May i, 1888.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
773 
not sufficiently drained, leaving sufficient tap root 
to steady tlio plant in the ground; and the surface 
roots will do all that is necessary in the fee lint; 
line for a plant, and owing to a short tap root it 
is just possible less moisture may be absorbed, and 
stronger liijuor obtained. It will be noticed that 
whonever the land contains excessive moisture, if it 
is not throughly drained, the land becomos sour, 
and the tap root in sour land blackens, rot-", and 
dies olF, and in other ways injures the plant above 
ground, which , becomes sickly, and does not yield 
well, and often enough dies off; and so I say, in 
any land of this kind cut the tap root prior to 
planting. With half its length it will do quite 
as good service as a long, fully developed tap root 
will do on high ground. That the coffee plant 
requires higher land to grow in than tho tea plant 
is too woll-known, it having a shorter tap root 
at its call for liquid matter to form. It is not 
therefore so requisite for me to detain you longer 
with a description than to say that it has been 
proved out in India, that in a low flat, which some- 
times may get flooded, where tea will grow, coffee 
has died out. I think that it will be seen pretty 
olearly by what I have written, that the tap root is not 
the means by which a tea plaut derives its food, 
hut that it is from its lateral surface roots that it 
is fed. 
In conclusion, I may say that if Oeylon planters 
or otl eof; doubt the theory I have 311st expounded, 
I shall bo glad to have their views on the subject; 
and if they can prove satisfactorily to me that I 
am in the wrong, I am open to be convinced of my 
mistake, though it will take a good deal to convince 
me that a tea plant is a tip rood feeder. If such 
be the case, and tho coffee plant a surface feeder, 
let some of the Oeylun planters come over here and 
plant out coffoo on some of our old abandoned tea 
gardens, similar to the way they have planted out 
tea on their coffee estates. It is, by the theory 
expounded by tho author of the "Tea Industry of 
Ceylon," a surface feeder, and should do well both 
by his showing and by mine, as I have said that 
the mineral matter which goes to form a seed crop 
still exists, and by his theory our tea plants have 
uot exhausted the pure soil with the tap root. — 
Achaw. — Indian Flgnters" Quzette, 
THE BIRDS' NEST INDUSTRY. 
Travellers going from Hongkong to Bangkok or 
Singapore by steamer pass along the coast off Annam 
and near a group of islands that are at once pictur- 
esque ami curium. Behind them isTonrane, an ancient 
Fiench Settlement, the slopping plaoe of steamors 
hound for Buo and lliipluiug, and des iued to be an 
important uommorciul port in a not very distant 
future. 
Several of these islands produce an important ar- 
ticle of commerce, that is, the edible birds' nests, 
which have caused considerable learned discussion a- 
niong scientists They aro 11s dear to the Chinese 
palate as to the Chinese purse. It is a singular fact 
that Annam is tho only country that produces them. " 
Why tho swallows select this locality as a habitation, 
and no other, when there aro islands apparently as 
eligible scattered nil along the Asiatic coast from 
Sumatra to Korea, is a mystery that the scientists 
who have given tho mihjoot so much attention have 
le ver attempted to elucidate. Had Usnquo lived in 
tin-Hi times he might hue given an explanation M 
poetic and reasonable as tnat which he gave to 1) sn- 
ean for the preference manifested by the Scotch 
martins fur the pure and delicate air that bathe I Mac 
beth's r'istle. Tin- swallows' nests aro a source of 
riches to the region. Their value is mid to have 
been dtaeowered some hundred! of yea re ago timing 
tin- reign of li in Longj who pMnlised a liberal re- 
ward to any one who woiil I discover a new ami profit- 
able article of export within bis realm. The nests 
discovert il on the i-lauil of N.wn Ngai were presuuU'd 
• This id uot quite correct.— Ku. 1). 1'. 
to the sovereign, who, faithful to his promise, offered 
a patent of nobility to the finder. This was respect- 
fully declined, and instead 11 monopoly of the harvest 
was accepted by the discoverer for himself and his 
descendants. This privileged family was to pay yearly 
eighty pound 1 of the. tie .ts to the Kmperor as royalty. 
