lb. in 188G 
Liberia n Coffee.— The Exports for 1887 were 3,419 
cwts. against 3,834 cwts. in 1886. 

THE DUTCH MARKET. 
Amsterdam, January 25th. — Cinchona. — Of the lots 
offered at our last auction 144 tons Java manufacturers' 
bark contained the equivalent of 4 "2 per cent sulphate 
of quinine on an average ; whilst 426 packages (about 
26 tons.) contained over 5 per cent ; 142 packages 
(about 8 tons) over 6 p.c. ; 7 bales, 8'10 p.c and 2 
cases 9 •38 per cent. These figures prove that Java is 
on the 4 per cent level, alluded to in your No. 400 
(December 17ih, 1887). It would be of great interest 
to know how much quinine the Ceylon bark, sold in 
London iu the last auctions, contained on an average. 
Cubebs. — The 1 bales cultivated berries are not yet 
sold. Ihe sample was sent to Louton, where parties 
interested iu the article declared it mixed with spurious 
berries, and estimated the value to 20Z per cwt. And 
yet these cubebs are prime in every respect, and no 
spurious oaes amongst them. Buyers have been ac- 
customed these two to three years to small shrivelled 
half-developed cubebs, and for this reason seem to sus- 
pect berries of finer appearance. — Chemist and Druggist, 
Jan. 28th. 
*— 
WELL DONE OLD MATA.LE E&.ST EO R TEA 1 
A Matale East planter, writing on the 15th, 
asks: — 
" What think you of the following tea plucking 
lc-eord from land over 45 years in coffee, and after 
a drougut of 47. diya ? Oq the 13th, 73 coolies brought 
in 1,181 lb. green leaf, or an average of fully 20 lb. per 
cooly, while the following day 66 coolies brought in 
1,122 lb., or 17 lb. average per cooly. Not so bad for 
OldMitale. Run keeps threatening every aEternoon 
now. I fully expect a downpour soon." 
It will do the heart of Mr. Peter Moir good 
to see this news, and by-and-bye to see the 
fields, every yard of which must be familiar to 
him, clothed in their new mantle of green with 
vi^oroui rich cropping tea bushes. 
Tomeeo.— The Samarang Locamoti'j' says that a 
gentleman named Laurillard, on behalf of a firm at 
(Singapore, has secured from the Sultan of Siak a 
concession taking in two thousand bouws of waste 
land on the river of that name. He is also entitled to 
take up six thousand more acres of adjoining 
land. The object of the undertaking turns out to 
be the cultivation of tobacco, Mr. Laurillard 
has since proceeded to Holland, where he intends 
to do his best to start for cultivation purposes, a 
company with a oapital of. three hundred thousand 
guildres. An experienced planter from Deli will 
manage the estate should all go well. — Straits Times. 
Tun Pr.orixd fhom Coconut Estates —We 
heard not long ago of a native gentleman, who was 
aaid to be getting R20.000 income from 150 acres 
of coconut land, or 11131 per acre per annum. An 
old coconut planter waxes wroth on this : — " I don't 
lik'! to call anyone bad names, but really 
:-hould bo careful bofore ho speaks of R20,000 income 
1 1 om 150 acres coconuts! and th tt I presume 
without any pirticular cultivation or large expendi 
jure, A-.'d the moderate sum of R5.000 for workin 
AGRICULTURIST. [March i, 1888. 
expenses, and you have R25.000. To get this you 
want 1,000,000 (one million) nuts, for you can't cal- 
culate more than R25 per 1,000 as the value in Chilaw. 
This means 6,606 nuts per acre or 92 nuts per 
tree all round allowing 72 trees to the acre and 
no vacancies ! Such a result from an estate is 
possible, but I must be excused if I don't think 
it probable .' Coconuts pay well enough without 
exaggeration of this sort." 
The Ceylon Tea Enterprise. — Says the 
Pioneer : — The tribute which Mr. Shand has paid 
to the energy and enterprise of the Ceylon tea 
planters in his lecture at the Royal Colonial In- 
stitute, a summary of which we give on another 
page, is in no way greater than is deserved. 
The pluck with which these men turned from their 
coffee plantations, converted in most cases by the 
deadly fungus from mines of wealth into a dreary 
desert of walking-sticks, to build anew their fortunes 
with the leaf their brothers had cultivated to so 
much purpose in Assam, is one of the most notable 
things in the history of the Colonies. And the 
success attained has been far more extraordinary 
than even that of Assam. It is little more than 
a decade since Ceylon exported her first pound of 
tea : last year she exported some 14,000,000 pounds, 
and as the immense acreage which has been filled 
up with plants comes into bearing, the amount will 
be trebled. This rapid growth is no doubt due in 
a great measure to the fertility of the soil and its 
suitability for tea cultivation : we should seek in 
vain in India for anything like the famous hundred 
acres at Mariawatte, which have again and again 
given their thousand pounds per acre of yield, 
and show no signs of exhaustion ; but it is due 
in no less a measure to the indomitable energy, 
foresight and perseverance of the planters. So far 
indeed as pushing his teas in foreign markets goes 
the Indian planter might take a lesson from Cey- 
lon, for the latter has agents not only in Europe 
but in India itself, in Australia and in America, 
and they are rapidly spreading all over the world. 
Men who work in thi3 fashion deserve success. 
Timber in the Northern Territory of Australia. 
— Mr. C.S. Oopoland returned from a timber search down 
the coast on March 24 (says the North Australian) and 
reports very favourably on parts of the tniin land 
visited by him. He arrived at Melville Island the 
day after leaving here, but on account of the island 
being overgrown with dense high grass, which made 
travelling impossible, his party was unable to obtain 
auy information as to the timber-be iring qualities of 
the island. He saw no natives at thi-* place. Leaving 
the island the Ark cruised round the Gulf for a con- 
siderable distance, the general character of the weather 
being squally and wet, and the situation of the party 
at times being rather uncomfortable. On the main 
land, too, trivelling was rendered extremely trying 
very often, through the swampy nature of the country; 
long grass, and other ciuses. Tue chief explorations 
appear to have been conducted in the vicinity of the 
Alligator rivers. Eich of the three Alligators (the 
South, West, and East, as they are called) wassailed 
up for mauy miles ; but of the South Alligator, Mr. 
Oopeland is particularly lavish in his praises. The en- 
trance to this river is calculated to be at least 2 miles 
wide, aud for the whole of the 55 miles sailed up by 
the Ark it carried a depth of water sufficient to float 
the largest vessel of the dav. Owing to the constant 
freshes, against which even a dingy could not be 
pulled, the hope of ascending any further distance 
had to be abandoned, but from information tendered 
by some natives who visited the cutter it was judged 
that the river was uavigable for another 50 miles at 
least. Mr. Oopeland discovered some very fine forests 
of timber, ample at any rate, for railway purposes, 
though none handy enough to the rivers to do away 
with 1 m<l carriage. The distance from Port Darwin 
to where the best forest is located is about 150 miles. -- 
South Australian Register, 
