12 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
[June i, 1881. 
The following is the report of the Sub-Jury No. 2 
on Tea, consisting of Messrs. Everard (chairman), 
Cowderoy, Harvey, Brown and Harley : — 
"The sub-jury appointed by sectional jury 31 to re- 
port on tea have concluded their labors, and have 
now to say that sample bottles of all teas on Exhibi- 
tion, numbered from 1 to 823, were sent to the tea 
salesroom of Messrs. Everard and Co. the country 
and exhibitors of the teas not being disclosed until 
the whole of the samples had been tasted, and the 
awards made. We had some difficulty in deciding 
how we should give the awards, but we ultimately 
concluded to judge of each description of tea interna- 
tionally, giving an award to the best of the various 
kinds of tea, and if we found afterwards any special 
exhibitors well up in all classes of tea, to give such 
collective exhibit a first award, &c. In going through 
the various exhibits we found several samples of China 
teas, but as we afterwards found they were exhibited 
by the Oriental Tea Company and the Ceylon and 
Foo Chow Company, but not being the manufacturers 
or producers, we were unable to give them any awards 
but it is only right to say that if such exhibits had 
been eligible we should have given first awards for 
Souchong, Congou, Pouchoug, Oolong, yellow Pekoe. 
Tea consumed by natives and scented orange Pekoe, 
very fine. It is much to be regretted that official 
exhibits from China and Java were not made, as we 
could then have demonstrated the relative positions 
of all the tea-growing countries. We much regret 
that many of the samples had gone off in qualities 
and lost much of the aroma which would have re- 
mained in fresh drawn samples, and this probably 
causes some of them to be placed in a lower position 
in the awards than would otherwise have been the 
case. Where possible we have made allowance for this 
but many of the samples were out of condition from 
improper curing and other causes. One sample, No. 
528, exhibited by Keir Dundas (Ceylon ^court), and 
to which special attention was drawn, never reached 
us. — For the jury, J. Eveeakd, chairman. Melbourne, 
4th March, 1881." 
Cinchona. — We are informed that probably the 
experience gained on Summerhill estate, Nuwara Eliya 
district, will afford a satisfactory answer to the ques- 
tion, " Will cinchona grow successfully on the same 
land for the second time ? " On this estate some 
16,000 trees were cut down and rooted out last year 
and the land planted over again, the result being a 
growth so far which is very satisfactory. 
Coffee Leaf Disease. — We call attention to the 
opinions quoted by our London correspondent at first 
iiand from Mr. Cooke, one of the great English au- 
thorities on Fungi. Mr. Cooke is much interested in Mr. 
Marshall Ward's work, more particularly as he is 
himself engaged in investigating a disease which has 
atiacked the coffee in Venezuela and Porto Rico. We 
*hall take care that Mr. Cooke is furnished with 
copies of Mr. Ward's further reports as they are 
published. Our Scottish correspondent has also some 
interesting remarks on the subject which will shortly 
appear. 
Date Coffee — In a paper received this morning 
from London, there is an account of a lecture by 
Dr. Richardson, in which he speaks in highly favour- 
able termB of what is known as ' date coffee' : — "The 
lecturer also briefly alluded to the date coffee, which 
has recently been thrown upon the market, and ob- 
served that it wus undoubtedly a highly nutritive 
article of diet, and largely flesh-forming." — dor. [The 
Company advertise the opinions of several analysts 
and medical men. but one question is what kind of 
samples were laid before these gentlemen, and another 
why be allowed to apply the term coffee to a mix- 
hire chiefly formed of dates?] 
THE COMMERCE OF JAMAICA. 
ASupplementto the Jamaica Gazette of Jan. 20 has been 
sent to us by Mr. Morris, containing the annual report 
of, the Collector General, with accompanying statements 
of customs revenue, imports and exports, & •. for this 
West Indian Colony. With regard to import duties we 
learn that the amount collected in 1879-80 was £25,000 
in excess of the previous year, the collection being 
the Krgest made since 1875-6 : this result was 
partly due to the drought experienced at the end 
of 1879 and beginning of 1880, causing a large 
demand for foodstuffs. The severe storm of August 
1880 occurred too late in the financial year to ma- 
terially affect the collections fo- that year, but the 
current year will show a large increase in the importa- 
tion of flour, meal, rice, saltfish, &c. The amount of 
export duties was in excess of the previous year by 
only £43, a decrease having taken place in rum, 
coffee, and dyewoods, as against an increase in sugar. 
The aggregate value of the exports was over 1^ 
million pounds, being an increase of £155,000 over 
the previous year and £170,000 over the average 
of the three previous years. Of the total 
amount £1,512,978 19s 3d the island is credited 
with £1,427,000 19s lid, or an increase of 13 per 
cent, and foreign produce and manufacture with 
£85,834 19s 4d, or a decrease of 9 36 per cent. The 
principal articles in which increases have taken place 
are as follows : — 
Articles. Quantities. Values. 
£. s d. 
Beeswax ... 476 cwt. 462 2 9 
Cocoa .. 1,151 „ 4,286 13 6 
Ginger ... 1,073 „ 4,036 1 3 
Honey ... 1,070 „ 1,070 11 9 
Pimento ... 38,699 „ 66,174 14 9 
Sugar ... 2,966 hhds. 82,420 3 7 
Cigars ... 6,030 lbs. 3,489 10 0 
Hides ... 230,272 ,, 2,356 6 10 
Bananas ... 111,689 bunches. 5 660 17 6 
Cocoanuts ... 2,384,607 no. 7,553 8 5 
Oranges ... 5,184,732,, 5,090 10 3 
Coffee ... Decrease in quantity. 5,583 9 11 
Rum ... „ „ 11,767 0 0 
Among the articles which shew a decrease is lime 
juice 37,641 gallons of the value of £1,825 Is 7d. 
It will be noticed that coffee and rum show a de- 
crease in quantity though an increase in value, the 
latter due to better prices. The decrease in coffee was 
eq^al to 574 cwt. A new item of export was cinchona, 
t$e total quantity shipped in 1879-80 being 23,981 lb 
of the value of £7,302 14s. It seems that the trade in 
cattle and horses with Cuba, which promised at one 
time to become an important item in the export 
trade of the colony, has been checked to some ex- 
tent by a rise of 12 per cent and upwards in the market 
value of stock, and also by the enforcement of strict 
quarantine rules. The distribution of the export trade 
was as follows: — 67 '3 per cent to the United King- 
dom, 20 - l p. c. to the United States, 52 p. c. to 
Canada, and 7 '4 p. c. to other countries, the first and 
last showing a decrease, and the other two an increase, 
the latter being due to direct or additional steam 
communication. The fruit trade with America 
increases annually, and promises to form in a few 
years a large proportion of the export value of the 
colony. 74-5 per cent of the value of the total exports is 
made up by the four great staples, viz. sugar 32*9, 
rum 13 - 8, coffee 16'8, and dyewoods 11 per cent. 
Pimento amounts to 9 6, and fruits including coco- 
nuts 4 -8 per cent, while all the other items together 
amount to ll"lper cent of the total production. The 
export of annatto has risen from 22,435 lb. in 1876 
valued at £560 17s 6d to 91,890 in 1880 valued at 
£1,531 10s. The export of beeswax has not varied 
much, 1876 showing 1,017 cwt. 3 q. 5 lb. of the value 
