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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[May i, 1882. 
The Treatment of Jute. — At the Atlanta Exposis 
tion a Louisiana gentleman had on view three baled 
of jute, which were almost white, and had been treate- 
only by water. The jute was simply put into water 
and allowed to rot, a process requiring from seven to 
nine days in stagnant water, and above 20 in running 
water. After this process the juto comes from the 
water without a vestige of bark, and with the fibre 
thoroughly separated. After washing it is ready to 
be manufactured. — Brtsh Trade Journal. 
Your (late) staple, Coffee, is undergoing a further 
trial of endurance. A bill has been introduced into 
the Austrian Parliament heavily augmenting the duties 
on tea and coffee, and, as the bill is sure to pass, 
every effort lias been made by importers to push both 
these articles into the empire under the existing tariff. 
To such a pitch have these efforts been carried, that 
20,000 tons of coffee were introduced in a fortnight ! 
To permit this evasion of future duty proceeding any 
further, on Wednesday last a special bill was carried 
in the Austrian Parliament declaring all such impor- 
tations after yesterday liable to the higher rate of 
duty. It is to be hoped that the recent improvement 
in the price of coffee is not alone due to the heavy 
buying which the importations above referred to has 
occasioned. It may have considerably influenced, it. — 
London Cor. 
Agriculture in Burmah. — The Burmese agricult- 
urists in the interior will have very little surplus 
cash to spend, and they can hardly yet realize that 
the price of paddy has gone down to something like 
the price it stood at ten or twelve years ago. Gener- 
ally in the month of March, eager buyers from Ran- 
goon, Burmese, Chinese and natives of India, flocked 
to every village on the banks of a creek, and outbid 
each other to get paddy at rates varying from R75 
to R85 r er hundred baskets, according to the rates 
ruling in town. The buyers being so exceedingly 
anxious to get grain, Jack Barman, of course, ac- 
commodated them, and insisted on measuring with 
a small basket, whilst he took no great trouble to 
sift the grain, and dirt and paddy husk formed a 
proportion of every boat-load sent to Bangoon. When 
there was such a brisk demand, what need to take 
extra trouble to clean the grain, and if buyers did 
not mind paying a high price, there was no reason 
not to measure with a heap, mixture of a few baskets 
of husk and earth from the paddy-field which in- 
creased the bulk. All this is changed now. A 
Burman cultivator, who recently arrived here from 
Mawoon, one of the richest paddy districts, tells me 
that at R45 per hundred baskets last week there 
were no buyers in his village, whilst, where specu- 
lators had come up from Rangoon to purchase, they 
were most particular in seeing that they got good 
measurement, and also that the grain they bought 
was really grain without added husk or dirt. This 
man seemed to think that cheap rice meant whole- 
sale ruin and desolation to the people. Where nearly 
every one cultivates either for sale or for his own 
use, it no doubt means that there will be very 
little surplus cash at the end of the season 
to spend in finery, or in visiting distant pagodas, or 
giving feasts and theatricals to friends. But with 
low prices, perhaps, we shall get more honesty and 
less fraud and deception in the rice trade, and those 
who do not cultivate, but have to buy their daily 
food, viz., the residents in towns, will benefit from 
cheap food. The Burmese cultivators have for so many 
years had high prices and a brisk demand for paddy 
and rice, that they hardly understand that the European 
market is overstocked, and that it is only low rates 
which can induce shippers to send more rice out of 
the country. Another good result which will doubtless 
follow from low prices is that the poorer classes in 
Europe may be induced to use rice more generally 
as an article of food. Its nutritious qualities are well 
known, and if the poor find that they can obtain a 
sustaining food at rates much lower than have hitherto 
prevailed, they may, perhaps, be induced to overcome 
the prejudice which exists among so many classes 
of people regarding changing ordinary articles of diet. 
The last administration report for the province showed 
that Burmah rice had penetrated to Iceland, and, if 
in such a cold climats rice is generally used by the 
people with advantage, it would surely be a valuable 
food for the labouring classes in Great Britain and 
Ireland. And yet in how few households at home ia 
rice ever seen on the table, unless in the form of 
rice pudding, or unless it is cooked in honor of come 
Anglo-Tndian who happens to be at home on fourlough. 
—Friend of India and Statesman. 
Strawberries.— It is estimated, says the New York 
Tribune, that during the "Strawberry month " Chicago 
receives 10,000 bushels of this fruit per day. 
Vine-growing in Germany. — I was very much in- 
terested this year in the different modes in which 
they grow vines in the wine country which fringes 
the Rhine for so long a distance. I observed them 
chiefly at Newhausen on June 10, and found two 
modes of culture pursued. In the first instance the 
Tines were trained up a 6ft. pole, and stopped at 
that height. Six or seven stems were trained up 
the pole from the same root, encouraging side growths 
for the fruiting wood. In the other method, one 
leading stem was grown up and bent down, and tied 
to the footstalk, so as to form a hoop, round which 
the growth was made and the fruit borne.— J. Allen. 
— Australasian. 
Exports in the shape of Coconut Oil of a su- 
perior quality, sleepers, and logs of timber, from the 
Andaman Islands, are gradually increasing. The oil, 
by the way, comes originally from the Nicobars, 
where the islands are belted with coconut trees. It 
is a curious, though well-known, fact, that the coco- 
nut, indigenous to the Cocos Island* to the north, 
and to the Nicobar Islands towards the south, was 
not to be found some years ago in the Andamans. 
Every coconut tree in the settlement owes its exist- 
ence to our colony. The wealth of the Andamans 
in other kinds of valuable timber fully makes up, 
however, for the absence of the coconut palm.— 
Pioneer. 
The Mauritius Sugar Estates We have more 
than once said that almost the only means of 
setting the sugar-making interest on a sound and solid 
footing is the creation of Sugar Estates Companies. 
By this means all mortgage debts will gradually 
be liquidated ; the Colony will not pay so much 
interest to the capitalists of other countries ; the 
estates will be administered at a much cheaper rate, 
and the public will be more generally interested in the 
chief staple of the colony. A large number of persons 
who can command only a few hundreds of rupees 
or dollars will be able to take a few shares. The 
rivalry among the Estates Companies will be of the 
most legitimate kind; it will be, which estate can pro- 
duce the largest quantity of sugar of the best quality. 
What has given the impulse in this matter has been 
the success of, we believe, the first company, the Sugar 
Estates Company of which Dr. leery is the manager. 
Another Company is now forming to be called the 
Central Sugar Estates Company. It will comprise the 
following estates, viz : — Bonne, Veine, Esperance, New 
Orove, Rose Belle, Mare d' Albert. We perceive by an 
advertisement that Mon Tresor is selling off every 
thing. We are sorry to learn this. If it had formed 
part of a Company this might not have happened. The 
Northern Sugar Estates Company and the Highlands 
Co., are very successful. Thirty shares of the 'Northern 
Company were withdrawn on the 26th instant at 
R286.— Mauritius Mercantile Record, 
