THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [August r, 1881, 
The following statistics, showing the use of Coffee 
and Chicory, separately and together, in the United 
Kingdom, are of considerable interest. It will hi 
noticed that though sometimes more Coffee, and some- 
times more Chicory, is used to make up that 
beverage which is too often unjustly called Coffee, 
Btill tbe consumption of the berry and the root 
mixed with it, taken together, is almost stationary 
per head of the population. Last year the high price 
<;£ Coffee probably led to the falling-off per head in 
the Coffee consumption, and to the increase in the 
Chicory consumption. Large classes of the British 
public may indeed be said to be partially unacquainted 
with the taste of Coffee, though they are very familiar 
with that of Chicory. Doubtless the latter commodity 
forms a useful part of the national dietary, especially 
as it comes more unscathed out of the rough ordeal 
known in this country as Coffee-making than the 
delicate Coffee berry itself. At the present relatively 
low price of Coffee, however, the use of substitutes for 
it seems likely to decrease, except from that large 
portion of the public which insists on a certain 
■admixture of Chicory. Sound roasted Coffee can be had 
at 9d. or lOd. per lb. and good Plantation at Is. per 
lb. The Public, if once educated to pure Coffee, would, 
perhaps, not be so likely to return to their former pre- 
ferences for admixtures, and there is no doubt a capital 
opening in large towns for Grocers who will make the 
Coffee trade a speciality. Not only is the selling of 
Coffee neglected, but it is too often bought without any 
care in the selection, and in a great number of eases 
actually without comparison between the samples of 
various wholesale houses. Further, it is kept roasted 
for a considerable period before it is used, instead of 
being freshly roasted and ground, if possible, on the 
very day of sale. 
Consumption of Coffee and Chicory 
in the United Kingdom during the ten years 1871—1880. 
1871. 
1 
1872 
1873 
1874 
1875 
tons. 
tons, 
tons 
tOUa 
tons 
12,950 
14,12: 
14,43: 
14,22:, 
14,520 
hicory 
1,197 
4,516 
i,m: 1,923 
4,712 
633 
478 
453 
274 
259 
J, 99 J 
5,233 
5,197 
4,971 
Total Coffee "& Chicory 
19,123 
19,666 
19,12(1 
19,491 
1876 
1877 
1878 
1879 
1880 
tons 
tons 
tons 
tons 
tons 
Coffee 
1-1.C1.jO 
! (,9(JS 
14,540 
Chicory 
Foreign 
4,745 
1,971 
4,786 
5,: J nO 
5,716 
Home-grown 
247 
202 
182 
178 
113 
Total Chicory 
4,992 
5,176 
4,968 
5,478 
Total Coffee & Chicory 
19,876 
J 9,'':, ■> 
19,876 
20,907 
20,369 
Consumption op Coffee and Chicory per head of the 
population of the United Kingdom in the ten 
years 1871—1880. 
1871 
1872 
1873 
1874 
1875 
1876 1877 
1878 
7879 
1880 
lbs. 
lbs. 
lbs. 
lbs. 
lbs. 
lbs. lbs. 
lbs. 
lbs 
lbs. 
offee... 
097 
098 
0-99 
0-96 
0-98 
0-99 | 0'96 
0-97 
100 
0'94 
0-34 
0-35 
0-36 
035 
034 
0-34 | 0'34 
0-32 
033 
0'37 
otal ... 
1-31 
1-33 
1-35 
1-31 
T32 
T33 0-30 
1-29 
1-33 
1-31 
PLANTING IN NATAL. 
We have much pleasure in publishing the follow- 
ing extracts from a letter written by an experienced 
ex Ceylon planter now in Natal. They are interesting 
and have their value, in at least showing there are 
worse places than Ceylon, and that every country has 
its own peculiar draw-backs: — "Talk about Ceylon 
being slow. I will bet this place to lick creation. 
Natal altogether is in a bad way : the roads, rail- 
ways, and surveys out here are simply disgraceful. 
They want an Observer badly. I have a kaffir hut 
20 feet diameter, in which I live and am pretty com- 
fortable, although an S. D.'s bungalow in Ceylon is 
a palace in comparison. We have just, thank good- 
ness, had some heavy rain, the first since my hut 
has been built, and did n't it just leak, although there 
ia a regular haystack on the roof. When you come 
out here, mind and bring a boy and a cook. Boys 
out here are unheard-of luxuries, and a cooly cook 
can be had if you like to pay £4 or £5 a month. 
This is a fearful part of Natal to get grub in : nothing 
but fowls. I have had boiled fowl, bread aud 
butter aud tea for the last month, and as far as 1 
can see it will be all I will be able to get for the 
next six months. People who have been here a long time 
have bacon, but none for sale. The planting season 
commences from about the middle of September and 
lasts to about the end of the year. The cinchona 
seed I brought from Ceylon is coming up. Labour 
out here is a difficulty, there is no doubt. I applied 
for coolies some time ago, and have just heard I 
may expect them in a year's time." 
THE NORTHERN TERRITORY OF SOUTH 
AUSTRALIA. 
We have received a copy of a short sketch of the 
.Northern Territory of South Australia, being the result 
of personal observations during a residence of six 
years, by Edward William Price, Government Resident, 
&c. With regard to the climate, Mr. Price says that 
its unhealthiness has been greatly exaggerated. He says : 
— "Having had a fair experience of tropical climates 
during my service in the Royal Navy, and having 
visited every part of the world except India, China, 
and Japan, I ought to be, in some slight way, a 
judge of unhealthy climates ; and I assert that with, 
perhaps, the exception of the town of Para, at the 
mouth of the Amazon, aud its vicinity, there is no 
place within the tropics where a European can remain 
so long, or work so hard, without injury to his heolth, 
than the Northern Territory. I now speak of an average 
healthy person, who leads a temperature and active life. " 
He theu gives the reasons why persons have 
broken down in health there, viz. because of con- 
stitutional disease, intemperate habits, bad or unsuitable 
food &c. Fever, which is the principal disease, iscomparat- 
ively mild, and the reason why so many Chinese have 
died of it was their own carelessness in sleeping on the 
damp ground after journeys of about 20 miles a day. 
Ague is also common, but colds, coughs, dysentery, diph- 
theria, and many other diseases, are almost unknown. 
Mr. Price concludes his remarks under this head as 
follows: — "I therefore say to any person thiuking of 
settling here, don't be afraid of the climate Taking 
it altogether, it is a pleasanter climate than Southern 
Australia ; and don't believe stories about mosquitoes 
aud other tropical pests. I have used a mosquito 
curtain only five nights in six years, so they 
can't be very bad ; and alligators don't walk about the 
streets of Palmerslon seeking to devour people." 
Under the head of "soil," we read: — "Of course in 
a country containing 335,116,800 acres of land, or 
over half a million of square miles, there must be 
great diversity of soil. The question is : — can the 
Territory show sufficient rich soils to tempt the 
