6 4 6 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [March x, 1888. 
year I planted some acres of six-year old tea in 
this manner, which was giving me barely 50 lb. 
tea per acre. 
Some old estates, for instance in East 
Matale where soil is exceptionally good, and places 
like Mariawatte with great depth of free soil, will, 
with judicious treatment, be as vigorous fifty years 
hence as now, unless some unforeseen cause should 
impair the vitality of the bush. 
Young land 20 years or so in coffee carefully 
drained and free from weeds will, with liberal 
cultivation, afford 250 to 400 lb. tea per acre, ac- 
cording to class of land, for a longer period than 
many of the present generation of planters are 
likely to see. Fields will, and probably small 
estates may, give 500 lb. or more per acre, but, 
as a general rule, over an estate of 400 or 500 
acres, 400 lb. per acre should be the limit upon 
which to base calculations, if tea property is to 
be made a sound investment and not a speculative 
business. I will not go into the profits and value 
of tea estates, as I have made my letter longer than 
I intended when I began. [Let us have this 
second part discussed by all means in an equally 
practical way.— Ed.] 
OKANGES ALL THE YEAE BOUND IN LONDON. 
AN INTERVIEW WITH THE IMPORTERS. 
Few people ever take time to think of the number 
of countries whose ripest products are laid under re- 
quisition to furnish forth the table of au English gentle- 
man. We read with wonder of the array of dishes 
filled from all quarters of the then known world 
which were set out to satisfy the gourmands of the 
Roman Empire. But tho area laid under contribution 
even by Lucullus and Heliogabalus was comparatively 
trivial compared with that which is requisitioned in 
order to supply an Englishman's dessert. Lucullus is 
almost as famous for introducing cherries into Italy 
as for his eight years' campaign against Mithridates ; 
but nowadays no one spares a thought when enter- 
prising merchants enable the London " cit " to feast 
his guests with apples from Tasmania aud oranges 
from New South Wales. Few things, however, are 
more interesting than the source of our fruit supply, 
and we therefore publish without more preface the 
report of an interview which our representative had 
the other day with a representative of a lea ling firm 
of fruit brokers in Pudding-lane, E. O., where the 
sales by public auction are held. Our talk ran chiefly 
upon oranges, owing to the development of a new 
trade in this fruit between London and Australia. 
"We are now able to supply oranges all the year 
round thanks to the Australiaus. The orange harvest 
there begins just as the Spanish crop is being cleared. 
The first Spanish oranges reach the London market 
at the end of October, but they are then sour, aud 
it is not until December that the first ripe fruit begins 
to come in. The supply then goes on increasing until 
April, when it begins to fall off, and at the end of 
June' the season is practically over, although there 
are always some cases come in July. Spanish oranges, 
however, may be said to supply our market for seven 
mouths in the year — from November to J une. The Aus- 
tralian oranges come iu in August, and coutiuue till 
November — just filling the gap — so that oranges never 
go out the whole year rounld." 
" Then you predict a great future for the Austra- 
lian orange?" 
"Yes, but id is badly handicapped, owing to the 
fact that the freight is at least four times as much 
from Sydney as it is from Valencia. Cases one half 
the sizj cost from 3s. to 4s. freights from Sydney, 
while Is. 6cl. is the freight from Spain. This handi- 
caps the Australian orange very severely; but the 
demand exists and is growing, and if tho Australians 
will but take care and p-ick their oranges as carefully 
as the Spaniards, there is a great future before the 
industry. It is all a question of packing, and if the 
oranges are in good condition and well packed, there 
is no difficulty in sending them all round the world 
in oase of need. As an experiment and as au object 
lesson in the keeping qualities of oranges when well 
packed, I recently sent three cases of Spanish oranges 
just as they arrived at our wharf down to Tilbury 
Docks and shipped them to Sydney, where they arrived 
iu excellent condition. The antiseptic preparations, 
to one of which you referred recently, are not needed. 
Oranges keep a long time— much longer than is oc- 
cupied by a steamer in covering the distance between 
here and the Antipodes. Of course, towards the end 
of the season, when they are dead ripe, they are 
more delicate, and will not keep so long. But with 
ordinary care they will stand the voyage without 
difficulty." 
" From what country do you draw your chief sup- 
plies of oranges ? " 
"From Spain : especially from Valencia. Last year 
there was 453,000 cases of oranges from Valencia, 
each case weighing over a hundredweight, and con- 
taining from 400 to 700 oranges. That is to say, 
averaging them all round at 500, there were imported 
from Valencia alone, 226,500,000, weighing about 
32,000 tous. A few come from Lisbon, and some- 
bitter oranges for the most part— from Sicily. The 
St. Michael oranges appears to be going out. Of 
the five islands of the Azores which use to supply us 
with oranges only one now sends us anv fruit. The 
trees have ceased to bear, being exhausted with over- 
bearing and not being renewed. The Valencia orange 
at present commands the market. Of the orange 
imported only about 5 per cent are of the bitter variety, 
and are used for marmalade, for making candied 
orange peel, and for the production of orange wiue. 
The prices of oranges vary. At present they run at 
about 9s. per case. It is woaderful to think that 
you can get from five to six hundred oranges grown, 
picked, wrapped in paper, packed in boxes, shipped 
in Spain, carried a nine days' voyage to the Thames, 
unshipped, and then sold at our mart for 9s. Prices 
run as low as 6s. or 7s., and as high as 15s. or 16s., 
and the demmd keeps up wonderfully. The demand, 
indeed, for fruit is so great that in the case of grapes 
it threatens to destroy the quality of the fruit itself." 
" How can that be ? " 
" Very easily. The moment a great demand sets 
in for any description of fruit (say, for instance, as 
a case in point, for Spanish grapes), every one that 
has any land that will bear grapjs sets to work to 
plant vines in order to supply the demand which ex- 
ists here for fresh grapes. Quality is sacrificed to 
quantity. The grapes are forced to bear more than 
they ought to, with the result that the quality of 
the Spanish grape is steadily deteriorating. It is 
becoming harder, sourer, less palatable in every way, 
and unless some check is placed upon the process, 
grapes will be as common as gooseberries and much 
less edible. Nearly all the grapes which you see in 
the shops come from Spain and from Lisbon. They 
are packed in ground cork in barrels, and it is astonish- 
ing how long they will keep. I have bought grapes 
in March which I have sold in the previous December. 
Spanish grapes used often to be kept without suffer- 
ing any damage for six months at a time. That of 
course presupposes careful packing and the exclusion 
of the air. At present we do not get grapes over 
from the Oape or from Australia. Their produce is 
too soft to keep. No doubt they might cultivate the 
Spanish vine if they chose ; but the supply from the 
nearer vineyards is so abundant that it is hardly worth 
while growing the same deteriorating commodity at 
the other end of the world. A barrel of grapes weighs 
from 45 lb. to 50 lb. , and the average price runs 
about 10s. to 12s. when the season is at its height. 
Malaga grapes failed last season almost entirely, hence 
there were very few Malaga raisins to be had. With 
the Malaga raisins go the Jordan almonds, with which 
they are always eaten. Talking of over-supply in the 
market, the most striking instance of that this year 
has been the unprecedented crop of hazel nuts which 
has poured into London from Northern Spain. There 
never has been such a harvest, and we are simply 
