May t, 1888] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
741 
is carefully performed at the proper season, dot 
much harm is clone. The following are approxi- 
mately the respoctivo revonues that would be de- 
rived from shaving or coppicing a fair specimen 
of cinchona sucoinibra by the sovouth year, throo 
annual shavings boing about what an average tree 
will stand, though it is sometimes carried no longer. 
Shaving four years (original) lid ; fiVo years (renewed) 
lOd ; six years (renewed) lOd; sovcn years (cutting 
down) 4s — total (is 3d. Coppicing at seven years, 
quill say ,'! lb. Is, sundry (branch kc.) 3 lb. at i)d, 
2s 3d — total us 3d. Tho abovo estimates are, it will 
be understood, only such as can be made from data 
accessible to the ordinary cultivator, and am there- 
fore opou to correction. Only one ostablisment in 
India could, if it wiahad, give us full satistics on 
tho subject. But useful as such statistics would be 
to the wholo body of cinchona growers, the author- 
ities at tho NoddiwuLtum Government Gardens pre- 
for to keep them from tho light of day. They 
go on flooding the market with bark, caring — and 
from all accounts knowing — littlo whether tho sales 
show a prolit or a loss, but they steadily withhold 
information. We would suggest that Mr. Lawson 
should furnish roplies to the following as a sample 
of those questions about cinchona cultivation that 
urgently need applying to: — What is the relative 
mortality in trees shaved from, say their fourth year, 
and those loft intact for coppicing ? What are the 
relative prolits of tho same on a given area? What 
manures (if lie has tried any) have incroased tho 
alkaloids and the growth of tho troos '/ Has ho 
discovered any prophylactic against canker, or any 
ouro for it when onco it has set in? We could 
increase tho list considerably if we thought thoro was 
much prospect of any answers being elicited. [In 
copying the above from the South of India Observer, 
wo confess we do not understand tho charges against 
tho Madras Government I Sotanical Department. In- 
formation, is freely published. — Ed] 
Tl IE INDIAN TEA SUPPLY COMPANY. 
Tho Indian Tea Supply Company, which was started 
with considerable enthusiasm last year, has sent out 
many sample packets of tea to persons likely to take 
an interest in tho movement. Some wero received at 
the oflice of this paper a few woeks ago, and duly 
acknowledged. The entorprizo, although entirely 
novel, is one to command tho faith of every person 
who gives it careful consideration. It is nothing 
less than a scheme to oouvort Indian into a nation 
of tea-driukers which may bo more foasible than it 
seems, if proper measures be used to create a de- 
mand lor the beverage. For one tiling, there is a fasci- 
nation iu tea, which makes people take to it as 
thoy do to opium or intoxicating liquor; as wo may 
hue in England, whore tea has become a necessary 
of life ; and iu China and Japan, where it is drunk 
all day long by all classes of tho people. But we 
have in Calcutta positive evidence of the possibility 
of creating a taste for tea among tho Natives, in 
tho fact that a decoction not worth the name is sold 
at n pice a cup iu the bazaars and streets, and that 
Natives buy it and drink it with relish. That is a 
clear indication of what we may look for iu every 
town and village of India, if the tasto for toa only 
hi' developed us it has developed its, II in Calcutta. 
We ilu not mention tho taste for tea which has 
■prting up among Natives of thu upper classes, for 
these order what th.-y want from Uio leading iirms, 
nod would not help the Indian Tea Supply Company 
except by taking shares iu it. Nevertheless, it is u 
hot that a silver u>\ set ins come to be an acceptable 
part of a' khillut" ordered for presentation toa wat v.- 
Chi. I. So much for conservative old, oa?te-ri ldcn 
India ! 
