7 84 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [May i, 1889. 
to the average aged rustic. As Mr. Moore observes 
with regard to Indiau opium-eaterB, they do Dot ap- 
pear to exceed their usual weekly quantity ; but I 
do not thiuk they ever give the habit up. 
The usual method of takiug the opium is chewing 
the crude drug ; but, psrhaps, taking it in the form 
of laudanum is nearly as frequent. 
I am, Sir, your obedient servant, 
M. B. 
Wainfleet, Lincolnshire, March 2Gth. 
THE NEW DEPAETUEE IN TEA 
SELLING. 
(by the "peripatetic planter.") 
The London Wholesale Tea Dealers' Association are 
not satisfied with the resolution recently come toby 
the Indian Tea Districts Association on the ques- 
tion of continuing the present system of selling 
Indian teas on nett weights. They desire a return to 
the old system of takiug the tares; which meant 
the turniug out of the teas here and exposure 
of the teas in a damp climate, in order that 
the boxes might be weighed, as well as tea, 
and a deduction made for the tare. Your readers 
will remember that this old system was aban- 
doned in favour of taking the weight of tea 
in a few boxes out of an invoice, and upon these, 
an average for the whole invoice is struck. This 
plan was adopted both in the interest of the grower 
and of the dealer, inasmuch as the garden's reputation 
was less liable to suffer by its teas " going off " after 
exposure here in a more or less damp atmosphere ; 
and the dealer obtained his tea with all the garden 
" freshness " upon it — or as much as possible of that 
" freshness." Now complaints have been heard that 
short weight is received by this system. The fact 
assumed by the importers is, that those people who 
have benefitted by a slight excess obtained by the chances 
of averaging, and some of those who have received 
exact weight, say nothing ; but some of those few, 
who, by the same changes of averaging, have received 
a trifle less than their old-fashioned " over-draft," 
which they had grown used to under the old system, 
and which have come to be looked upon as a right, 
or bouus (!) have raised an outcry against the change 
which has oaused them this " loss." The I. T. D. 
Association did not think a case had been made out 
by the wholesale dealers of any loss of sufficient con- 
sequence, to justify a reversion to the old system, with 
its manifold drawbacks, now that planters had got used 
to the new plan. The I. T. D. A. nevertheless re- 
quested more detailed information of the losses ex- 
perienced, as the wholesale dealers had not supported 
their case, with any figures of weight. The wholesale 
dealers have now drawn up some figures showing claims 
made for some 8001b. short weight, or an agregate 
of over 1,200 chests, divided among various invoices. 
It is a pity that even that much foundation should exist 
for their grievance, and planters will do well if they can 
prevent such claims happening ; but the figures ad- 
vanced now, are not likely to be deemed important 
enough by the I. T. D. Association to cause a change, 
back to the old system of taring the boxes. The 
London Wholesale Tea Dealers' Association, on the 
other hand, threaten that they will only buy teas 
which may be subjected to that ordeal! So if they 
stick to resolution, and if importers, on the other 
hand, support the views of the I. T. D. Association 
to the extent that they do now in this matter, then 
the London wholesale tea dealers will rind that they 
will only have J to \ of the Indian teas to select from ! 
This shrinkage of their selection, will, it is assumed 
by importers, soon cause the wholesale dealers to aban- 
don their decision. — Indian Planters' Gazette. 
A WHITE ANT POISON. 
Sir, — In reply to your enquirer, who wanted to know 
a good while ant poison, I beg to tell him of a specific 
never known to fail when properly applied. Tako of 
common aloes (aloe vugaris)— called by the natives 
olethale — a quantity and extract the juice by passing 
theleaves through nu old mangle, or any such contri- 
vance, first haviug placed a trough to catch the juice in; 
now boil the substance so extracted to a creamy con- 
sistency, adding six ounces of pounded camphor to every 
gallon of juice ; then, having excavated your whito-aut 
hill to a depth of about a foot or two, pour in a quart 
of the stuff, taking care to cover as much space as 
possible ; fill in the excavation and leave the ants to 
their fate. This preparation is extensively used in 
America for destroying various insects, and it is .'aid 
that coffee borers and other vermin of that species that 
attack plants succumb to it marvellously. In these 
cases it is mixed largely with water and sprinkled on 
the leaves of the tree so attacked through a garden 
pump or watering can. Aloe juice is also used to pre- 
serve wood which has in any way to float or be sub- 
merged in water, by mixing it with the preparation of 
white lead used to paint the article. As an autho- 
rity for this I quote a part of the article on aloes in 
the Encyclopaedia Americana : — " The juice of the 
aloes was formerly used in eastern countries in embalm- 
ing, to preserve dead bodies from putrefaction : and 
as the resinous part of the juice is not soluble in 
water, it is sometimes adopted, in hot climates, as 
a preservative to ship bottoms against the attacks of 
marine worms. One ounce of its mixed with turpen- 
tine, tallow and white lead is considered sufficient for 
covering about two superficial feet of plank and about 
12 lb. is sufficient for a vessel of 50 tons burthen. In 
proof of the efficacy of this method, two planks of 
equal thickness, and cut from the same tree, were 
placed under water, one of them in its natural state 
and the other smeared with this composition. They 
were suffered to continue in the water eight months 
and when, at the end of that time, they were taken 
out, the former was perforated in every part, and in 
a state of absolute decay, whilst the latter was as per- 
fect as at first. In the East Indies, the juice of these 
plants is used as a varnish to preserve wood from the 
attacks of destructive insects ; and skins and even 
living animals are sometimes smeared with it for the 
same purpose." Cobra De Oapello. 
— Madras Mail. 
PLANTING IN DELI. 
The Deli Courant again calls attention to the pre- 
valence of desertion among estate coolies there. The 
other day, on one estate in that quarter, the Con- 
troller of Serdang found no less than 69 ooolies with 
doubtful or decidedly forged discharge certificates, 
who were at once taken into custody. 
On the Kwala Bingei estate, an outbuilding con- 
taining 200,000 attaps has been burned down through 
incendiarism. The supposed fire-raiser, a Battak, has 
been arrested. 
The " Deli and Langkat Tobacco Company Limited" 
has just been started in London with a capital of 
£230,000. It will take over three estates in Deli and 
Langkat, which have been eight years under plant- 
ing management. A profit of 35,000 pounds sterling 
on last year's tobacco crop is counted upon, admitting 
of a dividend of 22 per cent. Tb.6 working capital 
of the Company has been fixed at ±'75,000. 
On the 29th March, riots took place among the 
Chinese coolies on Helvetia Estate, in which ono 
of them was murdered. 
The " Anglo Sumatra Tobacco Company " has 
been floated in London with £80,000 as capital, for 
buying the Pakan Baru estate in Siak. 
The Netherlands Consul General at Singapore re- 
ports that in 1888 about 5.600 emigrants arrived there 
from different portions of Netherlands India, of whom 
some 2,700 went to the East Coast of Sumatra under 
contract, an increase of about 800 compared with 
the previous year. These figures rest upon returns 
by native recruiting agents. There can be no ques- 
tion that the extension of tobacco cultivation on the 
East Coast of Sumatra has materially furthered im- 
migration thither,— Straits Times, 9th April. 
