438 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [November i, i88r, 
Tea. — IS early all the local tea Companies in Assam 
have declared, or are about to declare, an ad interim 
dividend. A Darjeeling correspondent remarks that 
"this is a satisfactory contrast to the state of tea in 
this district at the same period of last year. At that 
time it was almost morally certain that very few con- 
cerns would do more then pay their way until the 
manufacturing season came round again. This year, 
it must indeed be a badly managed concern, which, 
unless ic is very handicapped by having to pay heavy 
interest on borrowed money, or by other exceptional 
circumstances, which ought not to give a very handsome 
return on the season's expenditure." — Madras Mail. 
Johore. — A correspondent writes : — " As some of 
your readers may feel interested in Johore, the en- 
closed letter has a passage or two which you may 
care to publish for their benefit : — ' I was pretty 
well disgusted with Johore at first. I got such fever, 
nearly finished me up twice. A newcomer from 
Ceylon says, he had Wellawaya fever and all other 
fevers in Ceylon, but he never felt anything to come 
near the severity of Johore. Liberian coffee does 
first-class in the lowcountry. Cocoa is being tried 
with apparent success. Tea is also promising. You 
may have seen about some samples sold in London, 
at a Irish figure. All that is nice enough, 
but what 's the good of it when we have not a plenti- 
ful supply of labour over which we can have complete 
control ? So you see, the burden of my letter is an 
indefinite supply of labour.'" 
The Goldfields of India. — Mr Samuel Jennings 
is the secretary to the South Indian and Glenrock 
Gold-Mining Companies, and naturally, in some res- 
pects, his book assumes the shape of a eulogy of those 
particular undertakings. After observing that the 
direction of a reef is ascertained by tracing the line 
of outcrops on the surface, and its dip only by driv- 
ing levels to intersect it at depth, he adds, "In fact, 
no so-called reef can be properly said to have been 
proved until such levels have been driven, or shafts 
sunk upon it." Further on, he remarks upon the de- 
ceptive nature of quartz surface boulders, which, in- 
stead of leading to true reefs, prove on examination 
to be no other than mere boulder rocks "carried to 
their present position by some tremendous convulsion 
of nature ; and subsequently and by degrees partly 
buried in the earth." Mr. Jennings leaves his 
readers to infer how many companies may be working 
upon barren soil. From first to last he bears out our 
expressed opinion that gold does exist in India in 
workable quantities, and that a few fortunate com- 
panies in the best selected districts will reap con- 
siderable profits, while the majority will fail. Se- 
veral of those promoted in England, we are aware, 
had but one initial intention — to sell worthless 
land at a fabulous price. It may happen, however, 
that the victimised shareholders may compel the 
vultures to disgorge. "Free gold," about the exist- 
ence and discovery of which every prospectus is full 
"is but seldom met with." This assertion will not 
encourage investors, more especially when his further 
observations upon the conditions under which it is 
occasionally found are also read. Again, investors 
will do well to remember that assays, "can never be 
relied upon to indicate with any certainty how much 
profit may be calculated upen." But perhaps the most 
important lines in the book are those which exhibit 
the superhuman difficulties to be overcome ere Indian 
gold -mining will be fairly upon its legs. Judging 
from the remarks about labour, roads, railways, com- 
munication, and other obstacleM to be conquered, some 
years may elapse before twenty shillings' worth of 
gold may be brought ti> the coast at a less expendi- 
ture. Of course some plots will prove richer than 
others ; but, for the time being, shareholders as a 
body must hope for no return.— Overland Mail. 
The food of the blue-bird, for instance, according to 
the Journal of Science, consists of 90 per cent, of 
insects and only 10 per cent, vegetable matter ; whereas 
that of the sparrow consists of only 6 per cent of insects, 
the rest being fruit or grain. — South Amtrcdian Register. 
Planting in Borneo. — Mr. Loyalty Peake writing 
from Matang, Sarawak, on the 2nd instant, gives the 
following news of his pioneering work in the Far East: — 
"lam still working away at cinehona nurseries, and 
hope to get the clearing burnt off this week. We shall 
shortly be forming a Cinchona Company here, with 
1,000 shares at 100 dollars each. It will pay well with 
land and felling so very cheap. The Borneo Company will 
shortly commence gold crushing on a large scale. The 
Chinese have been making it pay for years. I spent a 
very pleasant fortnight over at Johore last mouth and 
had a good look at everything. I have managed to get 
hold of a few Tamils here, but they are not a good 
sample : Chinese are much better workers, but you 
must give them contract work to make it pay." 
Tea. — Dr. Aitkin observes: — "The introduction of 
tea, as the beverage of a man of letters, is a curious 
circumstance in dietetical history. I cannot but regard 
it as a very valuable discovery, and I think the liter- 
ary tribe are much indebted to those who contrib- 
ute to familiarise them with the ' cups that cheer but 
not inebriate.' I scarcely ever knew a person fond 
of study who was not also fond of tea, unless he had 
contracted a relish for less innocent refreshment. It 
is not my purpose here to enter into a medical dis- 
cussion of the qualities of this herb ; but, from experi- 
ence, I can affirm that unless taken too strong, or of too 
high a quality, its effects are perfectly salutary, and pj- 
culiarly favourably to sedentary habits."— Home paper. 
Tambracherry Estates and Wynaad Gold Mining 
Company. — The directors of this company, in a cir- 
cular just issued, state that after mature considera- 
tion they are resolved to consider the sum of £20,000 
in the light of profit on the sale of the portion of 
land disposed of to the Cootacovil Gold Mining Com- 
pany (Limited). Out of this sum they recommend 
the shareholders to declare a dividend of 10 per cent., 
which will absorb £16,000, and to appropriate the 
remainder to cover preliminary expenses in England 
and India. The directors, after taking the best legal 
advice, find they are precluded from carrying out 
their original intention of returning a portion of the 
proceeds of the above land in the shape of capital, 
and no other course appears to be open to them ex- 
cepting that proposed, without bringing the company 
under the act as " limited and reduced," which is 
undesirable. — Overland Mail. 
Ceylon Bees. — The bee is undoubtedly a wonderful 
insect; but Ceylon claims to possess, in. the Apis 
dorsata, the "most wonderful bee in the world." This 
insect is known among the Sinhalese as the Bambara, 
a name which is curiously suggestive of the familiar 
title given to the wild bee of this country ; and its 
nests are hunted for by the natives in the thick jungles 
of the island, where, however, no attempt is made to 
domesticate it. An enthusiastic American apiarist, 
Mr. F. Benton, has succeeded in taking captive two 
or three colonies of this bee, which he hopes to take 
to America. In his search in the forest, attended by 
a party of bee-hunters, he astonished the natives by 
the manner in which he handled whole swarms of 
the insect, before a single irritated specimen of which 
a Sinhalese honey-collector has been known to flee 
for miles : for the Bambara is so suvage that a 
strategic movement to the rear is advisable when a 
swarm, or even a single individua', is ruffled by im- 
proper handling, though escape from its sting is 
hardly possible. If the bee deserves the encomiums 
which Mr, Benton bestows upon it, it will no doubt 
receive fuller recognition than has hitherto been 
accorded to it. — Colonies and India. 
