3o8 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Nov. I, 1893. 
he has drawn bo benefioially, are gr«tefall; aoknow- 
ledge<l by Dr. Voe'cker, when be compares the oppor- 
tanitiea he bad vritb ihosa wbom he terms his " pre- 
deoeesore " in the field. 
His main concluKioa regarding the Indian cultivator 
and his pr<iotice n that sweeping j,:eDerulisatii'Cis deduced 
from ezperietoe of one part of India may be d.reotly 
contradiotud by reference to the practice oF uuother 
piirt, but tba^, " takine evetyibiog together, and more 
sapecially oon-iidering the conditions undor which 
Indian crops i>re grown, tbey (prafitioea of the ryot) 
are wonderfully good." This is no doubt Uwi, but 
folly 80 only in regard to cnltivation, and that m 
it must be remembered, only one portion ot 
Dgronltural praotiop, and, as the Doctor himcelf shows 
in his Report, the manngeroenl of bis cattle a< d of 
their manure, which are two other most impurtaut 
items in agricultural practioe, are malt rs to which 
epithets entirely oontroverting the above would be 
moat jnstly applied. Dr. Yoeloker, moreover, expressly 
.limits bia remarkB to the ordinary acts of husbandry, 
e.g., keeping the land clean from weeds, ingenuity 
in devict of water-raising appliauoea, knowledge of 
aoila and their capabilities as well as of the exact time 
-to BOW and to reap t and thia limitation roust be re- 
man^bered always when his remarks on the i-abjeot 
•Te being studied. It is to be regretted th>.t Dr. 
Voeloker did not see more of this Presidency than 
ho did, to enable him to specify more definitely his 
opioiouB on local practices, but his remtrka, that in 
the " garden cultivation " of Coimbatore the e is little 
that can be bettered, and that in the general culti- 
vation of Xanjore there is a finid for improvement, 
are such as will commend themselves to all wiio have 
made maoh stndy of the matter, and ena'ile them 
to estimate the value of his conolusioDs. 
What appears to have ioipreseed Dr. Voel- 
oker most in Indian agricu'tore ii the great 
variations in praotioe in different parts of tho country 
in one place, the prautioe being so good, and in an- 
other BO inferior. He rightly pu'.a this ('own to one 
or other of three causes, or of several cf these causes 
aoting together. The oauseB are (1) ditferenoes In- 
herent to the people themselves, such as prejudices 
which prevent people of ci rtnin castes from utiiieing 
night soil as a manure, and others from engaging in 
indigo cnltivation ; (2) differeuces duj to external 
Borrouniling', such as rainfall, or faoiliti's for water 
manure, grazing, wood, etc., the former being beyond 
haman control, except perhaps to a very limittd 
degree, but the latter calling for direct aotiou ; (3) 
differences arising from want of knowledge wbiob may 
and do occar frequently either because the ryots of a 
tract simply do not know of any better practice than 
their own although snch may be followed in aii ad- 
joining District, or beoauaa the ryot's capacity for 
appreciating improvements on his own practice has 
not been deyeloped to enable him to grasp the manner 
in which be may benefically modifiy it. Under the 
second head we should be inclined to includo many 
natters of economic importance which lead to dif- 
ferenoee in practioe ; bat although he notices the 
existence of such causae briefly. Dr. Yoeloker refrains 
liom attempting to deal with them in his Report, 
and it is sufficient to allude to their import»noe in 
any consideration of the general question of improving 
Indian agricultnre. Dr. Yoeloker's chief recommenda- 
tion for the removal of the differences noted is the 
spread of General and Agricultural Edaoation, a matter 
to which we only very recently referred, but besides 
this, his remarks and conclusions on many other points 
of great importance are of such value as to demand 
separate notice, which we moat defer to another occa- 
Hon. — M. Mail. 
JAVA PETROLEUM. 
