33° 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Nov. I, 1893. 
planfttion :— " Uncioubtedly the variance exiBte. I 
could qurito one firm whose valuations are almoet 
invariably a farthing below thoee of others, taken 
all round. The fact ariEei from a differing syetem 
of computation. If the calculation made yields 
8-18d cr so, we always quote it as 8J-d, or, in 
other terms, 8-25d. Other brokers perhaps may 
take it at 8§d. But you see we cannot refer to 
the- weight notes. The Broker's Ass'^oiation fixes an 
average weight for packages, eo much for the chest, 
60 much for the half-chest, and so on. But ae a 
fact the weight of the contents of the packages varies 
so greatly as to defy aoesrate estimating. And this 
leads me to mention a subject which is one of great 
impoitr.noe, and to it is constantly due the 
necessity for rebulking in this country. Con- 
Etantly the quality of chests in the same hreak 
is very unequal. When that is the case rebulking 
here must follow, and the lead lining is so spoilt 
in the turning out and repacking that the tea 
is not fit for re-export. Very lately we had a 
large break from Ceylon of high quality that sold 
lor la 2gd. We were driven to rebulk it, and 
resold it at fully 2d a lb. loss. An endeavour 
had been made to save a few chests in the break 
by overtight packing. The result was an 
amount of dupt in some chests that deteriorate l 
general value. I can fancy that some estates nf 
large yield might lose from £1,500 to £2,000 
annually from this cause. Tea should Tiever be 
stamped down in packing. The chest should le 
gently shaken from side to side whila the tea is 
slcwly poured in. Cooliee often get into the 
cl^e'ta and Fto.mp the tea down with their feet, 
'Iho oonsiquence is thbt much of it is broken to 
fowder. It is a foolish eoonomy to fry and 
Favo a few chests in a break by such a method. 
Hundreds of pounds of loss result from it, besides 
a great inequality in thn several chests of a bresk. 
Buyers complain of this and return tje tea 
on our hands, and we then have to rebulk it all, 
such a course having two results as above men- 
tioned, reduction in price obtained and complete 
unfitness for export." Tkis piece of advice seems 
to me to be valuable, and worthy 'of the serious 
consideration of your planters. — London Cor- 
LIBERIAN COFFEE IN JA7A. 
The Indische Mcrcmcr states that:— "In many 
parts of Java, where the plantat'ons of coffee Arabica 
seem to become less profitable, there will be a better 
future by planting Liberian coffee, because this species 
does not want such a rich soil and climate and does 
not; suffer so much from the blight. Till at present, 
the Government has not done much iu planting 
Liberian for their own account ; but seeing the good 
results private planters were getting witli Liberian 
coffee, it proposes now to give a great extension to 
that culture. Up to the piesent time only 2,800 acres 
are planted by the Government and the Javanese 
are extending for their own account also greatly 
that species." 
• 
BRITISH NORTH BORNEO, 
Sandakan, Aug. 22, — In the country I am, as I 
have taid, a believer. That in the ten 3 ears of its 
existence much solid and good work has been done 
no one can deny ; that the shareholdera have good 
value for their ujoney Ihey 1 ecil only to consult auy- 
one who has practical knowledge of the country tt 
eatisfy themselves; that many who, like myself, are 
loyal suppoitera of the company, would like to see 
Bome advance made in the directions I have pointed 
ont 1 will not fteny. Let the directors open tbe 
Btriogs of the pnrsu in which they keep the money 
realised from land sales, and give tbe Governor a 
free ha»(i in t'le manner of its enpendilure, and I 
feel sure they will not btve to orumble at tbe retnrn 
tbey -sill get on their inveBtmfn'f. 
With tegntA to preeeat prospects from tbe Kiua- 
batingsD I bear excellent accounts of tbie jear's crop 
of tob«cco, bo'L as to quality md qasntitj. I believe 
it will be the best thai has yet t'feQ (trowD. Oo8fee, 
from all the eetateg is reported aa ell that can 
desired. From the gold districts I hear that the 
number of Chineee engaged in tbe search is et«adily 
incrcsslog and their earninge, I cow hetr, average 
over S2 per head per diy. Tin has been reported 
ai having been funod on the Kinabatangao Kivec, 
and coal I have hbard of in several placefi. Time is 
all that the ccuotry wants; I never yet beard of a 
country which, in ten jears, had earued euSicieiit 
f^urpluB revenue to pay dividends to its proprietors. 
