Nov. I, 1893.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
345 
CROPS AND FRO&PECTS IN THE 
PHILIPPINES. 
HEMP — COFFEE — TE4 — TOBACCO— SUGAR, diC. 
CoDSul Wi'liamStigaLd, in forwaiding the Commercial 
Report on Manila fur 1892, stales in his coveting letter : 
— I'be difficulty of procuring statistics b. re is very con- 
siderable. He prooetda to pive fome account ot the ge- 
neral oharaoteriatica ot the Islande, remarkiDg they are 
an extremely fertile group of is'ands, over 500 innuaiber, 
rich both in soil and in minerale, which, t< gtther with 
the Otrolinas. Pelews, and the Marianues, form an 
area ot 116,256 fquaro miles. Luzon ie tbe lurgest 
island of the grcnp, and has abont 40.024 square milts 
of laud ere). Mindanao, the nezt largtet l^Iaud, lee 
quite to the sontfa, and has something like the form 
of a crab, with oue vtry long claw. It is vti-y monn- 
tainone, and contains the highest volcano on the 
islands, Apo, which is still active. 
The permananoy of tropical temperature in the 
ialauds, however favourable for the production of 
sugar, hemp, tobacco, and vegetation generally, tells 
much even on the physique of the native inhabitants, 
who are mostly under fized and not too well favoured 
specimens of the Malay type. They are, however, 
when young, very docile, and make as " muchichop," 
or boys, very fsir household servants. The tatives 
are all called *' Indios " by the Spaniards, and are, 
as a rule, unenterprising and inooleut, unUss well 
looked after, 'ihey are much in the hamls of the 
priests, and are %ery superstitious. Their chief sports 
are cook-fighting and gambling, ai d most of the 
Malay men and boys have a pet " coq ds batailu," 
whom they carry about like a baby on tlieir arms, and 
whose comfort they look to before that of wife or 
children. Women, children and priests smoke every- 
where, and especially in the streets. The people are, 
however, clean in their habits externally. 
There are tribes in tbe interior in a savage or 
halt-Favage state — the Igorrotes of the mountains 10 
tbe west of Luzon are one tribe of these, the Negritos 
of tbe island, ot evident negro origin, are another, 
and tbe Moros of Mindanao, who appear to be desceuoed 
fiom tbe Mussulman Dyaks of Borneo. 
Flora — The flora of the itlands would rtqiire a 
long chapter for proper treatment. There is a great 
absence of flowering plants, aod those which do 
flower have, as a rule, very small fliwers, Bcd the 
absence of odorous blossoms is as remarkable as the 
absence of singing birds. Vegetables — beans and peas, 
for example — are grown here by coveting them up 
from the gun with trelliswork, covered with banata 
and otiiet leaves, but most of the vegetables are 
brought from Hongkong. There is hardly any eatable 
fruit but mangoes and pine-applts. The sugar-cane, 
ooffte plant, " abaca " or hemp, tobacco, maize and 
rice ore tbe plants chiefly cultivated. A« for the wocds 
of tbe country their nomenolatnre foims animmecse 
list, and the better kind of woods are too litile known. 
Some of these woods are exoellently suited for furni- 
ture, especially tbe " narra " wood, which has the look 
of mahogany, but is not so close iu grain, while 
having a lighter colour. 
TEA SEED OIL. 
A Loudon meicbant, to whom we eent an Uva 
oorreepondent'B eampie of tea Beed oil, reports 
as foilowB : — 
" I duly teoeived the small sample, and have 
had it carefully and exnaustively tested and valued. 
The sample was too smbll to enable us to ascer- 
tain accurately its oommeroial value, but there is 
little doub: it would tiud a ready sale in quiniity, 
aay at £20 to £22 per ton as a safe quotauon. 
" Yuu might induce ' Wallaoo ' or somo other 
of your enterprising correspondents upoountry to 
orueh 6 to lU tone of the setd, and send us (he 
oil for sale in packages not exceedin;/ 10 owt. each, 
and let them put a brand on the packages, but 
avoid indicating that it is tea seed oil. With an 
appreciable quantity like this we could better 
gauge the market, but I have no doubt, if it 
can be produced like the sample, that it has a 
ccmmercial vaiue, and that the piice I have 
named as safe. 
"I should like to learn whether the oil is pro- 
duced by crushing or boiling ? Any information 
as to this, and generally regarding the article 
would be aooeptable. 
" Tea seed oil is not a new product. It has 
been for long in use in China for cooking and 
lighting, but for some reason unkiiown 10 me it 
has never found a market here '' 
We Buspeot it is too early in the history of our 
tea enterprise as yet to expect attention to be 
given to the extraction of oil from the seed on 
any considerable scale. But this may come 
a little later ; and even now an experiment, 
such as is suggested in the above letter, might 
be made ? 
NOTES FROM OUR LONDON LETTER. 
London, Oct 13. 
TEA OIL. 
After more than one attempt, and after a long 
period of patient waiting in his office, I this week 
succeeded in getting hold of that much-engdged 
man Mr. Christie, the well-known dtaler in tropical 
and other diugs. My object in endeavouring to 
obtain a few minutes of conversuticn with him 
was to try and leatn irom him something 
respecting the tea-oil to which you have lately 
referred on several occasions in your Overland issue, 
Mr. Christie could only give me on the occasion 
of our meeting a few very hurried words, but he 
has kindly promised me a fixed and more lengthy 
interview on some more favourable occasion. In 
reply to the few hurried quettions I have as yet 
been able to put to bim, he told me that this tea- 
oil is well-known in the market heie as China 
oil, and has been a commercial pruduot for a Icng 
time past. At the S£>me lime he does not think it 
to be possessed of much vaiue, and it is — so far as I 
could judge from his rapidly made remarks — of but 
limited use or application. I shall hope to tell 
you more about this oil befoie long, but you 
may conclude from what has above been written 
that tea oil is not a thing likely to be in much 
demand, or worth the while ot your planters to 
give much consideration to, nevertheless it occurs 
to me that it may be useful to follow up my 
inquiries into the subject, because we can imagine 
that there may be instsnuea in which the leaf may 
become spoiled for manufacture into tea, which 
it might yet be available for the oil-press. 
EAGALlAEt TAXES COIIPANT. 
It was a surprise to me, after what had been 
told to me by Messrs. Dunn and Evans recently 
as to the dropping of the scheme for a Oejlon 
Estate Company with which their names had been 
prominently connected, 10 see that a Company 
had just been registered to the deed of wniob 
their names were appended. The following extract 
from labt tjaturday's Investors' Guardian furnished 
the first informal ion had by me with respect to 
this new Ceylon venture : — 
Ragalla Tea Estates, Lim (39,657). 
Tbe CO. was registi rcU ou ttie 2sih olt. with a 
capital of £50,tXX), in £10 shares, to purcnase or acquire 
iu any ether m<inuer laLds and buildings iu Leyion 
or elsewhere and in particular tbe estates knowu as 
'• llagalla " an J " Halgtan Oy»," litnated iu the d a- 
triot of Udapasselawa, Ceylon; and, among oih»r 
things, to carry on tbe bucioess of farmera pUn- 
ters, graziers, cultivators aad growers of tea, cotfee, 
and other crops, mineri, and ahipbrokeri- '^'he sub- 
scrlberi are :— 
