AtJGUST i, iBg^.] THE TkOPlCAL AGkiCULTt^RiSt. 
purchasing the oils in Pakhoi, but the trade is entirely 
in the hands of the Mecao merchanta establisbed 
there, who prefer to send them to Macao before oale 
to foreignera and sbipment to Europe, and it eeems 
imjirobable I bat they will ever be purchased at 
profitable rates, or indeed at all, iu Pakboi. 
The exports were as follows r—Star-Siiise — 1893: 
1,722,0001b.. value £35,579 ; 1891 : 775,710 lb., value 
£15,185. Casfia and anise oils— 1892 : 204.864 lb., 
value £41,408 ; 1891 : 74,018 lb., value £13,074.— 
Chemist and Druggist. 
INDIAN TEA AT CHICAGO, 
The Indian Tea Association have, we see, received a 
letter from Mr. K. Blecbyndeo, reportine: the suooessful 
opening: of the Indion Psvilion at the Chicago Exhibi- 
tion on the 22od May ; and on that and the three suc- 
ceeding dajs, that is, up to the date of Mr. Bleuhynden's 
letter, the place seems to have been constantly crowded 
with people thirsting for tea. 
After paying a warm tribute of praise to Mr. Tellery's 
arrangements, Mr. Bleohynden says : — 
"The tea itself is, I am exceedingly glad to be able to 
Bay, appreciated by the majority of people in a manner 
which, I much admit, surprises me, althougli I had 
gome hint as to how it would be from what I i^-tbered 
at tbe bazaar I referred to and at the club auu parties. 
I have but little doubt now that the action taken by 
the Association will have good and early results, and it 
oar plans included the selling of tea by the pound we 
could sell quite a large quantity da'ly. 
" The experience of the firtt afternoon satisfied me 
th»t it would be impossible to keep up the distribution 
ol tea at the same ratio many hours per day. On 
Tneaday I commenced at 11 o'clock, and before 3 p.m. 
had exhausted our stock of cream 5J gallons. Yester- 
day we opened half an hour later, and had finished 6 
gallons by the same hoar in the afternoon, and today 
opening at 12 bad the same experience. 
"I have screened off portion of the hall and reserved 
it exclusively for ladies, and from tomorrow I propose 
to serve tea only here from 11 o'clock to 1 p.m., and 
after that to all. I foresee that to check tbe un- 
manageable crowd we will have to serve tea at oertuio 
honrs, with intervals snfiioiently long between to force 
people to move on, — eay from Si to 12 and then from 
3 to 6-30. This will also keep the people who made 
this their midday lunching place in check to some 
extent. 
When the sample boxes arrive and we begin to 
distribute samples, I am afraid we will have to make 
a charge though I wonld prefer not to, and sell the 
tea in the cup at certain hours, giving' away samples 
at those hours only. 
I think I may eay we have got a good start of 
Ceylon "whose buildings are not yet ready, and our 
Pavilion, cow that one can see tbe direction in which 
the crowds moves is in a better place than theirs. 
The exhibition, as a whole, is still very backward, 
whole sections in somo buildings being closed. A num- 
ber of the State buildings are also incomplete, and 
as a whole 1 know of no building but our own 
which is ready. New South Wales, Canada, Hayti, 
Sweden, Ceylon, Great Britain, are all c'.osed to ibe 
general public and many others. I only mention 
those near to us. Great Britain's building is only 
for offices for the Royal Commissioners, and the cost, 
£30,000, is quite out cf proportion to the space the 
exhibits occupy in the Exbibition Buildings. 
Mi. Blecbynden seems to be having a warm time 
of it. It is to be hoped he has insured his life 
heavily. Probably any tea, served free, gratis and 
for nothing, would have attracted similar crowds. 
Still it is reasonable to anticipate that among those 
crowds there will be a fair proportion of discerning 
ones who will discover that what they .had been pre- 
tiously accustomed to consume as tea was trash, and 
who will insist on getting the real thing ever alter. 