— L. and C. Express. 
8ELF-15REiiDlNG PEARLS. 
A g od many BtartlioK ttories have been told re- 
garding the oritfin and formation of various gems ; 
but none has aroused more acute diBOusrioo, io oirtain 
cricles; than that told about the Btlf-breeding j earls 
of the Malay Archipelago. Tbe Jate Frank Bucklaud 
devoted coneidera)>le space ti the matter in the pa^es 
of Land and }f'atcr, and Dr. Darwin was sufficifenlly 
iotercsted in tbe statemente put forth to make tbem 
the subject of a letter to tbe present writer. Tbe 
following details p bbobs at least one merit — that tbev 
were collected on tbe spot and tbnt tbe evidence of 
tbeif tratbfulneas comes from bo many quaiters aod 
is of so strong a oa'ure that it woul.j te considered 
ovi rnh; Irning circamatanlial evideuoe io a court of law. 
The populsr Malay btliet in tbe exi-teuce of breed- 
ing peitils has bteu noticed by variooa writers on 
Eistern matters, I'Ot rather as a matter of curio- 
than as one demaudiug at-scbt or coi'trAdiciion. 
No eeriouB a'.teii'pt was made to prove or dixprove 
tbe sIlegatioDs made until 1878, when a paper was 
read before the S' raits Asiatic Soii ty on the subject. 
A gocd deal of rii icule was caf.t upon it m oertsin 
qu rteis, but those responsible for the statemeots 
i-oibodied io the p.iper reiterated their aeeurances of 
tliirir truthfuluesp. Some of them being new in Eng- 
laiid, those curione iu tbe matter iiiigbt, without 
difficuUy, satisfy themselvet both as to the boiia fid<.» 
cf the narrators una see for themselvei the pearls 
produced under btrango if not iacomprehenbible 
conuitioDB. 
Most people know that pearls are obtainable from 
other sonroes than the pearl oyster. Tbe.e are, more- 
over, fresh-water and salt-water pearls. Apart froni 
the fanciful Ugeu s whicb declare tbem tu be found 
in tbe heads of elepbsnts, BH-pent«, bosra and fisb. 
in bamboos and other plants, soversl varieties of 
shell-fish undoubtedly produce them. In addition to 
the oyster, whether "pearl," "edible," or ''hammer- 
head,' both coDcb shells and clams furnish them in 
fair abundaLce. lilr. E. W. Streeter, the well-known 
jewfUer, of B-ni-slreet in his iuterestiog work on 
" Pearls and Pea: hug Life (1886) dercri bee them as 
chiefly produced by the lamellibrauchiala, which — we 
omit further scieotific phraseology — inclnded the 
"winged," "hammt r." "wedge-shaped," "window th; 11," 
" edible," and other varieties of ihe ojster tribe. 
The giant clam, or «/idaoiaytj/as, the bbells o; which 
measuring from 2 to 3 feet acr ss, are to be seen 
in many fish-moneero' eh'^ps, and are frequeotly 
used as foLts in the clinrches of tbe far Eist, is, 
next to the oyster, the most prolific source of pro- 
duciion ; and it is irom tnch shells that tbe breeding- 
peai-ls ueder notice are principally obtained. For 
our present purpose it is unnecessary to notice the 
fresb-Wiiter stetls whence the lustrous gem is also 
uow aod then procured. 
The hunt for pearls in the shells of the giant clam 
is not devoid of dauger. Slionld the would-be captor 
get his footorhend within the margin of the shells 
while the animal is still alive a horrible fate awaits 
him. The elams being f^Sisd only under water 
ca^es have occurred of nat^ives eearching a low tide 
who bsve acc del tly p'sced a limb iu the sjbmerged 
trap. The victim's foot or hand is cot merely 
