7o6 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [April 2, 1894. 
Old coffee is still fo the front too. The rAins bare 
brought out H very fine blossom iudeed on a 1 good 
co&ee, a*; lovr and mediam elevations. I have ceen 
Beveral fields latoly really white, in the good old 
fashioned way. The preseut will be the best year 
cotfee planters have had tor some time. 1'Uere is a 
great de.-il of spike atill to coire out. 
Capital is at last ootning into tbe district, vritneos 
the bale of the Tonacombe group to a Company. The 
wonder i» it h»i not rusbed in long aijo. Toe 
opikbilities ot Uva in te^ are at last being nnder- 
etood and I prophesy tbe Tonacombe Company will 
be by no meani tbe last ooe floated in these distticta. 
There are several rumours of other sa'es, but nothiog 
definite is known yet. 
The death of Mr. John Browa is very sal. There 
is no one who has been bo iotimatelv connected witii 
Uva planting interests duriugthe past twenty years as 
he has. Ue will be greatly missed and h s place will 
bo very hard to fill. 
^ 
THE CALEDONIA (CEYLON) TEA 
PLANTATION, LTD. 
We have further news by mail of this Company 
which has been formed in Londoa with the ooject 
of acquiring two tea estates in Ceylon, viz ; — Venture 
in Bogawantalawa and Sellogama in Malale West. 
These properties have beea purchaeed by the Com- 
pany for £16,900, the former comprising 427 acres 
of which 390 are cultivated with tea ana the la'.ter 
1,030 aorea of which 200 odd are m tea ; both 
estates b.iog fully equipped with bungalows, faotorie;, 
machinery, &c. Tue capital of the Cjmpany is 
£30,000, divided into 30,000 ; shares of £1 each. 
Ttie envire capital, we understand, has been issued — 
10,000 shares as fully paid up and the balance 
20,000 with five Bhilhogs paid up thereon, thus 
leaving £15,000, an uocalled liability ; 150 deteatures 
oC £100 each have also been issued for £15,000, 
of wbioh 130 are at six per cent for three or five 
years. Subsjripiions at par have been invited. 
The Directors ot the Company are Sir Grtetne 
Elphinstoae and Messrs. H. P. Hauesen, Jamea 
Boss and Alexander Boss. 
The Compaaj's offices are at Old Broad Street, 
London. 
TEEN-WO-CHANG TEA; 
We have reoL-ived from the importers a very fiae 
specimen of this product of the Ceylon tta fields. It 
oonaisls of fanuinga or fine sifiings from the beat 
known gardens, and, so f ir as our exp -rienca ot it 
eLa'jIes us to judge, is not only delicious in flivour, soft 
to the palate, and of moatr .mirkable streugth, but 
exhibits all the qujlities ohsricteristic of tlie fiuest 
teas. The one point whii.h needs to hi impressed 
npoa the purchaser is that this tea requires a ttriioer, 
as othervv.se, the small size ot the pirciclea reudera 
them liable to escape from the teapot. We notice 
that in the parcel suDmitted lo us the importers supply 
the necessary apparatus for this purpose, free ot 
charge, and, if we »ro not mistabeu, tue siaie arraoge- 
meut 18 a fairly accurate measure of tlie quiutity of 
tea needed tj charge the domesiio teapot. — Family 
Doctor. 
THE SEYCHELLES AND THEIR 
RESOURCES. 
[Mra, Edwards with her husband will be re- 
membered as a Mftdulsima resident when she 
was a contributor to our oolumns. — Ed. T.A ] 
Edwards, Mrn, B. H.— Seychelles Archipelago. 
Pp. 20. Seychelles. 1893. 