Have tbe Acsociation made adequate arrangements 
for meeting any demand for ludian tea that may 
immtdiatttly spring np, as a consequence of this ex- 
periment':' In all such oases it is essential to ad ike 
Itbild tbQ iron ia h^\,.~Vapiud^ Jaly 4, 
MANGROVES AND THEIR EFFECTS. 
London, June 23. 
Everyone in Ceylon is well-acquainted with the 
mangrove plant, and dwellers by the eeaBhore in 
the less-frequented dietriots well know the da- 
pressing effect they have upon the view of the 
coast lines, sometimes for miles of its length. They 
no doubt, however, serve a useful purpose, and 
the following extracted paragraph indicates this to 
be the reclamation of sTv^ampy land and of that of 
looaliiies liable to flooding by the sea at high tides. 
Doubtless some of your older residents have been 
able to watch the gradual advance of portions of 
your shore line due to the growth ot this very 
uninteresting-looking, indeed rather repulsive-looking 
plant : — 
MaNOEOVES and THEIE EFFECTS ON THE OoAST LiNE. 
— In his interesting report to the Colonial Office on 
the scientific results of tbe Anglo-French Delimitation 
Commission which he accompanied to Sierra Leone, 
Mr, Scott Elliot states that the effect of the man- 
grove in creating alluvial soil could be very clearly 
seen at Mahela and in the Samu country generally. 
Mangrove trees seem in fact, h« says, to have been 
deoigied by nature to change any bay or indentation 
of the ooa8t_line into fertile soil. Thus the whole of 
the country" from Mabela to Kokoa and round from 
Digipili to Kitcbon seems to have been at one time 
a wide bay or arm of the sea, in which sand and 
mudbanks accumulated through the action of tbe 
tides and currents. Wherever such a madbank is in 
process of formation, the mangroves grow upon it, 
gradually advancing seawards ae the silt accumulates. 
They require brackish water, and their mode of 
growth is thoroughly adapted to this habit. The trunk 
divides at the base into six or seven curved buttress- 
like roots, each of which subdivides repeatedly, 60 
that it covers a wide area, with curved, grasping 
supports. This is, however, but the first stage of 
gruwth ; after a very short time long hanging rootB 
are Eent down vertically from every branch of tha 
tree, and about the level of high tide each of thesa 
pendent roots divides into five or six grasping fingers, 
which grow down into the water and root themselves 
so firmly iu the silt that they cannot be torn up by 
any ordinary force of current. As each branch ol 
every mangrove acts in this way, the soil becomes 
pierced by roots in every direction, so much so thati 
where the natives have made a clearance for rice- 
growing, the numerous standing roots in the ground 
seem like a harrow with the points turned outwards. 
Hence the leaves of the mangrove and all the sill 
and soil in tbe water are held by this mesh-work of 
roots and rootlets, and the accumulation of soil ad- 
vances rapidly. As the level of the ground (through 
this accumulation) rises above high tide, the man- 
groves, which require a constant supply of brackish 
water, die off, and the whole grove advances seaward, 
leaving behind it a mass of rich vegetable, alluvial 
mud. Letter suited for rice than probably any otber 
soil in existence. In mapping out tbe windings of tba 
Mabela creek the members of the Commission con- 
stantly saw how the mangroves were blocking up tho 
channels, and no doubt, in course of time, the whole 
creek, Mr, Elliot says, will become solid land. — London 
Cor. 
POTTING PLANTS. 
In practice, "Pot (hat plant" really means, give it « 
larger pot — that is, nore rcom for iis roots. Ke- 
poiiiijg, however, sometimes in practice comes to jnsi 
the opposite of this, an J the experiiuced potter in 
fhifting his plants determines his course by roof- 
condition. If that ia good, vigorous, and obviously 
cramped, he gives a larger pot; if otherwise, he not 
unfrequeiitly puts it into atmaller one. There is no 
resuscitating process so prompt and effectual as this 
in the case of many plants. Worms, bad drainage, 
indifferent or unsuitable soil, unskilled wateriutr, majr 
have converted the root-runs into quagmires ot sour, 
putrid earth, in which (be roots aro eickeuiog tow<i((l| 
