THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [April i, 1882. 
PLANTATION COMPANIES IN MAURITIUS. 
We need not remind the Ceylon public how some 
twenty years ago the name and credit of Mauritius and 
its plantations were at the lowest ebb, and how it was 
sought to bolster up enterprize in that island by a Com- 
pany which should bear in its title the name only of 
the then prosperous Coffee Colony. Times are changed 
to some purpose ; for while here we are suffering from 
short crops, depression and scarcity of capital for most 
promising undertakings in new products, in Mauritius 
we read in the papers received today (13th March) of 
Plantation Companies declaring dividends of from 14 to 
18 per cent per annum 1 These Companies were f ormed 
in the time of depression to buy and work estates, and 
now that the dark cloud has passed away, they are pro- 
fiting by the foresight of their directors. There is a 
lesson in this for capitalists who are watching the pre- 
sent period of depression in Ceylon : the swing of the 
pendulum will assuredly be found before long to tend in 
the opposite direction, and returns of 14 per cent and 
over will then be as freely experienced here as in Mau- 
ritius. 
RETAIL AUCTIONS OF INDIAN TEA. 
Mincing-lane may be amused to learn that some of 
the Calcutta papers have been writing in favour of a 
Company it is proposed to form for the Bale by auc- 
tion, in all the chief towns in the United Kingdom, of 
Indian tea in packets to suit all pockets. It is not 
likely that these auctions would have the mixed 
attendance and support the promoters expect, but 
they may rely on a pretty big crowd of idlers and 
loafers every Saturday night, and among them a 
sprinkling of those decent folks who always attend 
sales in the hope of securing bargains. The venture 
would not, we believe, further the sale of Indian tea, 
nor reyay the Company for their labour and outlay.— H. 
and G. Mail. 
THE RICE CROPS AND SEASON IN INDIA. 
(For the Week ending 7th March.) 
There has been slight rain during the week in a few 
districts of Madras and Bengal, in two districts of the 
North-Western Provinces and Oudh, in three districts 
of the Punjab, and generally in Assam. General pro- 
spects continue much the same as in the preceding week. 
The spring crops promise a favourable harvest in the 
Punjab, and are being reaped in the Central Provinces 
and Bengal with a fair average outturn, excepting in a 
few places in the latter Province. In the North- West- 
ern Provinces and Oudh the yield on unirrigated lands 
in the central tract will probably be light. In the Bom- 
bay Presidency the rabi h-irvest has been completed in 
some districts and is still progressing in others, as well 
as in Berar. In the Madras Presidency standing crops 
are in need of water in some parts. In Mysore the 
sugar-cane and vaisakh paddy, the only standing crops 
of importance, are suffering from scarcity of water, but 
prospects are reported to be generally fair, prices being 
steady and pasturage sufficient. No renarks seem necess- 
ary regarding other Provinces, and the Native States, 
except that scarcity of water is felt in the Nizam's 
Territories. 
Madras. — No rain except in Ganjam, Tanjore, Madura, 
and Travancore ; general prospects good. 
Bombay. — Rabi harvest completed in some districts, 
in progress in others ; scarcity of drinking water in parts 
of Dharwar continues; fever and cattle disease disap- 
pearing ; prices generally steady. 
Bengal. — The hot weather has now set in ; the late 
rain lias generally much improved prospects ; rain is 
still much wanted in Rajshahye and Cuttack ; harvest- 
jug of the rabi and tobacco crops has commenced, gen- 
erally with prospect of a fair average outturn, except in 
places where they suffered from previous want of rain; 
sugarcane is being cut and pressed with a good out- 
turn ; ploughing for autumn crops is in fair progress ; 
sporadic cases of cholera and small-pox continue to be 
reported in some places ; cholera is spreading in almost 
all the sub-divisions of Nuddea ; cattle disease reported 
in places in the Orissa and Chota Nagpore Divisions. 
N.-W. Provinces and Oudh. — Light rain has fallen in 
Gorakhpur and Moradabad ; the crops are being cut, and 
prospects are on the whole good ; although in Benares 
the outturn of wheat and barley is poor, and there hai 
been some further injury from insects in Agra ; prices 
have risen slightly in Gorakhpur and Lucknow, but have 
fallen in Allahabad and Kuinaon, while in other districts 
they are stationary ; cholera still lingers in Allahabad 
and South Gorakhpur, and small-pox in Moradabad and 
Kumaon, but the general health continues good ; there 
is still some cattle disease in Kumaon. 
Punjab. — Harvest prospects favourable ; health good ; 
prices fluctuating. 
Central Provinces. — Weather wanner ; rabi crops being 
reaped, fair outturn expected ; small-pox reported from 
a few districts ; cholera fast disappearing ; public health 
good ; prices remain stationary. — Madras Mail. 
MR, STORCK'S REMEDY FOR COFFEE LEAF 
DISEASE, NEARLY IDENTICAL WITH 
THAT OF MR, SCHROTTKY. 
The above is, we believe, the opinion which will 
be arrived at after reading Mr. Storck's paper in 
the Gardener's Chronicle . — only it must be remem- 
bered that Mr. Scbrottky began his experiments 
with carbolic acid vapour on an extensive scale 
long before we had heard of Mr. Storck. To 
the local experimentalist undoubtedly belongs all the 
credit of priority, and the fact that he has, through 
a very little good, and a great deal of evil report 
patiently persevered in his work among our planters 
constitutes a strong claim on the esteem of this com- 
munity. Not long ago an old planter, Mr. Wm. 
Sabonadiere, called for a special Government grant 
of money and a monopoly by patent to encourage 
Mr. Storck to visit and apply his remedy in Ceylon. 
The only reason why Mr. Schrottky has not got a 
patent a year old now, for his carbolic acid vapour 
process, is that after receiving the usual formal 
application and deposit of fees, the Government of 
Sir James Longden (while retaining the R350 paid 
iu stamps and fees ! !) threw out the application as 
inadmissible. We well remember the decisive way 
iu which Mr. Schrottky after his return from Dolos- 
bage at an early stage of his experiments, said if 
ever a practical cure for leaf disease is to be found 
it must be in the vapour of carbolic acid, and he 
has most consistently adhered to that belief, in the 
face of much adverse scientific criticism and no little 
ridicule from planters and merchants. Mr. Schrottky 
is now more than ever convinced that the leaf fungus 
must be dealt with as a noxious weed — a persistent 
and much injurious "white weed" which can be j 
successfully combatted by continuous treatment all the 
year through, more particularly if the attack is begun 
in the dry season. In this opinion, Mr. Storck, if he 
w^re acquainted with the conditions of climate and 
of the planting enterprise in Ceylon, would no doubt 
fully agree, so far as we can judge from his paper 
to the Chronicle which is as follows : — 
[We have received a lengthy communication from Mr. 
Storck (now resident in Fiji, and who was assistant to the, 
