i68 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [September i, 1888. 
cuttings are taken between October aud March. 
Som i vegas lying along the arroyas, which are. always 
full of good and abtm ia it water, never fail; others 
produce only the ''tripa," or kind used for workiug 
up to form the core of the cigar, the outer leaf being of 
a finer brand. In this consist most of the frauds 
which prevail very exteusively in the trade. 
A company called the CubaD Fibre Company 
(Limited) ha* been formed in London for cul- 
tivating and extracting the various fibres in Ouba, 
principally the Sanseviera, or Leuga de Vaca plant, 
which give the best fibres of their class. Preliminary 
arrangements have been made for planting about 
1000 acres in different parts of the island ; so that 
next year the export of the fibre will commence, and 
will, it is expected, be equal to the best Hemp and 
some kinds of Flax. The cultivation of these hitherto 
neglected plants is likely to prove a success, for they 
take up little of the planter's time, and grow readily 
on the poorest land, leaving him free to attend to 
more important cultures. In a single month, which 
may be in the early spring or in the rainy season, hun- 
dreds of shoots or cuttings may be planted, giving 
later a considerable crop. Cuban labourers with fami- 
lies, svho are numerous in some districts, will find this 
new agricultural industry a steady means of gaining a 
livelihood. — Gardeners Chronicle. 
+ 
Tea Crop in Darjeeling.— We are sorry to learn 
that little doubt is now left that the tea crop both 
in the Terai as well as in the Hills will fall below 
the estimates even for the gardens in full bearing. 
— Indian Tea Gazette. 
A Friend of the Cacao Tree.— A correspondent 
writes : — " The insect I herewith send I find amongst 
cacao. Can you inform me if it is a destructive 
one ? It is to be frequently seen perched on the 
tip of a dead twig." Our entomological referee 
reports on the insect as follows :— " An Asilus, 
belonging to the order Diptera, or two-winged flies ; 
feeds on small flies of the same order and other 
insects, and therefore more likely to do good than 
harm." 
Burnt Earth. — I can recommend this for general 
use. The first illustration of its value which came 
in ray way was when engaged in carrying out a new 
garden a short time ago. I was greatly surprised 
upon entering the gla8s-houses to see the luxuriance 
and beauty of the young stock of plants, especially 
of Gloxinias, Ferns, Palms, foliage plants, and Cu- 
cumbers, and on inquiry I was told that, owing to 
dearth of silver-sand and leaf-mould, burnt earth had 
been added liberally to the soils. The most delicite- 
rooted plants luxuriated in what was little else than 
crude top-spit loam with a liberal admixture of the 
burnt earth. It may be well to add that only the 
very finest siftings had been used. It would seem, 
therefore, that owners of old town gardens, in which 
the soil has lost its ordinary mechanical properties, 
may benefit themselves by partially burning and 
ie nixing the soil.— William Earlly, Ilford [The value 
of this material in promoting root-development was 
shown experimentally by the Editor some years 
ago.— E d.] — Gardeners' Chronidt. 
China Teas.— the Foochow Echo says:— Our tea 
merchants had better note, that sooner or later a com- 
pany will be formedbysome sanguine celestial dealers, 
to ship teas to London and Australia, in case they 
cannot obtain the price they want in this market, 
and we learn that for thia purpose a foreign 
Chasze will be or has already been engaged to 
manage the gigantic company (made of lee we 
fancy). Now, if this report really beoomes a fact, 
which we doubt very much, it can only have the 
result of forcing the foreigner to go away from 
the port and leave the natives to ship their own 
teas to the London and Australian markets, where 
perhaps they will or perhap3 they will not obtain 
4 better price by shipping oa their own aooouat. 
This step our celestial friends must have planned 
either under the influence of sanshu, or with the 
idea of putting other people to trouble, because 
we do not see the necessity of forming such a 
company, to protect their interests or to venture 
their capital in shipments to a foreign country, 
when they can, without any risk, obtain immense 
profits at Foochow, if they will only be careful in 
the manufacture, sell at a reasonable price, and 
honestly deliver the chops as per musters shown. 
What we believe to be the real source of this 
rather funny company, is the idea of benefitting 
a couple of teamen, who we believe, are unable to 
stand any longer the losses they have had for years 
past, and are thus trying to raise the wind, but 
alas ! in a wrong direction. Surely, the teamen 
must understand, that if foreign buyers, who know 
teas, and are constantly in communication with 
the London market, connot pay the prioes they 
ask, it is absurd for them to believe that they 
will obtain such prices by shipping on their own 
account to the same market. Instead of inventing 
such humbugs, the teamen will do themselves and 
foreign buyers immense good if they will take 
vigorous steps to prevent the usual flooding of 
the market every year with rubbish, which is the 
real cause of their own losses ; the enormous 
profits they have made on the first crop this 
season, which was really very good, is a sufficient 
proof of the fact, — Chirui Mail, August 2nd. 
Indian and Chinese Teas. — Says the Statesman : 
— It would perhaps be premature for our tea planters 
to persuade themselves that they have driven Chinese 
teas from the London Market, but competent judges 
appear to think that the exolusion of the latter is 
not far off. The opening of our Indian gardens is 
almost of yesterday, A3sam leading the way. It 
is little more than fifty years since the tea plant 
was found growing wild therein, but the yield of the 
whole province fell short of 300,000 1b, up to 1851. 
If we glance now, at the statistical returns presented 
in the annual tea report of tho Assam government 
or last year, the expansion which has taken place 
in the last 35 years is almost incredible. In 1851 
there was but one Company in Assam with a very 
limited area under cultivation, and a yearly produc- 
tion of about a quarter of a million pounds. In 1887 
we find no less than 873 gardens covering an area 
of nearly a million acres although but one-fifth 
of that area is actually planted. In place moreover 
of an outturn of 250,000 lb. of tea, we are told now 
of an outturn of 70,000,000 lb. The cost of produc- 
tion, which was originally very high, owing to the 
outlay for skilled labour that had necessarily to be 
imported from China, greatly of course arrested the 
progress o£ the gardens. The pioneers of the 
enterprise had to buy their knowledge, and success 
was dear. Today, the whole cost of cultivation 
does not exceed E54 per acre, while the leaf can 
be laid down in the Calcutta sale-rooms at 6£ annas 
per pound, to realize prioes varying from 7| annas 
to 9 annas, for shipment thereafter and sale in 
London at an average price of lid the pound, 
though on occasion quotations are at as low a figure 
as 7Jd. The aggregate annual outturn from all the 
gardens of India, is now from 90,000,000 to 
100,000,000 lb. a year, of which Assam, as we have 
said, counts for 70,000,0001b. This area, however, is 
almost nothing, when compared with the acreage 
available for tea cultivation in the hot and moist 
sub montane traots along the base of the great 
hill ranges of our frontiers. Should the cultivation 
spread in the future, at a rate at all oommensurate 
with its increase in the past, India need have little 
fear of any competition from new countries like 
Natal, which have been spoken of in late year3 in 
almost glowing term3 for their production of the leaf. 
