672 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [April 2, 1888. 
The Java Coffee Crop, this year, bids fair 
to be a short one (says the Straits Times on Java 
authority). The Bali crop, on the other hand, has 
every prospect of being abundant. 
Canton Teas.— We call attention to the in- 
teresting Report of a Committee of merchants on 
the Tea trade of Canton given on page 656. 
Canton has always been famous for its fine teas ; 
but Indians are fast taking their place. 
Baek for Tanning. — A Haput&le planter, who 
adopted a suggestion made some years ago, and 
sent a consignment of the bark of our patana oaks 
to Australia, is anxious to warn brother planters 
against Any thought of making money by tanning. 
For himself he has never got a cent for his 
labour or expense in return for the consignment ! 
Tea Cultivation in Edssia. — The Journal de St. 
P4tersbourg, quoting from the Bussian Nouveau 
Temps, states that one of the largest tea firms 
of St. Petersburg has sent six of its employes 
to China to study the cultivation of the tea-plant 
on the spot. On their return to Eussia they will 
be employed in establishing tea plantations in the 
neighbourhood of Soukhoum. — H. & C. Mail. 
The Tea Trade do not like the idea of having to 
pay more than 3d a chest, 2d a half chest, and 
2d per box for sampling. Several influential firms 
have, therefore, given notice to those warehouses 
whose charges are on a higher scale that, after the 
1st prox., they will not draw samples at any ware- 
house where the rates are higher than those referred 
to, or the terms in any way more unfavourable to 
the buyer.— H. cf> G. Mail, Feb. 17th. 
Ceylon Tea in London. — In their Tea 
Eeport of Feb. 17th, Messrs. Gow, Wilson 
& Stanton emphasize the importance of the 
quality of our tea being kept up, the recent 
falling-off having proved very injurious to the Ceylon 
tea trade. The 3,606 packages auctioned sold at 
an average of llid per lb., the highest price being 
Is 9Jd for Meriacotta, Fordyce getting Is 8Jd, and 
Gorthie Is 6|d. 
The Arabian Coffee Crop having partially failed, 
the demand for the Indian berry is become very 
brisk. Eeports from the Wynaad state that the 
Moplahs thereabout are offering high prices for tails, 
cherry and mere sweepings, which it is supposed in 
a revolving course will find their way to, Arabia to 
be ticketed and labelled as the "Best Mocha Coffee." 
In the very home of coffee itself the berry is being 
sold at El the seer, andE2,000 worth of refuse was 
bought up looally a few days ago. — Egyptian Gazette, 
Feb. 16th. 
Cinchona cultivation has beeu introduced into the 
Ayassa territories of Central Africa, and Mr. Consul 
HaweB reports that it has every prospect of success, 
some of the plants, three years old, having a height of 
six feet. No estimate of the quality of the bark has, 
however, yet been formed, and there is the further 
question whether, if satisfactory, it can be placed in the 
market at a cost that will allow of remunerative sales 
at present prices. A new small plantation of one 
thousand plants has been recently formed-at JZomba. — 
Pharmaceutical Joumal,'Feb. 18th. 
Xba. — We notice from the Scotch papers by the 
mail that the experiment, first made last year by 
a Glasgow merchant, of importing Indian and 
Ceylon tea direct to Scotland is likely to prove a 
distinct success. The teas are now arriving regularly 
from all the tea-growing districts in India and 
Ceylon, and a conclusive argument in favour of 
the new plan is the fact that buyers are now able 
to buy Indian tea at 14d. per lb. Direct importation 
is of course all in favour of the Indian industry ; for 
the nearer the plantations can be brought to the 
market, the more chance is there of an extended 
Bale.— Pioneer, 
Consumption of Tea, &c, in Ireland. — Accord- 
ing to a recent paper in the Nineteenth Century, 
the annual consumption of the following products 
in Ireland is as; follows : — 
Tea 23,376,000 lb. 
Coffee 3,928,000 „ 
Cocoa 1,963,000 „ 
There is plenty of room for an increase here, 
considering the population, if only a time of settled 
peace, industry and prosperity arrived for the long 
and much troubled "Emerald Isle." 
Indian Tea in China. — In the Chinese Timet 
published at Tientsin (close to the capital »f the 
Ciiinfse Empire) we find an advertisement, which, 
as showing that what is equivalent to "sending 
coals to Newcastle" is not always unprofitable, we 
quote : — 
INDIAN TEA ! ! ! 
DIRECT FROM CALCUTTA. 
The success which attended out first shipment of the 
above was so marked, we have arranged for regular 
supplies. By one of the last steamers we received our 
SECOND SHIPMENT, 
which is now unpacked, and we are offering same at 
the following 
BEDUCED PRICES :— 
per 2 lb tin 
Kangra Valley Pekoe 
Do do do Souchong $120 
Assam Orange Pekoe $l m 00 
We may some day find a market for Ceylon tea 
in China 1 
Tea for the Million in India. — We 
are glad to see that the Indian Tea Supply 
Company, whose object is to induce the sale 
of Indian tea among the natives by distri- 
buting it in small packets among agents throughout 
the bazaars, has now commenced operations. The 
tea has been made up in small packets contain- 
ing from 1 to -4 oz. and varying in price from 3 
pice to 3 annas, so that it should thus be brought 
within reach of the very poorest classes. To pro- 
tect the tea from injury during the damp season 
while in the retailers hands, the small packets are 
themselves packed in close-fitting tins, each con- 
taining a few pounds. Every precaution seems to 
have been taken to ensure that success which the 
undertaking, both from good that it may do to 
trade and the good that it may bring to the people, 
certainly deserves. — Pioneer. [This is an enterprize 
which may have most important effects. If the 
250 millions of India could be brought to consume 
even J lb per head per annum, there would thus 
be a market for over 62 millions of pounds; or 
one half what India is expected to produce in 1890. 
—Ed.] 
The Home of Cinchona. — Dr. H. H. Rusby, of 
New York, who spent two years in South America, 
recently lectured on South American cinchona before 
the Pittsburgh College of Pharmacy. His remarks 
were occasionally of a most extraordinary character, 
and, if correct, certainly reveal a state of things 
hitherto quite unknown. He said : — " The home of the 
cinchona-tree is a belt of about 500 acres far up in 
the mountains of Bolivia, where gigantic cliffs and 
equally mighty forest trees have conspired to break 
the storm-clouds which sweep constantly over it 
from the Pacific. For this reason the atmosphere is 
always humid, and moisture is necessary to the 
existence of the cinchona-tree. The temperature of 
this belt sometimes falls to 70°, but, as a rule, ranges 
at 90°. When cinchona was first introduced into the 
materia medica of Spain, the opposition to it was so 
violent that no one would use it. Finally, the Coun- 
tess of Cinchon tried it, and was cured of her malady. 
Then fashion did what science had failed to accom- 
plish, and cinchona sprang into a demand which could 
not be met. Natives were put at work gathering it. 
This they did with such industry and ignorance that 
the supply was soon entirely exhausted. There is 
not an ounce of the drug sold today but what is the 
result of cultivation,— Chemist and Druygist, Jb'eb. 18th, 