The obiof thing is lo devise means f ir introducing the 
little parkets, and here is where tlie (\ini|i.iu\ will 
succeed nr lad. Tho p joulinr " knack " which enabli 
ene man iu a thousand to do Mime Minple limit; which 
other men cannot do, is not to bo bought form-met. A 
uian lnuotbu bum with it, or do without it. The thing 
to be done is to make tea-drinkers of tho people of India, 
and tho way which first suggests itself is to give the 
packets to petty shopkeepers on terms which will 
induce them to push the sale without boing ruinous to 
the Company. As soon as a few men in a town begin 
to driuk tea, others will follow their example, and the 
shopkeepers will need no further urging to supply the 
market. Natives are ready enough to take tea as a 
medicine, as most Europeans can tell from the constant 
applications for "cha" that are made to them by 
their servants and dependants. That being so, they 
need only to havo the article placed within their 
reach, cheaply and conveniently, and the desire for the 
medicine will grow into a habit. 
One or two remarks may be added about the packets 
as they have been put up and sent out by the Company. 
These packets are in neat yellow paper covers, and 
boar labels in English and three native languages. But 
the vernacular labels are simply translations, or rather 
transliterations, of tho English, which reads thus: — 
"The Indian Toa Supply Company, Limited. Trade Mark 
Registered, loz. Pure Indian Tea. Price 3 pice." Such a 
label could only suggest to the average Native some 
idea of European magic. " Supplaee," " Leemeetade," 
and even " Indeeyan," are simply turned into his 
own characters for him. Now we submit that unless 
the label bo intended as a scare, every such word 
should be removed except from the English label, 
and the vernacular words confined to " cha " and 
" pice," with an assurance that the article is bahut 
avhchit and bultut susta. 
Another thing that seems important to the success 
of the scheme is that the packets, in the first in- 
stance, be sold at one pice each. At present the 
smallest packets are sold at three pice, and the 
larger ones at six pice and three annas — which are 
prohibitive prices. A pice is the Native's standard 
of value, and ho \iill not look twice at a new 
thing for which he is asked to give more. Besides, 
a threepice packet inake3 nine cups of strong 
tea, or a dozen cups of such tea as Natives gladly 
drink ; and it is quite contrary to a Native's ideas to 
give hostages to fortune in this way. Iu all matters of 
food he likes to pay for what he wants to eat, and to 
let the morrow take thought for itself. We do not for- 
get that the packing of a small packet of tea costs 
more than tho tea. Yet the commodity almost requires 
to be sold for a pice if it is to make way among tho 
population at large; and there seems to be room tor 
economy in the quality of the tea, which at present is 
distinctly superior to much of the article consumed by 
the poorer European and Eurasian families. These 
people too, I hear, are already purchasing from the 
new Company, wiiich seems a clear proof that the tea 
is too good for natives, who are glad of tho dried 
leaves from their master's tea-pots. — Indian Tea, 
Planters' Gazette, March 17th. 
♦ 
PLANTING IN NOHTH BORNEO. 
Tho British North Borneo Herald for lat March 
contnins a very interesting review of the Sumatra 
Tobacco Trade "for the year 1867, by MesBrs. Bingor 
and Horschel of Amsterdam, which wo shall reprint 
in full in the Tropical Agriculturist. Meantime 
wo quote a paragraph referring to Ceylon : — 
•■ From Ceylon 107 bales arrived, of which 63 
bales of exoellcnt quality and colors nnd suitable 
for wrappers, fetched a high price. Tho last import 
of ">."> bales, only tit for binders and tillers, remained 
unsold when offered by subscription, and only partly 
found buyers when brought to auction aflAtwardtl. 
Tho burn was satisfactory, tho leaf rather thick, 
coarse and green." 
Partner Borneo items of news of intorest are: — 
Tho British Barque " Walter Siegfried " sailed on 
tho 86th ultimo for Tientsin with a cargo of Borneo 
timber. This is the third vessel despatched by Messrs. 
K. B. Abrabamiou St Co. this year. 
Tho Court of Directors has bouu pleased lo aanc- 
tiou tho purchase of 4001b of Tobacco from the Uauotv 
