Sept. i, 1893.] THE TROPICAL AGIRCULTURIST. 
207 
VAEIOUS AGEICULTURAL NOTES, 
Fixation of Nitrogen. — At a recent meeting 
of the Aoad^DQie des Scienoes, M. Gain (ac- 
cording to a London paper,) read a papor on 
the influence of humidity oa the warts or 
nodofities growiog on the roots of vegetables. 
These nodoeitiea are known to be the seat of 
bacteria which fix almospherio nitrogen, and hence 
the growth of such vegetables improves the soil 
instead of exhausting it. M. Gain finds that the 
nodoBities are much more numerous in moist soil 
than in dry, and have a somewhat different form. 
It follows that the fixation of nitrogen by the bac- 
teria must be more active in moist than in dry soil. 
Tea-growebs in India and Ceylon — aays the 
Indian Agriculturist of July 29th, — have been raising 
a note of alarm as to the consequences of cheap 
silver and a dear rupee in their competition with 
China in the tea trade, and no doubt had the rupee 
been sent up at a bound to 20d., there would have 
bean some ground for apprehension ; but an ad- 
vance of about IJd in the rupee, the equivalent of 
3i. on a pound of tea, cannot place Ceylon and 
India planters at any disadvantage in regard to 
China, seeing that the ordinary fluctuations in the 
market price of tea frequently amounts to as much 
and more. Besides, Ceylon and India have not 
carried on a war with China in teas for price, but 
in a leaf for quality; and no matter what silver may 
decline to, these countries need not fear the com- 
petition of China, unless at the same time the 
markets of that couotry improve the quality of their 
tea. This is the pronounced opinion of tea experts 
in Minoing-lane, who point to recent proclamations 
of the Chinese auihorities once more denouncing 
the markets of and dealers in li tea, i.e., rubbish, 
in support of their matured opinion and belief in 
British grown-teas being able to hold their own. 
Coffee Growing in Burma. — Mr. J. D. 
Watson, an old Dimbula planter, has submitted 
to the Director of Land Beoords and Agriculture, 
Burma, a very interesting, not to say glowing, 
report on the prospects of coffee cultivation in 
Burma. Speaking only of Lower Burma, and more 
eepeoially of Tavoy, Mr. Watson is of opinion— says 
the Pioneer — " that coffee will ultimately become one 
of the staple products of tbe country. For the 
comparatively low-ljing districts he recommends the 
Libari-kn variety, and, in addition to practical hints 
on cultivation derived from his own personal ex- 
perience, he has drawn up an estimate of cost 
and probable profits, which is well worthy of 
atteniion. Liberian coffee, says Mr. Watson, can 
be planted fairly well at a cost of R120 per acre, 
and brought into bearing for 11350 with adequate 
care and attention. After it comes into beaii ng, it 
is, he adds, a veritable gold mine. As the result of 
a calculation, Mr. Watson arrives at the conclusion 
that the planter should make an annual profit of 
B300 per acre."— This is just the sort of bait 
that does harm to a good cause. No doubt J. 
D. Watson writes in good faith, but ha is one of 
the very sanguine ones, as his letters to the 
.Tropical Agriculturist she We would just ask from 
how many acres has Mr. Watson — and he has now 
been a good many years in Tavoy— netted R300 per 
acre or even htlf that amount for himself or his 
employer ? We reprint Mr. Watson's Report — which 
is a long as well as iastruoiive one in its details — 
on pages 202-J. We observe that at the lowest 
he counts on 8 owt. clean coffee from 600 Liberian 
trees per acre, and that this would eell at £6 per cwt. 
Bo giving £48 per acre gross ! He oouverta 
this into 600 ruptes at no lees than Is 8d per 
rupee (I), takes half for expenditure — and hay presto 
the thing is doue with a balance of {(300 of profit', 
Tea Supply. — Remarkable changes in the 
Bource of the world's tea supplj — says the Indian 
Agriculturist of July 29tb, — have taken place during 
the last thirty years, and are still going on in the 
ontinued displacement of China tea, and the rapid 
iucrease of the supply from Ceylon and India. Those 
changes are strikingly shown by the fij^ures given 
below : — 
PBODUCE IN MILLIONS OF PoUiNDS OF TKA. 
1862 1872 1862 1892 
China ... ... 80 ill 114 34 
Iadi» i 17 51 110 
Ceylon ... ... — — i 63 
It took from 1862 to 1884 for the Indian produc- 
tion to reach about the stage that in Ceylon occu- 
pied the period bstween 1880 and 1892. In other 
words, to attain a production in Cejlon of about 63 
million pounds occupied 12 yewrs, while to attain 
much the same production in India took a period of 
22 years. The maximum oonsutcptio.n of Chinese 
tea in the United Kingdom was in 1879, when it 
reached approximately 125 million pounds. The 
consumption in the year 1892 was reduoid to about 
34 million pounds. Between 1879 aud 1892 there- 
fore, the production of Chinese tea fill off 91 million 
pounds; and between the same > ears the production 
of Indian and Cejlon, British-grown tea as it is 
termed, increased about 136 million pounds. 
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