On the other hand they were to be exempt from per- 
sonal taxes, from military service, and from contri- 
butions of personal labour, such as are common in 
Oriental countries. They formed a family league of 
forty or fifty men, elected two of their number as 
leaders, under the title of yuan and doi, and founded 
a village couyenient for their commerce, which still 
exists under the name of Yen Xa — "Village of the 
Swallow's Nest. " The nests are the product of a 
sa'ivary secretion of the birds. As to their mercan- 
tile value they are divided into three distinct cate- 
gories. The most valuable are those into which 
there enters a certain proportion of blood. These are 
called yen huyet. Singularly enough, they can only be 
produced by tho birds affected with a malady which 
resembles consumption, and which is attended by 
OOpious hemorrhage. Nests of this kind are in great 
demand. They are rare, and are gathered only in 
the spring. Local tradition says that these bir is died 
of exliaustion, or of the consumption in its advanced 
stages, before the end of the second winter. Scien- 
tists being scarce among the Annamese and tho 
French colonists uot having yet had sufficient time 
for observation, it is not known whether this disease 
is peculiar only to a part of the birds or whether 
the salivary secretion that causes the malady causes 
the death of all of them after a year or two of ex- 
istence. The smallness of the quantity of these nests 
aunually gathered — which is only three or four 
pounds— would seem to indicate that the disease is 
only partial and peculiar to those possessed of the 
weakest lungs. All other nests (yan soo) are classed 
as second quality. Nothing but trie saliva of the birds 
enters into their construction. They are gathered in 
the spring, summer, and autumn. The spring harvest 
is the most valuable because it includes the two 
qualities. Two nests of the first quality weigh one 
ounce and are worth at the place of production five 
Mexican d niars at current value in Annam. Those 
of the second quality are worth little more than half 
as much. The summer gathering is entirely of nests 
of the second quality. They are smaller and less 
compact. It requires four of these to make an ounce, 
which is worth two Mexican dollars. The autumn 
harvest is still less valuable. The nests are scarce 
nud not highly osteemed. It requires seven to make 
an ounce, which is not worth more than S 1. 20 to 
S 1. 40. Experts express the opinion tint this third 
gathering should be dispensed with, siuce it is worth 
so little and there is danger of destroying tho eggs. 
Nearly nil the nests are sold to the Chinese liviug 
in the cities of Aunam and Tonqtiin or Rent to 
Ohiuese ports. Only the Chinese and some high 
mandarins of the Court of Hue who prefer the Chineso 
tuisiue can afford tho luxury. They are eaten by 
the Chinese cooked with flesh or with sugar, having 
fir-t been cleaned of all extraneous substances by 
a liberal application of hot water. When cooked 
with fowl or game, fruit of the water-lily is added. 
Ohiuese physicians prescribe them as a Sovereign 
remedy for diseases of the lungs, asthma, disordered 
digestion and most other maladies. If they havo 
curative qualities of the kind mentioned thoy pro- 
bably sliuro them with other alimentary BObstanoea 
containing more or less gelatine. Tho good qualities 
of tho nests aro estimated no doubt in proportion 
to the price. It is cdrtain that, as an article of 
diet, they have made little impression ou Western 
nations. 
The harvest is made in a manner simple and 
picturesque. Sections of bamboo aro trust into the 
ho e-, in the side all the wnv up the precipice, form- 
ing an immense ladder by wIiomi rounds the coolies 
aucend, detaching witli a knife as they go the nests 
glued to the walls. O.10 of tho family which mono- 
polises the industry w.itehei moauwhilo mixiouily 
ebw to sue that the labourer docs uot iu gathering 
