4°4 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [December i, 1888. 
taining 10 hanks, contain less than six, though 
these six are divided into 10 skeins, and each skein 
into seven divisions by the tie. The bundle actu- 
ally contained 173i hanks of 20's or 21's, made 
up to resemble 300 hanks of 30's. Strange to say, 
there is a very strong demand for this deceptively 
packed yarn, and it fetches 9 pies per lb. more 
than it would do if it were honestly bundled as 
20's. We shall be glad to know what the Mer- 
chandise Marks Act would have to say about such 
yarn in England. The bundle had no ticket or 
stamp upon it, but we have seen another bundle 
of the same spinning which bore a ticket with 
the words "light 20's " on it, and which contained 
127J hanks of 17's made up to resemble 200 
hanks of 20's." 
The following table, compiled from the 90th table 
in the New Indian Statistical Abstract, shows the 
growth in the export of the principal Indian staples 
during the past ten years. It will be understood 
that they refer solely to the sea borne, and not to 
the trans-frontier trade: — 
Exports, in Millions of Rupees. 
Articles. 
Raw cotton ... 
Opium 
Seeds 
Eice 
Wheat 
Hides and skins 
Tea 
Haw jute 
Manufactured jute 
Indigo 
Cotton twist and yarn... 
Cotton manufactures ... 
Raw wool 
Coffee 
Of the 34 articles of which the figures are given in 
the abstract, only nine show a decrease, and of these 
the only one of first-rate importance is opium. 
On the whole, the exports increased from 651-8 
million rupees in 1878 to 884-2 in 1887, and they 
have never been so great as in the -latter year. 
Mr. Heneker Heaton, writing to The Times on 
the subjeot of cheap postage to Australia, says: — 
" In May, 1887, I was able to announce in The 
Times that a 3d. rate for Australian letters would 
be conceded. I have since received (on Jan. 31st 
1888) a written assurance from the Postmaster- 
General on the subject, and the Postmaster-General 
of New South Wales and several Agents-General 
also promised their support or openly favoured the 
soheme. This morning I am informed that the 
postage will be 4d. instead of 3d. for the ocean- 
borne letters to Australia. I strongly denounce 
this charge as being most unsatisfactory to the 
public. Threepence is a convenient charge in it- 
self; the man with many letters to write or few 
sixpences to spend being able to send two letters 
to Australia for 6d. instead of one, would not be 
likely to forget the boon. The threepenny bit, too, 
still circulates, and the fourpenny is doomed. The 
3d. rate would be acoepted as a real instalment 
by itself and others. But Mr. Raikes should clearly 
understand that we would prefer to wait rather 
than accept the 4d. rate."— If. <& C. Mail, Oct. 26th. 
1878. 
1887. 
93-8 
134-7 
123 7 
110-7 
73'6 
92-2 
C9-5 
88-3 
28-7 
86-2 
37-5 
51-4 
30-6 
48-8 
35-1 
48-0 
7'7 
11:5 
34-9 
36-9 
7-4 
34-1 
15-5 
24-3 
96 
13'4 
13-4 
151 
PLANTING AND AGRICULTURAL PROSPECTS 
IN THE GALLE DISTRICT. 
A well-informed correspondent writes as follows : — 
"I have observed some extensive tracts of Crown laud 
in Hinidum Pattu, connected with the Matara district, 
in the Southern Province, which are well adapted for 
tea and coconut cultivation, in case Govornment 
deci'lcs to offer thorn for sale. In addition to tho 
oxcellcnt soil (of which there is abundant proof in 
the exuberant vegetation), precious stones, principally 
catseyes, are found in both high and low lands. There 
are also very valuable timber forests. The present 
Government Agent of the Province, than whom no 
one has better experience of the country, has been 
instrumental in opening a minor road to connect 
Hinidum Pattu with the Matara district. It will join 
the principal road on the Morawak Korale line at the 
32nd mile-post, ana intersect the Grown lands above- 
mentioned. The distance is only 7£ miles from Opata 
to Debigaspe and the junction is 9 miles from the 
Akuressa resthouse. The catting of the line is in 
progress ; ou completion it will be necessary to 
improve the existing bridlepath through Habaraknda 
to Hinidum as to admit of wheeled traffic. It will be 
a better road, and involve less expenditure, than the 
lioe through Udugama, as the construction of 
bridgeson the latter will make it costly. When 
I was last at Hinidum Pattu the villagers fre- 
quently complained that they had been reduced to 
great poverty since the abolition of chena cultiva- 
tion in that part of the country, and expressed them- 
selves willing to pay Government R2-50 per acre 
annually if they were allowed this privilege, explain, 
ing that the yield of paddy on low lands was very 
unremunerative. I witnessed several oases of fever in 
the Hinidum Pattu during my visit. The native 
practitioners prescribed some powders (not quinine; , 
allowing the patients to partake freely of curds, cocoaut 
water, &e.: strange to say most of them recovered." 
TEA IN TRAVANCORE. 
When the European planters in Travaucore lost 
heavily in coffee they were compelled to put their land 
to other uses, and so took to the cultivation of tea, en- 
couraged by the total remission of tax conceded by 
the Government of the Maharajah, and by the large 
grants made for roads, which had fallen into disre- 
pair when the planters were not in a position to 
maintain them. Thus fostered, tea planting is be- 
coming a thriving industry in the State, and 
the produce competes well in the market with the 
teas grown in older settlements. 935 cwt , of tea 
were exported from Travancore in 1886 and 1,567 cwt. 
in 1887. From the hills the plants strayed into the 
plains, where they grew luxuriantly, showing that the 
low country was adapted to their cultivation as well as 
the hills. The Travancore Government was not slow 
to take advantage of this circumstance to benefit the 
people. The Dewan recently issued a proclamation 
offering waste-land in the low country free of tax 
for a few years, and thereafter at a low assessment, 
to natives disposed to take to the planting of tea in 
small plots. The plan apparently is to tempt the 
European capitalist to open up estates in convenient 
localities in the plains by giving him, on easy terms, a 
few hundred acres here and there where the native 
can learn how to cultivate tea, and where he can find a 
factory which will buy his raw produce for manipula- 
tion and export ; for, as yet the native is neither rich 
nor expert enough to establish factories of his own 
and go into the manipulation business. Two of the 
most experienced planters of Peermaad have sent in 
applications for land in the low country. — 31. Mail. 
DRUG TRADE REPORT. 
London, Oct. 25. 
Cinchona. — At the fortnightly auctions on Tuesday 
a fair average quantity was offered, the catalogues 
comprising : — Of — 
Packages, Packages. 
Ceylon bark ... l,857...of which. ..1,391 were 6old. 
East India ... 302 254 „ 
Java ... ... 245... „ ... 245 
South American ... 1,210... ,, ... 336 ,, 
African West Coast 10... ,, — >i 
Total ... 3,624 2,226 
The auctions proceeded rather slowly, and in the 
beginning several parcels sold below the valuation ; 
subsequently tho tone improved somewhat, only to 
flag again towardst the close. A number of parcels 
