230 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. |Oct. 2, 1893. 
« I have never seea a Helopeltis sud I note with 
fatiflfactioD that Dr. Trimen only waruB those whose 
properties are below 3,000 or bo. The tea in which I 
am interested hifjh raus ; i had some little bUck hue 
on tea grown near willows, but that disappeared 
when the willows were removed. 
'' Black grub bothers me by eatioR off the Bhooti 
of the tea need at stake and in the niiraery. We also 
have a very smnll fly at times thut destroys the 
yooog buda of cinchona, grevilleas &o,, but it does 
not touch the tea. These are our only ineeot pests. 
Frost is what I suffer from : I lost the flush this year 
for 2 months off 2-3rd my acreage. The price of 
tea is as surely and steadily falling as was the case 
with cinchona only not so raindly. 
And finally from Uva : — 
" 1 am thankful to Bay that as far as I know, we 
have no Holopeltis on tea in these diBtcicte. 1 true* _it 
may keep awav. 
support a pest '." 
At present pricsB we can hardly 
NOTES ON PRODUCE AND FINANCE. 
China Brick Tra to Rdbsia.— There is no great 
change in the volume of the export trade in brick 
tea from China to Russia overland. A cew feature la 
worthy of notice, however. A form vl brick tea termed 
tablet tea has been introduced, and hss become popular. 
It is made of the finer kinds of tea dust compressed into 
small cakes like the wfill-known chocolate Menier 
cakes. Its extreme profability and freedom from 
deterioration would seem to recommend it for the use of 
travelli rs or for troops on the march. Over 1,000,0001b. 
of this article were exported last year. 
Tea, Coffee, and the Cholera BACiLLns.— In an 
article dealing with the question, "What (he cholera 
bacillus thrives on," a writer in If^irture says :— "As 
regards the behaviour of the chole a organism in tea, 
it is interesting to note that in a three per cent, 
infufsion of black Chinese tea they are destroyed 
within 24 hours, while in a four per cent, infuhion 
no trace of them could be found at end of 60 
minutes. Friedrich has ocnfirmod the reaulte of 
other investinators on the b»clericidftl properties of 
coffee, finding two hours' inimereion m a six pet 
cent, infusion of this materiel snfticient for the 
destruction of these organismfi. We take it for 
granted that there was nothing special about the 
black Chinese tea, and that a three per cent, 
infusion of black Indian or Ceylon would have done 
the business in quicker time." .... 
Coffee PtANTiNa.— CoiTee planting has had its ups 
and downs," and of late years the latter have pre- 
dominated ; but the prospect is rather brighter in 
India. According to recently published statistics, 
the total yield of coffee in Indis, in tl e year 1891, 
amounted to no less than 39 million pounds. This 
is a very considerable advance upon the yield of the 
preceding year, which was only 22 milliou pounds^ 
The Chicory Fraud.— The consumption of coffee 
in the British Isles is hampered very considerably 
owing to the chicory dodge, which continues to flourish 
notwithstanding the occasional riids made by 
the legal authorities. The DaiUj Telegraph, in 
calling attention to this, says : -"English people 
will drink almost anything as coffee, if a shop- 
keeper tells him that it is Mocha. As a rule the 
maiority of purchasers do not know the taste ot 
coffee at all, for the simple reason that the real 
article has never touched their palates. For example, 
Albert Green, of Harrow Boad, who has a shop in a 
coed position in a poor neighbourhood, se Is " coffee 
at Is 4d and Is 6d per pound. The public should 
understand th»t they cannot buy, retail, real coffee at 
these prices. They must pay at least la 8d per 
Dound for pure beans, and even more for the scarcer 
sorts, which are dearer but are really no better. 
