THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [June t, i88z. 
aud those of New Zealand to about 1,500,0001b. per 
annum. In the latter colony, no record is kept of the 
quantity of tea imported; the value was £146,187 in 
1865, and £197,997 in 1879. Queensland takes from 
1£ to 2 millions of lb. of tea per annum. Altogether 
the Australasian Colonies at present import about 22 
millions of lb. officially valued at £1,500,000 per 
annum. Hitherto China has monopolised this trade ; 
and it is only recently that the colonists have had 
it brought practically home to tbem, that not only 
is tea cultivation an established fact in India, but that 
genuine Indian tea is a superior article to the stuff with 
which they have at times been supplied from China. 
They perhaps, study quantity, and high colour, rather 
than refined flavour ; but they are too addicted to tea 
not to relish the fresh and palatable iufusion from 
the Indian leaf. If even in England it is extremely 
difficult to discover a grocer, who sells really good 
tea at a moderate price, it is not to be wondered 
at that in the Colonies sound tea is rarely met 
with There are shops in London, where nothing but 
tea is sold ; and at these specialit6 places, a great boast 
is made of " our favourite blend " of Indian and China 
tea; but experience usually teaches the palate accus- 
tomed in India to the drinking of Indian tea, that 
the proportion of first class Indian tea in the vaunted 
"blend" is small, although the price is undoubtedly 
first class. In Melbourne and Sydney similar " blends" 
are being sold, and as they are calculated to make 
buyers come to the conclusion with respect to Indian 
and China teas, that " Pompey same like Cassar" the 
Calcutta Tea Syndicate are wisely taking steps to 
open in those cities shops of their own, whereat the 
public can obtain the genuine Indian article, and no 
deception. The import duty on tea is Zd. per lb. in 
New South Wales. Victoria, and South Australia ; 
Ad. per lb. in Western Australia and New Zealand ; 
and 6d. per lb. in Tasmania and Queensland. In 
England it is 6d. per lb. So, most of the Australasian 
Colonies have set the mother-country, the example of 
charging a lower duty than she yet cares to impose 
on tea. Not improbably Mr. John ! 'right wil yet suc- 
ceed in his efforts to give his countrymen the boon of 
a " free breakfast table ;" and the Colonies may not 
be long in following suit. — Madras Mail. 
AGBI-HORTICULTURAL OPERATIONS ON THE 
SHEVAROY HILLS. 
The following notes on the season on the Sheveroy 
Hills from Deputy-Surgeon General John Shortt, f.l.s., 
etc., are published with the Proc-edings of the meet- 
ing of the Committee of the Agri-Horticultural Society 
of Madras held on the 7th of last month :— 
Believing that a few notes of the season on these 
Hills for the past year (1880; may prove of interest, 
I beg to submit them and regret the delay that has 
occurred in their preparation. The year 1880 was a 
good one as regards general health, as well as for 
Agricultural and Horticultural operations. Rain had 
fallen in every month of the year except that of 
March. The rainfall amounted to 66 inches and 83 
cents distributed over eleven months and extending 
over 133 days. The maximum fall occurred in Octo- 
ber when 14 inches and 60 cents were registered, and 
the minimum quantity of 1 inch and 30 cents fell in 
January. Of the 133 days in which rain fell, 90 
inches came down chiefly at nights, and the remain- 
ing 43 during the day, but chiefly towards the after- 
noon. 
The heavy rain in October caused some damage to 
coffeo, and a landslip having occurred on the steep 
slope of a hill, some 4,000 coffee plants on one estate 
were destroyed by it, and the subsequent crop of 
coffee also fell short of the estimate on moBt estates. 
This disappointment seems to have been general; as 
I observe from the newspapers that in most of our 
planting centres the coffee crop for the year under 
notice was small on these hills ; the rains threw down 
the first: blossoms, but the plants made a second aod 
third effort at bloom with but partial success, re- 
sulting in small crops. The price of land has greatly 
increased and fair planting land fetches from * 37J 
to | rupets the acre, whilst a building site comprising 
a block of 3 acres (all stones) fetched 550 rupees 
during the year under notice. Cinchona hitherto on 
these hills has been planted simply as an experiment : 
one or more trees only were to be seen on a few 
estates. Of the different varieties, the cinchona 
Succirubra thrives well here, and this variety is best 
suited to these hills. Efforts are now being made 
by a few planters to extend cinchona cultivation, 
and on my estate self-sown seeds of this variety were 
found growing in the vicinity of the parent plants ; 
and the trees are so extremely prolific in their seed 
productions, that I have been able to collect and dis- 
tribute the seeds freely. The difficulty of getting 
the seeds to germinate is rather trying, as the pro- 
cess requires much care and attention, more especially 
without the aid of a propagating house. Of the 
cinchona trees on my Estate one seems a hybrid, 
and on sending specimens of the flowers and leaves 
to Mr. Jamieson, the Superintendent of the Govern- 
ment Gardens, Ootacamund, that gentleman recog- 
nized it as one which he says has been named cin- 
chona Lanosa. This plant also seeds very freely and 
largely. 
Tii rough the kindness of the Society I have been 
favored from time to time with Australian and or- 
namental tree seeds, as well as that of several species 
of grasses ; many of those sprouted well and made a 
vigorous growth, but died subsequently, after attain- 
ing some 6 to 12 inches in height, owing to the 
season this year having proved very dry, so that we 
had no rainfall to speak of during the first 6 months ; 
nevertheless I have a few plants of the different 
varieties of the Eucalyptus. The Eucalyptus Globulus 
thrives well and seeds freely ou these hills. There 
are some trees over 60 feet in height with a diameter 
of stem of 2 to 3 feet. The Grevillea Robusta 
and Buxifolia grow well and mature their seeds to 
perfection, and there are a large number of these 
trees on these hills now. 
The Pithecolobiutn saman, or Raintree. Of these 
I received 27 plants from the Society's Gardens, 
Madras, in October, 1878 ; a few were destroyed by 
insects they were first " Ruug" at the Collum by a 
species of worm after which the plant never recovered ; 
these have a tendency to spread and seem to grow 
very slowly although looking the picture of health, 
so that I bad to cut them in closely and otherwise 
freely prune and then stake them out in the hope 
that they will grow lofty and afford shade to coffee, 
so far they have belied the confident assertion of a 
respectable authority that they are not suited to hill 
ranges, as I have now over a dozen plants ranging 
from 3 to 5 feet in height. 
Conifer.''. — We have several species growing well 
here including those of the so-called Cypress and 
Thuja ; of the Cypress we have thrre varieties with 
perfect seeds successfully. We have also three or 
four varieties of the Araucaria, the largest standing 
about 30 feet in height; they have not flowered as 
yet as the trees are young. We have also some two 
or three samples of the Pine. Of these Pinus 
Maritima and the Pinus Australia are also young, 
standing about 4 to 5 feet in height. 
* The maximum price B37-8-0 ; the minimum price 
R0-12-0; the average price from 1S77-80 (both years 
inclusive) was R7-1-0 per acre, under the Wasteland 
Rules. 
