THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [September z, 1888. 
of your orange trees. Perfectly clean culture and 
a never ending stirring of the ground is the theory 
that has been adopted here through years of ex- 
periment. — Citrograph. 
The first proposal to grow cinchona in India was 
made in 1835,* for there seemed to be a danger of 
the supply from America running short, as no 
regular cultivation of the tree was carried on. 
Despite numerous warnings, it was not till 1858 
that sanction was accorded to the scheme. A few 
packets of seeds and six seedlings which were in- 
troduced by private individuals failed to germinate, 
while the first importations under Government 
auspices were equally barren of results. In 1860, 
however, success crowned their efforts, and a cin- 
chona plantation was formed in the Nilgheri Hills. 
By the end of 1870 the three plantations on these 
hills covered twelve hundred acres the limit fixed 
by Government. The experiment has been tried in 
various other parts of India with varying success. 
In Ceylon, especially, it thrives uncommonly well, 
for the planters are able to select sites that very 
nearly resemble its native habitat in South America. 
The requisites for success seem to be a moist climate, 
with an equable but comparatively cool tempera- 
ture, an open sub-soil, a sloping exposure, and 
other conditions of a perfect drainage. — Indian Ag- 
riculturist. 
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WYNAAD PLANTERS' ASSOCIATION. 
Proceedings of a general meeting held at the Jubilee 
Hall, Vayitri, Wednesday, August 4th, 1888. 
Present: — Messrs. Abbott, Achard, Atzemviler, Batty, 
West, Winterbotham, and Hockin. Honry. Secretary. 
Mr. Bitty, in the chair. 
* * # 
Exemption of Cinchona, from taxation foe 5 
yeaus from the date of Planting. — Government are 
of opinion that this exemption granted by His Excel- 
lency Sir Mi E. Grant Duff for all plantations planted 
within 5 years from the date of the order should not 
be made a permanent one "as the land revenue assess- 
ment bears such a small porportion to the working ex- 
penses of a cinchona estate that any additional relief 
that might be afforded by extending the period of 
exemption on cinchona cultivation from two to five 
years could not have any appreciable effect on the 
present depressed condition of the industry which is 
made the basis of the request contained in the address." 
* * * 
Cinchona. — Read extract from Ceylon Planters' As- 
sociation Report for the year ending February, 1888, 
stating '* as anticipated by the Committee last year 
the large export of bark has not been maintained and 
it is unlikely unless there should be a very substantial 
rise in price to be ever approached in the future. The 
number of trees now growing in Ceylon can be but a 
fraction of those calculated on a few years ago. The 
exports for 1887 were 13,113,067 lb. against 14,675,663 
lb. in 1886." 
Read letter from W. Hamilton Esq., on cinchona leaf 
disease. The experience of members present was that 
it did no material harm to matured trees. 
Papers on Table. — Proceedings of Wvnaad Taluq 
Board, June 18th 1888. De Indische Mercur. . 
Ceylon Planters' Association Report for year ending 
February, 1888. This contains an interesting article on 
Green Bug giving its life-history, the history of its 
ravages and its treatment. Itals) states that it has 
disappeared from estates and fields of coffee which it 
once threatened to exterminate; that it has many 
enemies which will probably iu time master it, and that 
successful experiments for its destruction have been 
made with diluted phenyle applied at the root of tbe 
tree and fifteen per cent carbolic lime applied to the 
under surfaces of the leaves and branches when wet 
with dew. 
* Shortly after tho discovery of tea. in Assam.— Ed. 
The next meeting will be held on September 5th, at 
the Jubilee Hall, Vayitri. 
(Signed) Peucv Batty, Chairman. 
„ J. Williams Hockin, Honry. Secy. 
INDIAN TEA IN THE AMERICAN MARKET. 
The Indian Planters' 1 Gazette has been furnished 
by its London correspondent with the rough draft 
of a report by the sub-committee appointed by the 
Indian Tea Districts Association to consider the 
best means for promoting the sale of Indian tea 
in America. As something on the same lines may 
be desirable in Ceylon, we reprint the recommen- 
dations as follows: — 
1. They are confirmed in the belief that inasmuch 
as the immediate interests of the trade in America 
are opposed to forcing any change in the'public taste, 
no material assistance can at present be expected 
from that quarter, and that accordingly the best way 
to attain the object in view is to begin by bringing 
the supeiior merits of Indian tta before the consumers 
and thus to gradually educate them to a taste for the 
article, after which the trade will be forced by self- 
interest to turn their attention to it. 
2. They are of opinion that the most promising 
plan for carrying the object into effect will be :— (a.) 
To establish in the large towns retail shops (accord- 
ing to the means provided by the planters) for the 
sale of blends of Indian tea in packets, and also in 
cup, on similar lines to the shops that have recently 
been so successful in London and elsewhere, (i.) 
To make arrangements with retailers in the smaller 
towns for the sale of tea in packets, (c.) By judi- 
cious advertisements, by handbills, through the news 
papers and otherwise, as experience may show to be 
most efficacious. 
3. That a Limited Company should be formed, 
with a Board of Directors composed of gentlemen of 
business experience who are concerned in the tea grow- 
ing industry, possessed of the confidence of the sub- 
scribers, to whom a free hand should be given in 
working out the details and in engaging managers 
and agents. 
4. That the Directors should report progress at 
frequent intervals and call meetings every three 
months, so as to keep subscribers well informed as 
to what is being done in the way of carrying out 
their trust, and to receive suggestions from their 
constituents. 
5. That all tea garden proprietors should be in- 
vited to subscribe in one or other of the following 
ways : — 
(a.) In cash, the equivalent of which will be allotted 
in shares of the Company. 
N. B. — It is most essential that all who possibly can 
should subscibe under this head. 
(b.) Parties who do not consider themselves at 
liberty to take shares in the Company, will be asked 
to contribute a proportion of their crop, in which 
case the Directors shall have the option (when they 
consider the tea delivered unsuited for the American 
market) of converting it into cash, and using the money 
as working capital for the purchase of more suitable 
kinds of tea. The tea thus contributed, whether sold 
in London or in America, to be accounted for at the 
end of each season and, subjeot to the deduction of a 
proportion of expenses incurred in carrying on the enter- 
prise, in the event of the outlay exceeding the earn- 
ings, a certificate of indebtedness to be given to the 
respective contributors ; the Company, however, not 
to be liable to repay the value in cash until the end 
of three years. The contributor to have the option 
of receiving an equivalent in paid up shares. 
(c) Where Companies are not considered com- 
petent to hold shares, they would have the option 
of giving a cash subscription, which could bo 
vested in Trustees and held by them in shares 
either to be sold and returned after the Company was 
successfully established, or, returned to tte:n if the 
Company was liquidated. 
If all planters would contribute one per cent, of the 
value of their cyops in one or other of these ways, a 
