FEBRUARY I, 1882.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
7*3 
has increased as enormously ;ih it has ilono in the United 
States. Some idea of this increase may bo formed by 
tho following comparison of the wholosale prices of — 
ICth November, 1881. 1880. 
Butter ... - 34 cents ... 28 cents 
Sugar ... 92 a % do ... 9 J do 
Potatoes ... $1 a 1.25 do ... 60 a 70 do 
Flour ... $8.25 ... $7.15 
Bacon ... 11 cents ... 8£ cents 
Pork ... 18 do ... 15" do 
Lard ... , 12J do ... 9£ do 
From Eio we can get no reliable information respecting 
the probable outturn of the present crop, We believe 
there is nu doubf whatever that, as we stated in our cir- 
cular of the Uth October, the quantity of the 1880-81 
freatly overestimated in beingput at L,500j000 y bags. On 
the other hand, it seems equally clear that the 1881-82 crop 
must, have been considerably underestimated in being put 
at 3,200,000 bags. 
But leaving estimates aside, let us look at the facts as 
far as they go. 
The total shipments from 1881. 1880. 
Rio iron, 1st Januaryto30th 
November have been .. .2,1 132.1 JIM) bgs. against 1.872.000 bgs. 
Stock in Kio 1st Dec... 325,000 „ 
Ml 
ANT DUKE ON AGUICUETCItE. 
Together 
2,357,01 10 
2,0:12, 
The excess in the supply of Kio coffee this year as com- 
pared with last year is therefore 265,600 bags. 
At Santos the receipts keep very high, aud the crop 
promises to be as large as it was expected to be. 
1881. Iu80. 
The shipments from Santos, 
1st. July to 30th Nov. have bren... 543,153 against 450,771 
Slock, 30th Novembor... 142,000 „ 86,000 
Together bags - 685,153 „ 530,771 
The excess in the total, supply of Santos coffee over 
last year amounts, therefore, so far to 149,000 hags. 
From Coylon tho total shipments this season are re- 
ported to bo :— 
Plantation - 3057 tons against 3200 tons last season 
Native - 91 „ ., 430 „ „ 
For the identical fine - high-grown plantation crops, which 
we bought last year, at about this time, for the Mediter- 
ranean ports, planters now ask Is to 2s more than we 
paid them last year. On what misconception of the posi- 
tion of colfee these pretensions are based we cannot imagine. 
It has pre vented a fair amount of business which might 
have been done to the Mediterranean this year at relatively 
high prices, and, seeing that nearly all eollccs are 20 to 30 
per cent, cheaper than last year and that the Ceylon crop 
is about 15,00(1 tuns larger than last year, it does not seem 
reasonable to ask Is to 2s more. 
It is to be regretted, for their own sakes, that a class 
of men who have shown such intelligence and determination 
to overcome all difficulties in the cultivation of their estates 
Should, when it comes to selling their crops, use such little 
wisdom or thought. They go on in the same old groove, 
consigning their colfee to London, where it is put up in 
public sole, incurring the heavy London Dock charges, two 
brokerages of .'. per cent ., heavy tax for sampling, and the 
exporter's commission before it reaches the consumer — as 
If there existed no lines of .steamers to the Mediterranean 
at lower freights than to London, and as if it was not far 
more economical to sell the coffee direct to the consumer, 
paying one brokerage. As an instance of how little judg- 
ment is sometimes shown in the sale of Ceylon crops in 
Loudon wo may cite tin- sale, which took place two weeks 
ago, at about 75s of a parcel of Ceylon colfee, imported 
in August, 1*7*, for which 113s had been once refused! 
Bather hard this criticism on Coylon merchants and 
planters : is it for J Vy Ion J The estimate of an ex- 
coas of 15,000 tons is too much : we should l>o 
glad if season 1881-2 givoa 10,000 tons more coffee 
than the previoui one. 
-72 
Mr. Grant Duff, in opening the new buildings of 
the Agricultural College at Saidapett, delivered an 
address, which is thus summarized in a telegram to 
tho Calcutta Englishman ■— 
His Excellency stated emphatic illy : — " It is my 
opinion that none of the many good influences which 
are now being brought to bear upon this Presidency 
is more likely to lead to the great increase of its 
prosperity than the diffusion of sound views on the 
tubject of agriculture, a subject which mainly occu- 
pies the thoughts of 75 per cent of the population. 
We English have passed through many phases during 
our brief rule in India, viz., the pacificatory phase, 
when wo beat down armed wrong and gave the land 
rest from internal wars; the railway-building phase, 
which first made it possiblo for India to be some- 
thing more than an aggregate of provinces ; the codi- 
fying phase, when we established in the laud a new 
idea of justice, and to some extent a new morality ; 
and the educational phase, when we opened to the 
studious and aspiring youth the long hived-up know- 
ledge of the West. We are now entering into tho 
agricultural phase. We have given the land peace, 
have destroyed scourges which have kept down the 
population, but one-fifth of our people are already 
under-fed in consequence aud increasing rapidly every 
year. What is to be done? Something may bo 
effected by fostering the manufacturing industry, and 
the mining industry may help to draw off a part of 
the agricultural population ; still we have only begun 
a solution of the problem. Shall we then look to 
emigration? It can do little, not much. Shall we tfy 
transposition of population? It can do somewhat 
more too. There is much room in some parts of India, 
aud a good deal of room in this Presidency, for an 
increasing breadth of tillage, but the chief increase 
must be lateral and not perpendicular, not extensive 
but intensive. It must bo* the result, in short, of 
more intelligent cultivation of the lands already tilled. 
To learn by actual experiment how tho general 
maxims, common to agriculture everywhere, are to 
be made applicable to the circumstances of Sou hern 
India, and then to spread in all directions the know- 
ledge obtained by actual experiment, are the two mafi 
objects in this institution." After referring to the opin- 
ions of the officers of the institution. His Excellency 
expressed great satisfaction that there were now a 
fair number of Brahmin pupils and most of those who 
seek admission were matriculated students of tho 
Bombay and Madras Universities. " The warning given 
by that terrible calamity which bad farming had made 
so much worse than it might otherwise have. been,"' 
he added, "has been taken somewhat to heart in 
many of the European countries. Agriculture ranks 
higher than almost any other profession in England. 
There are few of our nobles who nre not more or 
lies devoted to it. In urging the natives of India 
to avail themselves moro of the institution, we tako 
a thoroughly consistent course." 
CINCHONA BUILDINGS IN THE NEII.olI KKKY 
DISTRICT. 
During the latter mouths of last year our Oov.rn- 
ment had under consideration a Report made by tie 
Superintending Eu.mcer of tho Circle, with estimate* 
accompanying, on the subject of constructing certain 
buibbngs rcipiirid for preparation of lark, the pro- 
duce ol tin State Plantations on tho Ncdgherries. 
And as the plan had been approved of by higher 
authorities through whoso hands it passed, sanction 
was given to the execution of the works pressed 
the Mini of 1:32,700 being appropriated for them in 
tbe current year's Provwoiiu Budget Hut of ibat 
amount, B 10,700 were surrendered by tho super- 