The Dorstnhe Petroleum Company commenced ope- 
rations about the middle of 1888 with a capital of 
350,000 florins (about £92,000,) and is reputed to 
have paid last je» a dividend of 80 per cent. At 
Wonokromo, five miles and a half from Sourabaya, 
it has erected a large refinery, employing some 300 
men. The oil procured at present from wfIIs in 
a Tillage cal'ed Djabokkoto, four miles from Wodo 
biomo, being conveyed to the refinery by pipes. At 
Djabakkoto there are twenty-seven wells varying in 
depth from 100 to 600 feet. The oeueity ol the til 
ia 23^ to At another villase (Gugor) there are 
six t»elle, the deepest being 1850 feet. There is also 
a gas well at Gcgor with a prec^ure of i'iS lb. The 
gas is utilized for stoking purpo.-es. Tbe area of the 
Dortsche Petroleum Companj'is conofssions in differ- 
eiit pkris of Java is about 150,(00 bahoet (a bahoe is 
an acre and three quarters.) At present tbere are 
about 90,000 tins of oil obtained every motith, which 
will BjOn be inoreaaed to double that •mnnnt. Tbe 
oil costs packed in tins and cHsex, 2'29 fiorira per 
case, and ie sold in Sourabaya by eels of the 
company lor H 62^ to 3 65 florii b. Tbe compeny 
boys up empty tins and cases, and utilizer: 
tbeuB for its oil. I here is aoclber ooncetaioo fur 
petroleum. The Goenoeng Sarie — granted by the 
Goveinmeut to a CLinese family, the Twan Lok, 
with a registered capital of 300.000 florins; bat they 
are reputed to have formed • Cbineae company with 
4,000,000 florins capital. — J*"*!!' y'ork Drug Jleporter. 
♦ 
NOTES ON PRODUCE AND FINANCE. 
Tea and the Inland Eevendb. — Aocirding to the 
report ot the Commissioners of Inland Kevecne, ti e 
conitun^ption of tea is still steadily iorrea>'<< g. The 
amount used per htad la*t y<ar wee 5 4b3 lb., a 
larger average than in any previous year ; bu; coffee 
seems to be going out of favour. We con^umed iai>t 
year 207,0^5,679 lb. of tea, ani only 28,224.008 lb. of 
coSee. Ae a beverage, indeed, cocoa may bouu be 
running coffee a close race, as 1 o lets than 
20,796,271 lb. of it was corenmed latt year, thougii 
forty years ago we used ten times more coffee 
than cocoa. 
Indian Tba Gompanie*. — Tbe statistical table of 
Indian tea companies, compiled by Mr. Oec Setoc, 
which appears on another rage, is additional testi- 
mony in favour of the growth and dt velopme 1 1 of tbe 
tea industry. Tbe table now includes particnlars 
of forty companies, as against ihirty-flve la»ty«ar; 
an'*, if vte allow for the omission of tvio from 
the list, there are (even new names added to 
the list of Indian t«a companies in London »inre 
last year. A study of tbe capital coat per acre, 
cost of production, margin of profit, the aroonnt of 
reserve fucd, out-turn per acre, and the propcrtion 
of immature plant given in this table, will enable 
the trade to judge ot the merits of the reapective 
companies from tbe investing point of view, and 
shoald satisfy him that tea companies ahoald ooonpy 
a prominent place in every well-celeoted list of sound 
investmente. 
Last Week's Tea Mabket.— Of last week's tea sales 
the Produce Market's Jievieiu snye : — "A coi sider- 
able quantity of Indian tea has been placed on 
the market, including a somewhat better eel- etion , 
The demand generally continues active, bajeie 
evidently taking advantage of the exceptionally good 
valaes offering, espeoially in teas under 9d. Many 
ef these grades probably show as good value now 
as they will at any time during tbe season, and 
retailers may, with confidence, hold a fair working 
stock of well-selected tea over 6d and up to the above 
price. As these kinds have now touched the lowest 
point at the most depressed period last season, and 
compare most favourably with other growths, it is not 
improbable that tbe demand will keep pace with tbe 
supply, althongh imports are expected to be materi- 
ally in ezcees of last year ; the effect, however, has 
already been disconnted in the present low range of 
values. The good mediam grades are not over 
plentiful, particularly whole leaf teas between 9d, 
and Is, but later on the selection will no doubt im- 
prove, while broken leafs at these prices offer fair 
value. For the finest grades the market is more 
liberaJly supplied, and the distinctly easier ten- 
dency hati Been eBtablisbed, osceptipg fox epzoe o{ 