The SeyctieUes Archipelago consists of about thirty- 
three ielands, one half ot them uninhabited, the 
remainder being sandy, rocky excrescences, with little 
or no vegetation thereon, Mahe being the largest 
ftad most important of the group, beiug described 
as between twenty and thirty miles in length ftod 
about sevcu miles across in the widest part. Al- 
though it is stated tj possess a eingalarly steep and 
precipitous appearance as viewed from the harbour, 
jUrs. Edwards states that the luxuriant tropical 
vegetation, which descends to the water's edge, and 
its dark, forest-clad heights can but evoke an admi- 
ration little short of fascination in the minds of 
ail true lovers of nature. Mrs. Ednarda having 
resided in the isla^nds for a considerable time, 
is enabled to contribute a considerable amonnt of 
information about this little known Colony. He- 
garding its trade Mrs. Edwards upholds that almost 
every tropical product woald grow if cultivated, 
but vanilla planting has been the main indostry of 
recent years. Cacao and coffee are grown in 
small quantities, and cloves are also an article of 
commerce. Mrs. Edwards has not become impressed 
with the energy of the Seychelles planters, lor she 
states that, although cinnamon grows wild in pro- 
fusion, and pepper and nutmegs might be produced 
to advantage, the average planter is not sufficiently 
enterprising to embark in new industries or to 
in any way deviate from the stereotyped paths of 
his forefathers. Eruiis grow abundantly thruughoat 
the if^lauds, but carriage and freight are bo ex- 
pensive that it- does not pay to export them. The 
islands are stated to be English but in name, tbe 
language, manners, and customs being French; in fact, 
Mrs. Edwards says, English is taught in the Gov- 
ernment-aided schools only as a snbject. The 
various Gjvernment and private buildings are des- 
cribed, and the sys'em of Government criticised. 
Although the work contains a good deal of con< 
troversial matter, which it is needless to refer to, 
it nevertheless gives a graphic description of those 
islands which were described bv the late General 
Gordon as the " Garden of Eden."— </0u/-na^ B. C, 
Institute. 
JAMAICA COFFEE INDUSTRY. 
In reference to this tbe *' West Indian and Com* 
meroial Advertiser" has tbe following admirable re- 
marks : — " Jamaici is an old ooffee-producing country 
aud some of its produce from the Blue Mouutaiug 
ranks as nearly the Ljuet in thd world. Of ia(e yean 
bo ever, there has beea little or no iuotease ia Ibe 
exports ot Jamaica cotfee." 
Why ii this su? We have been assured by a Blue 
MouLtiiu pliuter that the diffiaulties in the way 
Qie roads and labour. Thire are yearly flactuations 
ia crops depending upon lettons and prices, but the 
gei.eri>l CeuUency latelr, in rpite of good prices, h»8 
been towards a smallt-r production ot Jamaica cofiee. 
At a first giaace th a may have been attributable to 
a gradual eshaus.iou i.f the present eitatea aud to a 
want, of suitable laad for opening up new laode. It 
is true that some of the ola ettatcs are be:oming less 
proiiuoiive than formerly bu*: there are ttill esctllent 
iracts ot land suitable for cotlee cultivation in Jamaica, 
aud these only require to be rejdered accessible by 
tailwaya and toads lu support a c jnsidcrable inJostry. 
It appears that not ouly are no new cofl'^e plantations 
opened in suitablu lands in Jamaica, but the labour 
ttiat might be employed apon them ia being attracted 
from the island lor service on the co&ee plantations 
ot Gautemala. 
Whatever may be said of the quality and fertility ot 
the land Baitat)ie for ooSee on the south side of the 
B.ue Mountain range, it appears that there are far 
better prospects on the nor. h side. We are informed 
by JMr. D. Morris, ot tbe Bjyal Gardens, i^ew, that in 
a lecture delivered before the Institute ol Jamaica, on 
the 17th May, 1861, with the lata Hod. Alan Kerr, 
Senior Puisuo Judge, in the chair, he stated : — "With 
regard to amount ot land stilt available in the island 
fi.r coffee cultivation, reporis froai Manchester and 
St. Ann show that tcere are thousands of acres of 
good coffee lands at elevations between 2,000 and 
2,500 fee a ia the Mile Gully Mountains, aud on throu.^h 
Clarendon and .St. Ann, wbich might be very advan 
tigeiusly brought under cultifation. In the Blue 
Moaiitaia districts and oa (ha Boathern eiopea (b«c« 
