April 2, 1894.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 695 
♦ 
To the Editor. 
LIBERLAN (^OFFElii ; HOW TO INTRO- 
DUCE TKA INTO UNITED STATES ; 
TEA IN (iERMANY ; FODDER ; 
RUBBER ; FIBRES ; MOSQUITO BLIGHT ; 
TEA PACKAGES AND LEAD. 
Londoo, E.G. 16th Feb. 1891. 
Sir, — On looking over No. 7, Vol. XIII, January 
1894, I would like with jour psrmiasion to remark 
upon a few of the topios discussed therein, many 
of which ate extremely interesting : — 
On page 455, Libekian Coffee is referred to. 
It was found in Java that the Liberian Coffee 
carefully prepared, yielded a bettor product than 
the Coffee Arabioa, known as the Java variety. 
This coffee shuu.d be planted very wide apart so 
as to make every allowance for it growing into 
a large tree, and the land between the rows of 
coii'ee plants can be most easily cultivated with 
beanp, wheat or Indian corn, and crops regularly 
gathered, After a time, as the plants grow up 
into large trees, this same land can be utilized 
by cutting cff the loiver branches of the Liberian 
Cofiee tree to 4th or 5th from the ground. 
Page 459. Your Chicago correspondent fails to 
understand how they are to get tha introduced into 
THE 0.8. A. I would advise the authorities who 
interest themselves ia such matters, in Ceylon to 
instruct their agent in America to get a list of 
the public institutions, at which ladies reside 
temporarily, either for education or for work, and 
send a small quantity of tea to each of these 
establishments ; should there be '' no tea-pot," aa 
is often the case, then he should send one with 
the tea, to save them brewing it in the coiJee pot. 
Once the ladies take tea from Ceylon they are 
sure to continue it. I have many times been in- 
formed by American families visiting England, of 
the difficulty they have experienced in getting good 
Oeylon tea at a reasonable price. 
Page 460, " Tea-Trade in Germany." — There is a 
certain class of tea sold in Hamburg, made from wil- 
low leaves, coloured and fired. It is frequently sold 
in London, but as the Customs authorities know 
that it IS not tea, they will not allow it to come 
into this country, but the sale being made here, ia 
forwarded to Hamburg and owirg to there being 
Steamship lines in ail directions this so-called tea 
ia regularly shipped to our Colonies and at pre- 
sent I 00 not see how this trade can be 6topp;d. 
Further the tea sweepings from the warehouses in 
London, are now, as your renders are aware, 
turned into caffeine and belore the Customs part 
with it, the whole is denatured so that it is quite 
impossible to be used for a beverage. The (ier- 
Eoans, however, who wish to get over the fair 
traders, purchase the sweepings irom one of tho 
warehouBoB here, ship it in bond and they sift out 
the dirt and nails and mix the dust with low-class 
tea in Germany. By this meana they escape 
paying the duty on the tea into Gerroanj' and of 
course buy it at au extremely low pr.ee compared 
with any tea which is eold in the Engliali market. 
The whjle dutaila are known hera and probably 
aome means will shortly be found tor stepping this 
small trade in very few hands wliioh ia not only 
diaonditable but very injurious to the legitimate 
traders. 
Page 107 " Polygokum Sachauue.s'sI;."— I feel 
eoe&deot io aasertiog that whea tbisi plant be^ 
" 89 
I oomea more known and can be obtained in Bengal, 
it will be widely planted, not only as a fodder 
plant, but also for guiding the aireams in their 
course aud also tor preventing oveiflowing and loss 
of soil. 
Page 471 "Rubber " — Thore is no article that 
comes to the London market which ia bo 
slaughtered as this. It will surprise many to know 
what a trifle exists between a profit and a losa and 
I will endeavour to describe the position to those 
interested. Indiatubber and guttapercha come 
to the London market to the merchant who hands 
it over to the bioker, and he has to exist upon 
bis commission, he puts it up to auction and ahowa 
the samples for a day or ao with the usual aale 
condition viz payment in 14 days ; consequently the 
trade is in the hands of a few l.irge dealers who 
purchase the rubber and pay for it in 14 days. In 
the large majority of cases the manufacturer has 
to go to these dealers and pay a large profit to 
them whereas it the manufaolurer had time to ex- 
amine the rubbir and prepard his tests tor each 
parcel, he could buy at a much higher ptioo and 
the merchant would receive, as a result, a much 
! r-'f r share of profit, which now goes to the dealers. 
In Liverpool a rather better system prevails ; be- 
cause some of thn manufacturers go to the auctions, 
examine fhe goods and arrange convenient terms 
of payment with the brokers. 
Page 47.3.— "Fibre Plants" : — I believe that any 
one put iog their money* in these, with the view 
of treating the fibre and sending it to Europe will 
drop it. The mass of fibre now being offered here, 
has so oiushed down the price that it is only 
a question of getting rid of the atocka on band 
to save expenses. If there is any meana of using 
the fibre locally, it is well to consider it. 
While on this subject, it might be advantage oU3 
to Ceyloa to grow the plant yielding the pulque 
that comes from Agave Americana which accordmg 
to ell accounts makes a very valuable beverage, and 
that Ceylon is especially suited to the growth o£ 
this cactus. 
Page 481.-^" Mosquito Blioht on Tea" : — Tbera 
are many inaect". which affect plants and others 
which afftct the human being. For instance to 
keep the moequlto down you must go to the water 
and if you take caro that your ponds are well 
stocked with fish, they will devour the whole of 
the lorvfE, and an estate may soon be free from 
these inaeotp, if this is carefully attended to. 
Oq some estat.'S experiments of a very singular 
n-iture are being tried. .Snakes were at one time 
plentiful ; they were destroyed without regard to 
spscies, whether lliey were poisonous or non- 
poisonous ; consequently the insects multiplied 
rap dly. I read a report sent to England a few 
weeks since, that said that while cutting weeds 
betwf en one row of coffee plants they found 36 
snakes; noir all these snflkes had to depend upon 
animal food which they found, and perhaps thia 
hint can be turned to account by some ot your 
readers. 
Page 487. — " PACKiOEa for Fine Te4 eapeoially 
fanning?," if when the oases are made ready fur the 
lead lining, some China paper with plen.y of 
fibre in it, or whnt is known in this country as 
Manilla paper, ia cut into strips of about 4io. wide 
and stuck into iho corner of the tea chest, with soma 
civefully prepared paste, it will form not o ily a 
very strong joint but wi.l prevent the tea leaking 
out; soma of the hou3( :-i are copying thia Chinesa 
p'aa and they are a'so pasting some sort of paper 
0'Jt^ide the ohf-sls at the angle. By thia plan a 
lot of tea will be taved and at the ssmu timu dq 
great; obauge mado ia the arraq^ement fgr pac^iflgr 
