iBo The tropical Agriculturist, [Dec, i, isgj. 
Another industry which has not made the samo 
strides but is eteudily increas ng in bulk and value is 
tobacco. Tlje climate of Soutlisrn India is udniirMy 
adaptei fur this cultiv4tioii, which ne( di careful 
choice of seed and Letter treatmeiit to cxjiaud icdeli- 
iiitely. Both in the time of the Honorable (ho East 
liidia Company and since, efforts have been mad') in 
this direction, but no very markfd dfgree of .succc'<e 
attended thero, perhapi because English capital has 
not betn devoUd mora largely ti the p-oJuc- 
tibn of tobacco and the insinufacturo of cigars. 
According to Inttst ^t^tisti(■al infcrmatiou 31 tobacco 
farms and factories exist in India, of whjch 29 are 
situated in the Madres Pre^iilency, Export", however, 
are bdsU and sliow little incri a«e. In 1881-82, these 
Dmounted in value to rupees 115, OUO, and tea years 
Inter to no more thau 145,000 rapees, or an inctca^e 
of 30,000 rupees only. 
In Ubrcs, sRain, there is an opeuing for greater 
commercial and industrinl activity. Many g ow in 
India, such as the rbca, jut9 laloe, mallows, barks I 
of sorts and Rrasises and reeds in endlofs variety. All 
grow luxuriously a. id are worked up for domestic 
nfe into rcpef, bags, clothing, niits, paper, canvas, 
and other things loo nuiBerous to mention. For 
greater development of this industry India requires 
Boitable machinery for cleaning and preparing iu 
difierent fibres. Tlie production of that excellent 
material Khea, languishes from this cause. "British 
juanufacturers would pay a profitable price, for the 
fibre, if it ooold be placed in the market, in reliable 
quantity and quality, for their purpose."*. They have 
ashed for it during many years but cannot have the 
demand met, from the want of an efficient decort ea- 
ting maotiine. 
Jute, which is a coirser mntprial, shows a better 
history. It had its fiisti slBri in the European market 
at the time of the Crimean "War when Knssiiin 
hemp was excluded from export and Scottish 
and Irish firms were compelled, with a short notice 
to hud a substitute and a source of supply. Bc' ssl in 
1857, exported rupees 32, 00,700 worth in ly;il-y2, 
this export rose to rupees 68, •IS, '193 or more than 
doublo, Locally by baaJIcoms Jute is used for msnu- 
fncturing gunny cloth. There are 26 factories which 
h»\e sprung up, hut one only in the Madras Pre- 
8-dency. Statistics of the Jute irdistry show its 
itnportance at preseut. In 1890 acoording to Mr. 
O'Connor there were 8100 loiuns, 101..sl,'j fipindles 
and (51,015 operatives engaged in mokuig Kunuy 
bags and clothes, and iu 1891-92, rupfcj 25,13.1000 
worth of these articles were exported. 
The lecturer did cob dweU in fuGBcient detail 
on the limbers and bamboos of India, Teak 
he a id foucd its way in considerable quantities 
to England foi shipbuilding and the manu- 
facture of furniture, le thought however that 
with the facilities enjoyed in the way of cle>p 
labor, much valuable trade might be done in sending 
it out ready cut up instead of in logs is done 
with piue from Norway and Sweden. Bamboos to 
abundantly grown in warm localities, have recently 
found their way to Europe and America. The caues 
vary in size from a walking stick to a thick pole. 
In India bambooj are used for the frame work of 
buildings, ftr bridges of light construction, for 
primitive articles of furniture and for musical instru- 
ments. Art has been brought ti boar in working 
up this raw nraterials iu Aouerica where it is mat!e 
into chicks, screens, fretwork, flower stands, basket", 
fancy boxes, parasols, chairs, tables, footstools, flower 
pots, settees, hat racks, cabinets, buckets, bottles, 
rasels, whatnots, and a multitude of other articles 
for which the m re expensive and lees eaaily man'pu- 
lalcd vt'oods aie now used.— iV'j^^m JS'acs. 
COFFEE AND BANANAS IN GUATEMALA. 