An Inspector eniered Mr. Green's shop and bought 
a pound at Is 4d, and when he told Mrs. Green, 
who served him, that it was for analysis, she 
said 'It I had known that I should have given 
you' pure coffee.' The force of her remark 
may be gathered from the fact Ih&t tte ftrtiele 
sold was adnlterated with fifty per o<-ot of 
chicory. Think for a moment of the prnftl ma 
from snch ttuff. You can buy hfeji-clas^ ami really 
pure coffee retail fur Is 8d and }et iti a poand sold 
at Is 4d there is 50 p"r cent fl chic ry ! And eold to 
the poor I Those who know the tat te of coffee would 
hardly drink such stuff for U(/tt'irg j and thus** w' o 
are ignorant of it ought not to be driven awn y from 
the real article to suit the avarice of dealers who 
ought to know better. Green was fined £3 with 12e tid 
OOl'tB." 
Tub Bahama Fibre iNDUbTRv.— The fibre industry 
has worked woudf-rs for the Bahamas. A eompUmeu- 
tary dinner to bir Ambrose Shea, k.c.m a., Uo- 
vernor of the Bahamas, waa given on Wednw'ay 
evening last week at the Imperial Institute, Mr. 
Herman Lescher, of the Bahamas Fibre Com- 
pany, in the chair. Sir Ambrose Shea said that it 
aeemed more like a fable than an accomplished fact 
that a colony which five years ago was in the throe* of 
depre'sion should now be runuirg a course of progresa 
that bid fair to give it a distinct place in the roll of 
prosperous depfudeooiPB. Nor was this tranaformatiou 
more remarkable than the agency through which it 
had been accomplished. It Keemed hard to conceive 
that a plant long known in the colony, and regarded 
aa a pestilent weed, should be found to cootain one 
of the finest Gbrei in the world, that wm to lay the 
foundation of a future of unexampled pi'osperi'T for 
the colony. When dnt he was convinced cf the 
value of the product, ho invited the attentioo of 
outxide ctpitalibts to its fireat attractioue, bot 
never without au admonition that a personal 
oxaminatiun on the epot should precede any 
outlay, and he was unaware of any instance in 
which enquiry failed to satisfy the parties that an 
inrestment waa a safe and conservative measure. The 
plant was of unfailing growth ; it resitted the inflotnce 
of drcughte; the fibre is the best that can be Bern 
in England ; labour in the colony was moderately paid; 
and there was no necessity for a reserve fund, me 
renewals are so inexpeneive that the cost ia fairly 
chargeable fo the current account. The progress of 
industry was satisfactory, and already some cultivatorB 
had reached the harvest stage and the exports would 
now be an annutlly increasing quantity. It waa felt 
wise to place a limit on the production and the Crown 
land allotments were consequently restricted to 100,000 
acres for ten year?, which ares might no'w be iaid to be 
disposed of. At half a ton to the acre this quantity would 
yield 50,000 tons ; but some years must pass before 
this issue ie reached, and meanvrhile it would be • 
process of steadv progress to that result. At a 
bottom price of £20 a ton the value of the produc- 
tion would be £1,000,000 anoually, as aga-net about 
£120,000 a year, which had hitherto been the amount 
of exports from the colony of fruit and sponge, 
which were its only resources. Mr. D. Morris, of Kew 
Gardens, who spoke as an expert upon the character 
of the plant, and not as a commercial man, referred 
to the judgment that bad been formed at Kew 
Gardens of the Bahamas plact and its fibre, which 
they considered most emphatically to be the best 
of its kind that had come under the notice of that 
institution. — H. and C. Mail, Aug. 25. 
UVA PLANTING REPORT. 
Badnlla, Sept. 8. 
Tke weatheh during the past mouth has been dry, 
with a high wind. There have been one or two 
good showers however, and there has been no drought ' 
this year. I have not seen a coffee bush drooping. 
It has in consequence been a particularly good 
year for tea, which has not only not shut up, but 
has continued flushing well right through the dry 
months. Tea is looking as well now as it did in 
June, and there is not nearly as much red spider 
as usual. A large acreage has been pruned during 
the past two months and the earlier pruned fields 
are coming round fast. 