A former Uva resident writes to a Ceylon friend, 
from Guatemala, Central America, as foUowe: — 
" I came down here from the States last July with 
a Ghicago man for tte puipore of opening up an 
tsUte fgi Qolfee and bauanas, the lattei; is a very 
profitable crop here, easily rtieed and joa gather 
yonr tirtt crop in lU months an ] monthly after that. 
This is a beautiful country I ut irt like Oeylou ; I 
have often wished myself back iu the s'/ny iHlaad. 
Curing Julyaiid a part of Au,;a't I w.im pltoticg 
b&nauaa and then t^ok ^ick wiili fever I am cow 
better b Jt very weak aa I lost 30 lb. w eight." 
The writer further speaks o( planting tea ; but 
we strongly advise him for his own benefit ti give 
the preference to coffee as ii bitter demscd 
and for which therj is at pr<j8eat no fear of ovet- 
productioo. 
^ 
STANDARD TEA COMPANY. 
The directors of the Standard Tea. Cuiiipa.uy of 
Ceylon paid Oct. 2'Jth an interim dividend at the 
rate of 5 percent per annum for the half-ytur ending 
June itoth last. Last year the interim dividend was 
at the same rate, though the dividends for the wbot« 
year 1892 amounted i) in per cent. — U. HuU. 
♦ 
A NEGLECTED INDUSTRY FOE 
EUROPEANS. 
The Asian of the 3.d ult. devotes a ooluma lo 
an article by "Creighton" on cojonut planting' as 
a neglected industry fjr Europeaoe. The arlich 
begins : — 
I am sure that this branch of planting docs not 
receive half the attention it deserves from Europeans 
in India. Yet in Ceylon it is a very favourite form of 
investment, and coconut topes in bcariai; are eagerly 
sought after by both Europeans and Natives. As 
an investment coconut planting is considerod far 
safer than banks and yielos moreover a much greater 
interest. The prolits arc not very high compared 
with tea and coffee, but the initial outlay and 
subsequent cultivation required are of the smallest. 
The relurcs per acre are not— I am talking of Ceylon 
— much over K1.')0 per acre on the average, but well- 
tared-for estates yield more like R200 annually. A 
yield of only fifty nuts per tree will in a good year 
— 'ilie 1892-9:}— bring in as much as Rl.lO per acre, 
while on well-cultivated la-jd the yield is sometiines 
aii high as 150 nut.s per tree, which in a good year 
mean almost lUOO per avrc. Of course the one 
great disadvantage i>> the length of time required 
before they begin to yield— from six to seven yesrs 
— but this again is no longer than in the case of 
cacao. From time to time the Tropical A'jiiculturi'.t 
has published many scattered notes on the subject, 
and the lollowing notes contain the gist of papers 
contributed to that journal from time to time. 
The notea quoted are chiefly from "W. H, W."' 
contribution to our coluroug. 
HYBKID COFFEE, 
I rc\d somewhere recently that the authorities at 
the Government Bohmical gardens at I'er'deuiya, 
Ceylon, had euooeeded in obtiainini^ hybrid plants by 
cross-fertilif ation between tho flowers of Arabian and 
Liberion Coffee. Tois was probably accomplished 
artificially, as iu a state of nature thej can bnt 
occur ve y fortuitously seeirg that they hardly ever 
tlo. som simultaneonslv, et an> rate this is the case up 
here. I suppose it will be an easy matter to obtain 
hybrid seed from the above meutionel gardens.^If 
this be the case, it wonli be cheaper and would save 
a Ijt of trouble and di tappointment if planters who 
are desirous of trying the hybrid plants, obtaircJ 
the se.d from there. Some months ago yon had an 
extnict from the Ceylon Observer in which Messrs. 
Jliddletrn and Brooke-Mooketv of Mysore were repor- 
t( d to h .ve said in an interview with a representative 
of that paper that some hybrid trees bearing profusely 
had been discovered in a Liberian fle d on fbe estate 
of the latter gentleman, and that he intended plant- 
ing up a large a-ea with what he believed to be hybrid 
seed. Now I believe hjbrids planted by themselves 
are bouud to be dis»ppoiDting, as the {oUgwiog from 
